The Programme
Our program features a diverse lineup of speakers, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities designed to engage you. Whether you're a seasoned professional or new to the field, this conference sets out to provide valuable knowledge and practical tools to enhance your professional development. Thank you for being part of this vibrant community committed to advancing nutrition science.
The Speakers
Join us at the upcoming Nutrition Society of New Zealand Conference in Otago, where esteemed experts in the field of nutrition will be delivering insightful presentations on a variety of topics. With a deep understanding of nutritional science and its impact on overall health, our speakers will explore the latest research, innovative dietary strategies, and practical approaches to nutrition.
Dr Wendy Sweet
Does Menopause need a new (lifestyle) narrative?
Dr Wendy Sweet (PhD) has been an internationally recognised and award-winning presenter and educator in the New Zealand health and exercise industry for over 30 years. Her doctoral studies were through the Faculty of Health, Sport and Human Performance at the University of Waikato, where she lectured for a number of years in sport and exercise physiology, nutrition and health promotion. Her master’s thesis was on lifestyle behaviour change and she is a former nurse with a degree in Physical Education.
She has presented at the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine conferences in the past and the British Society of Lifestyle Medicine. Her menopause and post-menopause lifestyle science programmes have been embraced by over 20,000 women world-wide. Her more recent CPD/CEC lifestyle science courses for Health Practitioners sell out in days and have empowered numerous allied health professionals to better understand evidence-based lifestyle solutions, including nutrition solutions, for women in their menopause transition.
Website and videos: My Menopause Transformation
Associate Professor Katherine Black & Dr Penelope Matkin-Hussey
Female athlete nutrition across the lifecycle: Misfed or misled
Katherine Black is an associate professor at the University of Otago within the Human Nutrition department, where she leads the sport and exercise nutrition papers and research. Her research interests are in the area of elite sporting performance, nutrition and health. She has worked with some leading athletes within New Zealand to investigate nutritional practices to optimise their performance. Recently, her research has focused on the health of female athletes, both high-performance and recreational, to assess the impact of inappropriate energy intakes on reproductive and bone health.
Penelope Matkin-Hussey recently studied for her PhD “The identification and recovery of clinically diagnosed Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs)” with the Department of Human Nutrition at the University of Otago (supervised by Katherine). Her research interests are female athlete health, in particular prevention and recovery from Relative Energy in Sport (REDs).
Misfed or Misled explores the pervasive nutrition messages surrounding active women, many of which are amplified by high-profile influencers’ social media platforms. This presentation critically examines popular nutrition messages targeted at women, particularly around macronutrients, and the idea of syncing food intake strictly with menstrual or menopausal phases. Drawing on current evidence, we will address how these narratives may promote, oversimplify, or misrepresent the science, and the impact these messages could have on women’s health, performance, and their relationship with food. We will also provide practical, evidence-based guidance to support women’s fuelling needs across the lifespan, including during menopause.
Dr Maria Casale
GLP-1 Medications: From Mechanism to Measured Impact
Dr Maria Casale is a registered dietitian, researcher, and lecturer in nutrition and dietetics at Massey University. She has extensive clinical experience, having worked as an outpatient dietitian specialising in gastroenterology and in Health at Every Size–aligned practice. Since completing her PhD, Maria has continued to work clinically through Massey’s student-led dietetic clinics, supervising and consulting on a wide range of cases, including patients prescribed weight loss injections. Her academic work spans public health and clinical nutrition, with a strong focus on culturally grounded, equity-focussed approaches to nutrition promotion. Her current research examines experiences of weight stigma among Pacific women in Aotearoa’s healthcare system. Maria is particularly interested in weight-neutral and non-diet approaches to care and contributes to national discussions in this space. She teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in nutrition and dietetics, leads student placements in public health that centre Te Tiriti-led practice, and brings a reflective, questioning approach to both teaching and clinical practice. She is committed to advancing ways of practising and teaching nutrition that are inclusive, respectful, and effective for the communities they serve.
Dr Jessica Bogard
Towards nutrition-sensitive agriculture and food systems in the Pacific and beyond
Dr Jessica Bogard is a Senior Research Scientist in the Sustainability Program at CSIRO and an international expert in the field of nutrition-sensitive agriculture, fisheries and food systems. With a background in dietetics and public health nutrition, she is interested in understanding how agriculture and food systems can be leveraged to improve nutrition and health outcomes, particularly among women and young children. Her recent work has focused on developing methods and tools to evaluate healthiness and sustainability of diverse food environments throughout Asia and the Pacific. She has been recognised for her contributions to the field as the 2021 winner of the international APEC Aspire Prize for Innovation, Research and Education. She completed her PhD at the University of Queensland which examined the contribution of fisheries and aquaculture to nutrition and food security in Bangladesh. She has worked extensively throughout the Asia-Pacific region, particularly Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands, bringing a nutrition-lens to agricultural research for development programs.
Elisiva Na’ati
The multi-sectoral nutritional approach to address NCDs in the Pacific region
Elisiva Na’ati is from the Kingdom of Tonga, a dietitian with over 20 years of experience in dietetics and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). She currently serves as the NCD Adviser for Public Health Nutrition with the Pacific Community (SPC), based in Suva, Fiji. In her role, she provides support to the 22 Pacific Island Countries and Territories to enhance their efforts in preventing and controlling NCDs. Prior to this position, she worked for the Ministry of Health in Tonga, where she contributed to advancing nutrition and diabetes prevention and care.
Associate Professor (Hon.) Andrew Sporle
Te Ao Māori considerations for New Zealand researchers on data sovereignty
Andrew Sporle is an international award-winning data and health/social research innovator with over 30 years’ experience in research governance, policy and ethics. His current work is mainly focused on data strategy, social/health inequity, statistical literacy or making statistical information resources more useful to decision-makers beyond government. This work is carried out through iNZight Analytics Ltd, a Māori-owned research, analytics and data visualisation company. He is an Honorary Associate Professor in Statistics and serves on numerous research advisory boards including the Growing Up in NZ and The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development longitudinal studies’ steering groups, StatsNZ’s Data Ethics Advisory Group and Census Quality Assessment Panel, and as a member of the Ministry of Health’s National AI & Algorithm Expert Advisory Group. He was a founding member of Te Mana Raraunga (Māori Data Sovereignty Network) and the Global Indigenous Data Alliance.(See www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-sporle/)
Associate Professor Karen Murphy, University of South Australia
Extension of the CONSORT reporting guidelines for randomized controlled trials in nutrition
Dr Karen Murphy is an Associate Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics and a Dietitian at the University of South Australia. She has over 25 years’ experience in this discipline across research, teaching and private practice. Karen uses an evidence-based approach to explore the effect of foods, supplements and whole diet and lifestyle patterns on chronic disease risk factors using randomised controlled trials with behaviour change techniques such as motivational interviewing, for empowering behavior change.
Karen is part of the Federation of European Nutrition Societies (FENS) working group who have developed a specific nutrition extension to the CONSORT guidelines (CONsolidated Standards Of Reporting Trials). CONSORT is a set of guidelines used to accurately report research trials, however given the complex nature of nutrition trials, they are often poorly reported leading to uncertainty in the results, which impacts on the effective translation of nutrition evidence into public health policy, practice, and guidelines. Karen is leading the CONSORT-Nut taskforce for the global dissemination of the CONSORT-Nut guidelines.
