Feeding the Future: Co-Developing Research Priorities for School Food Programs
June 4
10:40am – 12:00pm
Room 522B
This workshop is Part 2 of a series of gatherings to identify Canadian school food research priorities through a community-driven, systems-based approach that centers practitioner and research perspectives. In Part 1, priorities were developed with the Coalition for Healthy School Food’s Steering Committee and its working groups: the Indigenous School Food Circle, the Black School Food Working Group, and the Youth Engagement Committee. This workshop will present these priorities for further discussion, prioritization and finalization through a collaborative, interactive forum, including reflections from an international perspective. Expect this workshop to be interactive, engaging, and lead to informing school food research priorities in Canada for years to come.
The session will be presented in English but whisper translation will be available to make it accessible in French.
Bio:
DR. RACHEL ENGLER-STRINGER is a Professor in the Department of Community Health and Epidemiology in the College of Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan and a researcher with the Saskatchewan Population Health and Evaluation Research Unit. She is one of Canada’s leading experts on school food programs. She convenes the School Food Working Group of the Canadian Association for Food Studies. She has a doctorate in Nutrition and her research interests include school food programming, community food security, food environments and food access, health promotion, and community-based and participatory research.
KAYLEE MICHNIK, PhD, has worked as a Registered Dietitian and community-engaged researcher for over a decade, contributing to school food research, evaluation and childhood nutrition. She worked extensively over the past five years evaluating one of Canada’s largest universal, school food pilot programs to date and has worked with governments, school boards, health professionals, families and students towards health promoting and nourishing school food programs.
STEFANIE FOSTER, B.A., B.Ed., is a project manager at the University of Saskatchewan with over 10 years of experience designing, implementing, and evaluating school food programming in a variety of professional capacities including as an elementary school principal, a non-profit manager and a researcher. Her expertise includes program development, qualitative research and community engagement. Her work includes the creation of evaluation frameworks, food literacy resources and knowledge mobilization tools to support equitable and sustainable school food systems.
JULIANA COHEN is a Professor of Nutrition and Director of the Center for Health Innovation, Research, and Policy at Merrimack College and an Adjunct Professor of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Cohen is an internationally recognized expert on school nutrition policies and interventions to improve the health of children, and has over two decades of experience collaborating with diverse school districts. Dr. Cohen has a doctorate in Nutrition from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she also received a Master’s in Social and Behavior Sciences, and is also a registered dietician.
SARAH A. ROBERT is a Professor in the Graduate School of Education at the University at Buffalo and an interdisciplinary expert on global education policy, gender, and school food equity. Her research examines how policy, politics, and care intersect to shape education and food systems worldwide. She is the award-winning author and editor of multiple books, including Transforming School Food Politics Around the World (MIT Press, 2024). Prof. Robert holds a Ph.D. in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and an M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of California, San Diego.