DrAlison Spence

Dr Spence has unique expertise in nutrition and research for early childhood nutrition promotion across the settings of homes and families, as well as with Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC, e.g. childcare and kindergarten) settings and staff. This research aims to improve child and lifelong heath and wellbeing, while supporting parents and other carers, as well as environmental sustainability.

She leads work to reconceptualise practical strategies for health promotion messaging to improve nutrition in early childhood. This includes exploring opportunities to improve parent feeding practices and child diets through shared meals and snacks, picture books and recipes, and advancing ways to improve ECEC nutrition environments by supporting educators.

This design of practical strategies is informed by 18 years of research investigating and understanding what young children eat and influences on young children's diets, including family/shared meals, parental feeding practices, and ECEC food environments. Her skillset spans child dietary and feeding assessment through to intervention design, utilising data collected in intervention studies, large surveys and qualitative interviews, as well as her background as a dietitian. 

Extensive collaboration on the topic of ECEC nutrition promotion with the National Nutriton Foundation (NNF, formerly Nutrition Australia, Vic branch), including as a 2019 Researcher in Residence, has informed her research focus on strategies with direct application to the sector. This joint work has contributed to NNF tools such as FoodChecker and advice for sustainable and healthy food provision, to be shared with ECEC centres across Victoria. 

Dr Spence has enjoyed supervising nine PhD students and eight Honours/Masters students, as well as placement students, who share her passion for early childhood nutrition projects. These collaborations include studies of sustainable and healthy eating in both home and ECEC settings, nutrition policy for ECEC centres, meal kits for families with young children, parent feeding practices and family/shared meals.