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On 11th November, Wolfson College Cambridge Fine Arts Committee and the Need for Nutrition Education/Innovation Programme (NNEdPro), via its inter-disciplinary Global Centre for Nutrition and Health in Cambridge, held an event – Spices of South Asia: a seven decades’ trail. This was part of the exhibition Representing Partition: India and Pakistan at Wolfson College Cambridge. This programme as a whole was part of the University’s ‘India Unboxed’ series (which marked 70 years since India and Pakistan became independent sovereign nations) and ran alongside other exhibitions in University of Cambridge Museums and at the Centre of South Asian Studies. Through this event we aimed to promote public understanding of the shared cultural heritage between India and Pakistan as well as South Asia and Britain, using the medium of food, nutrition and spices to explore themes ranging from the arts and humanities through to science, health and society. The event started with opening remarks and discourse from Margaret Greeves (FRSA, Wolfson); Lord Richard Balfe (FRSS, NNEdPro); Lord Diljit Rana (MBE) and Professor Sadaf Farooqi (FMedSci) Lord Balfe, Vice Chair of the Parliamentary Friends of India, opened our Spices of South Asia event Lord Rana explained the importance of food in Indian culture, from offerings in temples to meals that build relationships with friends and family Prof. Farooqi gave the audience a reflection of how Pakistani and Indian food has become more familiar to the UK and how it has integrated into British cuisine over time. Panel 1: A Spice Trail from the Khyber Pass to the Sindh Valley and beyond Saeeda Ahmed MA – Spices of Pakistan and its frontiers Dr Minha Rajput-Ray – The Spice Journey across India, Africa and the seven seas Saeeda Ahmed, Director of Education Partnerships UK, described the spices used in Peshawar and how the meals in the UK differ to the typical food found of Pakistan Dr Minha Rajput-Ray (NNEdPro Medical Director) took listeners on a journey across India through the spice route. Her talk described foods and spices of Northern India and the magic of the pickle, before moving to Southern India and a movement to steaming over frying Panel 2: The Spice of Life: from food on our plates to nutrition and health Nikitah Ray, Rama Rajput and Urszula Sobanda – South Asian foods and spices in Britain today Schoolgirl Nikitah Ray talks about her special detective mission – finding new spices in Tesco! Urszula Sobanda discusses her incredible art projects, which helped introduce primary school children to spices Nikitah Ray and Rama Rajput discuss the many uses and benefits of Garam Masala Panel 3: Dr Glenys Jones with Professor Daniele Del Rio KC on  South Asian food, spices and human health Dr. Glenys Jones discusses how we can use spices instead of salt to add flavour to our food, to help reduce our salt intake and help lower our blood pressure NNEdPro Director Prof. Daniele Del Rio says that spices have potential health benefits but stronger research is needed The event also included a viewing of displays including artwork and NNEdPro’s Teaching Kitchens Initiative and South Asian Performing Arts including poetry and dance by Divya Ram Kumar and Colleagues. The programme closed with a viewing of Main India-Pakistan Exhibition The event was co-chaired by Cleo Roberts (Wolfson College Visiting Research Associate) and Professor Sumantra ‘Shumone’ Ray (Wolfson College Fellow)

Empowering communities through the power of nutrition education! This week we are pleased to announce that two NNEdPro teaching kitchens have been officially opened in the slums of Kolkata; empowering local communities through the power of nutrition education. These kitchens were launched with exciting live demonstrations of how the kitchens in Chetla and R G Kar Canal can be utilised by local communities to run cooking demonstrations, engage with the local communities to deliver health and malnutrition screenings and disease prevention sessions, as well as to distribute nutritionally balanced, locally prepared meals. All of which are ways NNEdPro, the teaching kitchens and their supporters can support the health, wellbeing and cognitive development of mothers and children in the local community and provide a safe haven within these urban slums and support the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The day after the launch of the teaching kitchens, Kolkata also saw over 80 stakeholders from Health, Academia, NGOs, Civil Society, Government and other key influencers come together with the combined aim of strengthening dialogues in the fields of education and nutrition to end malnutrition by 2025. Participants in this Impact Acceleration Workshop organised by the NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, Remedy Clinic Study Group and funded by the Economic & Social Research Council, sought to gain consensus around the role of nutrition education and teaching kitchens in empowering communities and the issues of food, faith and the goals of development. Reflecting on the events in Kolkata, NNEdPro’s Founding Chair, Prof Sumantra Ray said: “NNEdPro’s recent engagements efforts in Kolkata during October were fruitful; enabling us to set the foundations as well as plan the next steps for the Teaching Kitchens. The events highlighted a keen interest by participants from across the community in learning about nutrition and applying their knowledge as we work collectively to find solutions to the global challenge of malnutrition in all its forms. This project is part of wider cross-border initiative known as the International Knowledge Application Network in Nutrition 2025 (I-KANN-25) which is a joint project by NNEdPro, the Global Open Data for Agriculture & Nutrition (GODAN), The Laboratory of the Government Chemist (LGC) and others. We very much look forward to progressing with lots of exciting work in this area, so as to maximise our impact now and in the future.” #TeachingKitchensEmpower #NNEdPro17 The kitchens were launched the same week as we held an Impact Acceleration Workshop in Kolkata, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and supported by the University of Cambridge and Remedy Clinic Study Group.

