Elsevier

Public Health

Volume 140, November 2016, Pages 35-38
Public Health

Short Communication
Enhancing breadth of knowledge within multidisciplinary doctoral research: reflections from the Cambridge Generic Nutrition Training course for non-nutritionist postgraduates and professionals

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.puhe.2016.08.025Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Doctoral students need to have breadth and depth within the understanding of their field.

  • Researchers require education on how to translate findings into meaningful improvements in public health.

  • The Generic Nutrition Training supports doctoral students and researchers to increase their breadth of nutrition knowledge.

  • Favourable evaluation of this course has resulted in a model that other research leaders can use.

Introduction

Doctoral degrees traditionally involve a programme of research with a defined scope and research questions. Some universities require doctoral candidates to undertake coursework to obtain broad knowledge in their field. However, this requirement does not exist worldwide in all programmes. For countries/programmes without mandatory coursework, students may graduate with detailed expertise on a specific topic, yet lack general knowledge about the field. It is imperative for graduate students to understand the broader context of their field when translating their findings into practice.

This lack of knowledge regarding broader concepts is particularly evident in nutrition research, which covers a broad range of topics including biochemistry, physiology, food science, health services, and public health nutrition, among others. It is recognized that nutrition is integral in promotion and maintenance of good health1 and nutrition research is a recognized priority in many countries because of its potential to enhance population health outcomes.2 It can be challenging for graduate students to incorporate their work into this bigger picture, with only minimal understanding of the fields of nutrition or public health.2

Translating research for application to practice requires depth and breadth.3 Effectively communicating findings is important for contemporary scientists to have meaningful impact from their work.4 When doctoral training has not encompassed generic training about the field (some doctoral programmes do include this training), a comprehensive, theory-based education strategy is recommended.5 Innovative education strategies can increase doctoral researchers' depth and breadth of knowledge using short, interactive sessions, which cover basic concepts and supplementary resources. The aim of this paper is to present an example of a model that other universities and research institutions could consider adopting when aiming to ensure breadth of knowledge within doctoral students who do not undertake coursework. The example is an initiative undertaken to provide nutrition education to non-nutritionists working in a nutrition research setting.

Section snippets

Development of the Generic Nutrition Training

The Generic Nutrition Training (GNT) course is an initiative of the UK Need for Nutrition Education/Innovation Programme (NNEdPro) Group,6 which is primarily based in Cambridge, UK, at the Medical Research Council's (MRC) Elsie Widdowson Laboratory (EWL). The NNEdPro Group currently delivers a government-funded strand of nutrition training for medical students at the University of Cambridge, within the School of Clinical Medicine.7

The MRC hosts doctoral students/candidates at the University of

The Generic Nutrition Training

The objective of the GNT was to provide comprehensive, introductory-level generic training on human nutrition and public health. The course included one teaching day every 4 months (each university term), totalling 3 days (18 h) of professional development training each year. The format encompassed lectures and practical sessions. Supplementary material was provided to support learning. During the first year of implementation (2013/2014), the GNT was free and voluntary for doctoral students and

Evaluation

Evaluation is an important and evolving feature of any education intervention to ensure ongoing quality improvement with each successive session. The evaluation of GNT had three aspects: (i) attendance records; (ii) quantitative measurement of researchers' self-perceived level of information for each learning area, measured through a preteaching and post-teaching questionnaire; and (iii) qualitative feedback on session delivery. The key performance indicator is the self-reported change in

Next steps

Interest in the GNT within Cambridge and more broadly has continued to increase. The GNT course has now expanded into a week-long Summer School in Applied Human Nutrition covering biochemistry, physiology, food science, health services and public health nutrition. This comprehensive certificate course is designed for doctoral students, health professionals and researchers from around the world. The content from the GNT forms the basis of 3 of the 5 days, with additional time allocated for

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the input of the Medical Research Council Human Nutrition Research Public Health Nutrition Forum, the Generic Nutrition Training course tutors, the NNEdPro Group and all who attended the course. Tutors included as follows: Dr. Birdem Amoutzopoulos, Dr. Sharon Fulton, Claire Harris, Dr. David Johns, Dr. Glenys Jones, Dr. Hilary Jones, Rebecca Lee, Dr. Sophie Moore, Dr. Dora Pereira, Marietta Sayegh, Dr. Mario Siervo, Dr. Toni Steer, Melina Tsiountsioura, Dr.

First page preview

First page preview
Click to open first page preview

References (10)

  • K. Kattelmann

    What is effective nutrition education?

    J Nutr Educ Behav

    (2014)
  • World Health Organization (WHO)

    Diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases: report of a joint WHO/FAO expert consultation

    (2003)
  • WHO. Global nutrition report

    Actions and accountability to accelerate the world's progress on nutrition

    (2014)
  • S. Straus et al.

    Knowledge translation in health care: moving from evidence to practice

    (2013)
  • D.P. Phillips et al.

    Importance of the lay press in the transmission of medical knowledge to the scientific community

    N Engl J Med

    (1991 Oct 17)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.
View full text