Sustainable Diets Specialist Group Committee:
Chair - Tanya Haffner
Tanya is an Irish born, UK trained dietitian. Tanya’s mission is to support organisations and professionals to help individuals to eat well. She is founder and CEO of Nutrilicious Communications and MyNutriWeb.com. Nutrilicious is dedicated to empowering businesses and organisations to move the dial on health, nutrition and sustainability. MyNutriWeb.com supports and empowers all professionals with learning opportunities in food with nutrition matters. Tanya was one of the originators of BDA's OBD and on the OBD working group. She believes that all Dietitians can help with healthy sustainable eating wherever they work and is leading a new strategy with the BDA Sustainable Diets Group to help unleash the Dietetic Professions impact on sustainable eating.
LinkedIn: Tanya Haffner
Vice-Chair - Rosie Martin
Rosie is a zoologist turned registered dietitian. Her roles currently include Employee Health & Wellness Dietitian for her local NHS trust, and founder of Rosemary Nutrition & Dietetics. Rosie specialises in supporting dietary change for human, planetary and animal health and has worked as a consultant for several plant-based organisations and businesses.
Secretary - Emily Latoy
- Emily is a dietitian with a special interest in the social determinants of health and making sustainable diets achievable for all. She hold a Master's in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and currently works for Guy's and St Thomas' as a PCN Senior Specialist Dietitian.
LinkedIn: Emily Latoy
Treasurer - Charlotte Cheeseman-Turner
Charlotte has been working as a dietitian for over 13 years', predominantly in gastroenterology, surgery and critical care across the South East, South West and London. She currents works a Principal Dietitian in ICU at The Hillingdon Hospital in London. She is passionate about embedding sustainability in to all areas of clinical practice in order to improve patient care as well as wider human, social, animal and planetary health. She believes that as dietitians, we have a key role to play in driving research into how to achieve healthy and sustainable diets in all stages of life and health as well as empowering people to adoptsustainable eating patterns and advocating industry to adopt sustainable food systems.
Events Officer - Miranda Stuart
Sponsorship Officer - Paula Hallam
Paula is a Specialist Paediatric Dietitian and the founder of Plant Based Kids, supporting families and children to “eat more plants”. Paula has held many different paediatric roles within the NHS including Great Ormond Street Hospital, Evelina Children’s Hospital and most recently at King’s College London as part of the world-renowned allergy research team that was responsible for the LEAP study (learning early about peanuts), which has informed infant feeding guidelines around the world. Paula currently runs a freelance paediatric nutrition practice, supporting families of children with food allergies, presenting weaning workshops, working with food brands and promoting plant-based eating for children and families. Paula became vegetarian 3 years ago after being inspired by her daughter changing her diet.
PR Officer - Louise Kirkham
Louise is a registered dietitian working in Cardiff, with a catering background. She is a rotational dietitian within the acute setting.
Louise is determined to find ways of bringing sustainability within practice, whether this is being a Sustainable Champion, developing student projects, completing a Fellowship in Sustainability in Quality Improvement and continuing upskilling her sustainable skills. She is passionate about sharing knowledge and experiences, and celebrating individuals successess in Sustainable actions.
Instagram: lkirkhamrd
Social Media Officer - Gizem Acar
Gizem is a dietitian and a PhD student at UCL School of Pharmacy, funded by UK Food Systems CDT. She has completed her MSc in Clinical and Public Health Nutrition. She is very passionate about health promotion through nutrition education, and she’s a youth ambassador of the European Cancer Leagues. Her research interests include dietary interventions for better health outcomes, sustainable healthy diets, designing nutrition toolkits and improving nutrition services in primary healthcare settings.
Twitter: Dyt_GizemAcar
Social Media Officer - Marta Buczkowska
Marta is a newly-registered dietitian, who just graduated from Newcastle University. She participated in numerous projects promoting sustainable diet and was a part of the advisory committee aiming to develop recommendations on how to embed the concept of environmental sustainability within the AHP curricula across the UK universities. She also has experience with the hospital catering sector, where she was involved in designing strategies aimed at aiding the company to achieve the NHS Net Zero targets. She is very passionate about raising awareness regarding the influence of the current food systems on our planet and promoting the benefits of plant-based diets.
LinkedIn: Marta Buczkowska
Resource Officer - TBD
Consultation Officer - Amy Roach
Amy is a registered dietitian and certified lifestyle medicine professional working for Greener by Default, a non-profit organisation that is part of the Plants First Healthcare Coalition, aiming to empower hospitals to serve more sustainable, plant rich menus. Prior to her current role, Amy worked as an acute adult dietitian for six years, with time spent specialising in critical care and stroke. Amy also spent a year working as an NHSE Sustainability Fellow, where she worked as part of a team raising awareness and implementing sustainable projects within the clinical setting. Amy believes that if we all contribute something then we can positively help the world, and thinks that dietitians can play a key role in helping others to see this too.
Education Officer - Rena Rena Jackson-Belete
Rena Jackson-Belete is a recent dietetic graduate from the University of Surrey and a current Master of Public Health (MPH) student at King’s College London, with a strong interest in nutrition research, sustainable diets, food insecurity and health equity. Alongside her studies, Rena works in student welfare, including supporting the Disabled Students’ Society as a Wellbeing Lead, and collaborates with local charities tackling food insecurity in vulnerable communities. She is particularly interested in how sustainable diet principles can be applied in real-world, accessible ways for diverse populations, and is excited to support the Sustainable Diets Specialist Group through sustainability education, engagement and collaborative projects.
Web Editor - Mel Nolan
Recognising how our food system affects the environment is not only an important opportunity to reduce climate change, but a tool to tackle the epidemic of lifestyle diseases in the UK. Relentlessly studying nutrition and environmental sustaibability has taught me: the food that is best for our bodies, is also best for our planet.
I am passionate about sustainable diets and am eager to help embed sustainability across dietetic practice and beyond. My postgraduate research (MSc in Exercise and Nutrition & PGDip Nutrition and Dietetics) was laser focused on plant-based diets and how they can benefit a wide range of individuals from athletes to those with lifestyle diseases such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, and diabetes. I currently work as a Specialist Dietitian for Liverpool Diabetes Partnership.
LinkedIn: Mel Nolan
Teng Hong U - Student Communications Officer
Teng is an MSc Dietetics student at King’s College London with a strong interest in sustainable diets and food systems. Their passion for nutrition developed through personal experience of how diet influences growth and health after moving to the UK and being exposed to the Western diet. With interests in agriculture, gardening, and future-focused food system resilience, Teng is keen to work collaboratively across sectors to help develop solutions that balance human health with planetary sustainability.