The NNEdPro Global Centre was awarded the 2017 International MNI (Medical Nutrition Industry) Award, announced at the European Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ESPEN) at their congress in The Hague. The award was presented to NNEdPro representatives Dr Minha Rajput-Ray and Harrison Carter on September 11th 2017 for an education project application co-sponsored by the British Dietetic Association (BDA) and the British Association of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (BAPEN). NNEdPro competed against 21 other competitors from 13 countries to be awarded fund for a patient centred project to tackle the growing burden of malnutrition in the UK. The €30,000 award was presented to NNEdPro by the MNI President, Tim Meyerhoff in the presence of the BAPEN President, Dr Simon Gabe and will be used to develop a medical and public health nutrition education programme for UK medical students to help improve patient outcomes and implement strategies to advance nutritional care in clinical practice. The NNEdPro project will design bespoke, sustainable and cross-disciplinary educational programmes that will deliver a multidisciplinary, stepwise, blended learning package to target malnutrition in the acute hospital and community setting. It will increase the meaningful screening, assessment and treatment of malnutrition and will crucially involve a multi-disciplinary team of healthcare professionals (including Doctors, Nurses, Dietitians and Registered Nutritionists) at all stages of their training. MNI commented that NNEdPro had been the winners of this prestigious award because of the projects originality, its focus on patient involvement and the value provided by the blended learning aspect of combining face-to-face and e-learning, which NNEdPro will develop with major UK stakeholders. Following development of the learning package, NNEdPro will also identify 13 champion networks from across the UK to be the first to be able to offer this modern clinical and public health nutrition education to their medical students, with a view to improving nutrition practice on hospital wards to benefit the whole person care that patient’s receive.

At the heart of the NNEdPro name lies the word ‘education’. Over the past couple of  years, it became apparent that this education should not be limited to medical students and on-demand training workshops but rather an annual event held in Cambridge open Click below to read our October CN article which provides a summary of our 2017 NNEdPro Week, including our Summer School and International Summit. Nutrition Week 2017: Summer School and Summit in Review

Over the next few months, in light of NNEdPro’s upcoming 10th Anniversary 2018, NNEdPro Core Team members will be presenting / attending at key scientific meetings and conferences. Let us know if you will be joining us in any of those meetings. Please see where our members will be attending and do follow our activities on Twitter.DateMeetingLocationSeptember 7th and 8thNIH Workshop on Medical Nutrition EducationBethesda USASeptember 11th and 12thESPEN ConferenceThe Hague NetherlandsOctober 16thIUNS CongressBuenos Aires ArgentinaOctober 23rdESRC WorkshopKolkata India

How do you work successfully with nurses, doctors, dieticians, social workers and hospital staff to screen your patient for malnutrition? Read Now!

NNEdPro is proud to present our Annual Nutrition Essay Competition! This year’s essay theme is: Nutrition in Pharmacy. NNEdPro and Ulster University invites all those working in or studying pharmacy to partake in the 3rd Annual Essay Competition. Entries must address the topic of: The pharmacist’s role in improving nutritional health. Max limit: 2000 words Deadline: July 16th, 2017 Submit essays to: info@nnedpro.org.uk

Read about the work our ANZ Team has been doing in medical nutrition education in our new Complete Nutrition Article!

We are happy to announce a new publication out by our GIP Co-Lead Dr Lauren Ball’s Master’s student: Emily Burch , APD on Dieticians’ perspectives on nutrition education. Read on below to learn more: The provision of nutrition care by health professionals can facilitate improved patient nutrition behaviors. Some education institutions include nutrition in their medical curriculum; however, doctors and medical students continue to lack competence in providing nutrition care. Dietitians are increasingly teaching nutrition to medical students, yet evidence on the topic remains anecdotal. It is important to understand the experiences of these dietitians to support improvements in undergraduate medical nutrition education. The aim of this study was to explore dietitians’ perspectives of teaching nutrition to medical students. Authors:Emily Burch , APD, Jennifer Crowley , PhD, Celia Laur , MSc, FHEA, RNutr, Sumantra Ray , MB, BS, PGCME, MPhil (PH), MD, FRSPH, FHEA, FACN & Lauren Ball , APD, PhD http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/89xk7azCnNMiI8d5TuJe/full

Register now at the Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge.

“The sessions were designed to allow for debate and knowledge exchange, which led to very interesting discussions in the captive and diverse audience.” – FREDERICA AMATI, NNEdPro ALUMNI LEAD Frederica Amati, PhD student at Imperial College London with NIHR CLAHRC NWL, and research assistant at the WHO Collaborating Centre at the department of Primary Care & Public Health, attended our Summer School and Summit last year in 2016. Following her incredible performance during the Summer School, she was selected as the NNEdPro Alumni Lead 2016-2017 to foster further engagement from students interested in nutrition education across the UK. Please read her reflection on the International Summit for more insight on our conference this year: Read More

The NNEdPro Group is extremely proud to share news about our Scientific Director, Prof Dan Del Rio, who has recently been conferred the title of Commendatore for Outstanding Achievements in Research. FULL CITATION: The official title of Commendatore, literally equivalent to the English Knight Commander, is awarded by decree of the President of Italy to individuals who are given this honour in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic and other orders of knighthood. The Commendatore, or Knight Commander, rank is a higher award than that of “Ufficiale” (Officer), which in turn is higher than the first level of “Cavaliere” (Knight) in this order of chivalry, which was originally established in Italy by the Royal House of Savoy. The Italian government’s orders are exceptional to the international standard in that they do not officially have special ranks or decorations for females (Dames). The rank of Commendatore is also bestowed in several Italian dynastic orders of the royal houses of Savoy, the Two Sicilies, Parma and Tuscany. The Republic of Italy officially recognizes the Orders and titles conferred upon its citizens from the Holy See and from some of the royal houses of Italy. Commendatore is also the Italian translation for the rank of Knight Commander in foreign orders, such as the Order of the British Empire. Please join us in congratulating NNEdPro’s Scientific Director, Prof Dan Del Rio for this honourable achivement in research.