Researchers from four universities have launched the largest ever study of its kind on the island of Ireland into household food and health.
The initiative from University College Dublin, University College Cork, Ulster University, and Queen’s University Belfast will involve around 1,500 households – around 5,000 participants – across both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The study – launched to coincide with the centenary of the establishment of UCD’s Faculty of Agriculture – is being conducted as part of the Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, a collaborative research partnership across Ireland and the UK.
It aims to capture real-life patterns and challenges in household food habits, amid pressures from rising food costs, busy work and family schedules, and catering for children with particular tastes while navigating the wide range of foods available locally.
Participants will complete online questionnaires about their household food habits over two to three weeks.
There will also be optional components to the research, including voluntary finger-prick blood tests and cheek swabs.
By studying households across the island, researchers hope to compare how different policies in the Republic and the North, such as school meal provision and milk schemes, affect dietary habits.
The results will be used to provide insights that can guide policymakers, public health authorities, retailers, farmers, food producers, and organisations providing meals outside the home, to help make decisions that better support households in accessing healthier, more sustainable diets.
Professor Eileen Gibney from UCD said that “by involving such a wide range of households, we can better understand the challenges and opportunities families face when it comes to healthy and sustainable eating”.
Participation in the study is voluntary and open to households across the island of Ireland, with individuals aged 16 or older and other household members aged 4 and above eligible to participate.
The research comes as UCD is this week marking 100 years since the establishment of UCD’s Faculty of Agriculture, which started in what is now government buildings in Merrion Street in 1926.
Today, the UCD School of Agriculture & Food Science delivers 17 undergraduate and 16 graduate taught programmes and educates approximately 3,000 students, including 2,150 undergraduates, 450 graduate taught students, 200 executive education students and 190 graduate research students.
The faculty has 85 academic staff and 195 staff in total across academic, research, technical and administrative functions.
UCD Lyons Farm is also a major part of the faculty, which comprises 600 acres and is the only university agricultural education and research farm in Ireland.
To commemorate the centenary, UCD has published a new book, “A History of Agriculture at UCD”.
Its author Mark Duncan said that researching this book “revealed the remarkable influence that UCD graduates, staff and researchers have had on Irish agriculture and wider society”.
“From the earliest days of agricultural education in Ireland to today’s globally connected agri-food sector, the school has continually adapted to meet the changing needs of the country,” he added.
