Past ACPIR scholarship recipient Briana Fahey credits her experience as igniting her appetite for a career in research.
While completing her Bachelor of Dietetics at UniSC, Briana was selected for the ACPIR SRS in 2021. She became a member of the team working on a nutrition project supporting opportunities for seaweed farming to enhance livelihoods and bolster local diets in Samoa.
The project focuses on the nutritional value of edible seaweed through analysing dietary intake data and evaluating the use of an innovative online dietary assessment tool. Seaweeds are a traditional food throughout the Pacific and have been foraged and consumed by Samoan communities for generations. The team worked towards reframing edible seaweed as a renewable commercial resource.
"The ACPIR SRS provided me with an exceptional opportunity to begin to develop my research skills... I had the opportunity to communicate and collaborate with external stakeholders, such as a graphic designer, which was a fun and interesting learning experience. Most importantly though, I became more aware of the nutrition health crisis currently facing many Pacific Island nations which led me to understand just how important and impactful these types of research projects in the Pacific are." – Briana Fahey, Undergrad UniSC.
A component of the project with real-world applications involved creating recipes for use in homes to boost consumption of seaweed as an ingredient in healthy meals including salads and curries.
Led by ACPIR nutrition and dietetics researcher Dr Libby Swanepoel, the project aimed to build on the nutritional, cultural and economical benefits of seaweed as a food source. Briana said she valued on-the-job mentoring from Dr Libby and UniSC PhD candidate Courtney Anderson. Dr Libby and team continue their work to improve diet, nutrition, benefit livelihoods and diversify seaweed aquaculture in the Pacific Islands with the 2022/2023 ACPIR SRS.