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Past Symposia

The Research Symposium is an annual event to showcase the breadth of current dietetic research.

Research is the foundation of the dietetic profession, providing the evidence-base our practice, education and policy work relies on. The Symposium provides dietitians, dietetic students and researchers an opportunity to showcase their research, highlight the ongoing development of dietetic practice, and be published in the BDA Journal Human Nutrition and Dietetics (JHND).

2022

The BDA Research Symposium returned in person for the first time since 2019 on Wednesday 7 December, with over 130 delegates joining us for our annual event showcasing the breadth of research across dietetics.

​ Not only did we have a record attendance in Birmingham but student groups from University of Nottingham, University of Plymouth and University of Winchester joined us online to watch talks in the main room.

Symprove hosted the breakfast session, entitled; ‘Can probiotics help to alleviate symptoms in people with Long COVID?' This was presented by Dr Caroline Dalton, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Genetics, Sheffield Hallam University.

This year we saw 62 abstracts presented in person and three presented via recordings. These were presented across 12 streams

Read our round-up here.

2021

This year's Symposium took place on Wednesday 8 December 2021.

60 abstracts were presented across the 11 research streams from the four nations. Alongside the abstracts Dr Miranda Lomer and Danni Bear also gave presentations.

Read our round-up here.

View the programme here

2020

Read the reflections of the 2020 winners here.

2019

Over 120 delegates watched the presentation of over 80 abstracts at the 2019 Research Symposium.

We heard from Quorn Foods on the role of evidence-based nutrition research to remove uncertainty.  Dr Fiona Lithander, Senior Research Associate and Research Manager at NIHR Bristol Biomedical Research Centre and University of Bristol, presented on her research work Can we improve the management of patients with urea cycle disorders? and Sally Abbott, Lead Research Dietitian, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, and Maria Barrett, Highly Specialist Dietitian, Instestional Failure, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, gave inspiration from their own personal experiences on How you can be more involved in dietetic research.

There was great feedback from the masterclasses on the perils and pitfalls of manuscript submission, funding opportunities with GET and top tips on using Practice-based Evidence in Nutrition (PEN).

You can read the published abstracts in JHND, March 2020. 

We also presented a winner in each stream, congratulations to all who presented:

  • Winner of Clinical Nutrition - Dessie Aresti for A retrospective audit on the nutritional management and outcomes of patients treated with chemotherapy for oesophageal cancer.
  • Winner of Critical Care - Carys Davies for Exploring dietetic practice in predicting energy requirements and metabolic phases of critical illness. A web-based survey of UK critical care dietitians. Stream supported by BDA Critical Care Specialist Group.
  • Winner of New to Research - Niamh Bryne for Hydration in the workplace: a cross-sectional study characterising fluid intake and exploring associations with markers of wellbeing. Stream supported by Yakult.
  • Winner of Nutrition Support - Anna Monen for Retrospective review of nutritional status in head and neck oncology patients during radiotherapy treatment. Stream supported by BDA Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition Specialist Group.
  • Winner of Obesity - Constanza Peña for Exploring parental experiences of adopting healthy lifestyles for overweight and obese children with special needs. Stream supported by BDA Obesity Specialist Group.
  • Winner of Paediatric - Carla Rennie for The Ketogenic Diet in Infants, a cross-sectional survey of UK centres. Stream supported by BDA Paediatric Specialist Group.
  • Winner of Public Health - Victoria Mace for Awareness and understanding of dietary acrylamide and its health risks among adults in London.
    Stream supported by BDA Public Health Specialist Group.
  • Winner of Renal Nutrition - Elizabeth Clapham for A quantitative analysis of current UK dietetic practice of vitamin D supplementation in adult Chronic Kidney Disease patients. Stream support by BDA Renal Nutrition Specialist Group
  • Winner of Service Evaluation - Sarah Richards for A retrospective study to determine if dietetic input reduces hospital readmissions in a cohort of emergency unit patients.

2018

Over 100 delegates heard over 60 abstracts at the 2018 Research Symposium.

We heard Helen Bond over breakfast discuss her journey, From the California Orchards to Media Headlines we also heard Avril Collinson RD PhD FHEA present The impact of dietitians in the multi-disciplinary GP practice team – a first look into the dietitians in primary care project commissioned by the BDA and Dr Louise Wilson provided an insight into her research journey during her talk A dietitian's journey through academic research & the food industry. 

Our masterclasses on PEN, JHND and GET also received excellent feedback!

Abstracts can now be viewed in JHND - View now

We also presented a winner in each stream congratulations to all who presented:

The six winners of the 2018 Research Symposium provide great examples of dietitians involved in research. Here, they talk in more detail about their winning research projects.