Deb: Boosting Sustainable Fish Consumption in Early Years: Building Practical and Scalable Co-Designed Solutions for Families and the Early Years Education Sector

Faculty: Arts, Humanities, Education and Social Sciences

Supervisors: Dr Sanjoy Deb ([email protected]); Dr Kay Aaronricks ([email protected])

Location: Chelmsford

Match-funded by: The Fishmongers’ Company’s Fisheries Charitable Trust

We strongly recommend contacting the supervisors for this project for a discussion prior to applying.

This PhD sits within the Nourishing Our Future (NOF) programme, which has already helped shape healthy food provision in early years settings (EYS) across Essex and underpins the new NOF Healthy Eating Award launched by Essex County Council in 2025.

Building on this impact, the PhD will focus on one pressing public health challenge: very low fish intake in the early years, despite fish being a key source of high-quality protein, omega-3 fats, vitamin D and other micronutrients important for growth, brain development and long-term health.

Current data from our NOF work shows that only around 20% of EYS provide fish in line with national guidelines. Barriers include children’s sensory rejection of fish, parental concerns about health and safety, cost, cultural preferences, and practitioner challenges around procurement, preparation and confidence in guidance. At the same time, there is growing recognition that we must promote sustainable seafood choices that support both human and planetary health.

This PhD will co-develop and test pragmatic, scalable interventions that early years settings can adopt to improve children’s sustainable fish consumption and learning about seafood, with the aim of establishing healthier, environmentally responsible eating habits from the start of life.

Aims and objectives

Guided by implementation science frameworks and community-based participatory approaches, the project will:

1. Identify multi-level barriers and enablers influencing fish provision and acceptance in early years settings, through research with children, parents, practitioners and seafood-sector stakeholders.
2. Co-design practical strategies (e.g. menus/recipes, sensory education activities, practitioner training materials, parent-facing resources) to promote healthy, acceptable and sustainable fish consumption.
3. Pilot and evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary impact of these strategies in a sample of early years settings using a mixed-methods approach.
4. Develop an implementation toolkit to support scale-up of effective strategies via EYS, local authorities and industry partners.

Approach

The project will use a combination of:

• Qualitative methods (e.g. focus groups, interviews, observations) with parents, children, early years practitioners, local authority staff and seafood-industry stakeholders.
• Co-design workshops to create and refine intervention materials and implementation strategies.
• A small-scale pilot study in selected early years settings, with mixed-methods evaluation (e.g. feasibility/acceptability measures, simple dietary or menu indicators, practitioner feedback).
• Development of an applied implementation toolkit aligned with national guidance and sustainability frameworks (e.g. Marine Conservation Society Good Fish Guide).

There will be flexibility to shape specific methods and focal questions within this overall framework, according to the student’s interests and emerging findings.

Research environment and support

The doctoral researcher will join a multidisciplinary team working to transform nutrition in the first five years of life, involving specialists in nutrition science, early years education, public health and policy. Key features of the environment include:

• Close integration with the Nourishing Our Future workstreams and the NOF Healthy Eating Award. Find out more about NOF.
• Collaboration with the Fishmongers’ Charitable Trust, who are providing matched funding and access to wider industry networks.
• Established partnerships with Essex County Council, early years settings across Essex, and policy/advocacy partners.
• Funding available to cover research costs for fieldwork, co-production workshops, dissemination events and training, as well as support for conference presentation(s).

Funding notes

The successful applicant for this project will receive a Vice Chancellor’s PhD Scholarship which covers the tuition fees and provides a UKRI equivalent minimum annual stipend for 3.5 years. For 2025/6 this was £20,780 per year. The award is subject to the successful candidate meeting the scholarship terms and conditions. Please note that the University asserts the right to claim any intellectual property generated by research it funds.

Download the 2026/7 sample terms and conditions