BNF announces 2019 Pump Priming Awards winners

The British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) has announced the winners of its 2019 Drummond Pump Priming Awards. Dr David Clayton, Lecturer in Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, Nottingham Trent University and Dr Rachel Gibson, Lecturer in Nutrition & Dietetics at King’s College London, will each receive a grant of £5,000 to fund their respective human nutrition studies.

The BNF Drummond Pump Priming Awards aim to help newly-appointed university lecturers and research fellows in human nutrition to undertake the pilot work needed to generate data that can be used as the basis for further, substantial grant applications. To be eligible, applicants for the Awards must be working in the field of human nutrition in the UK and be within three years of their first academic appointment.

The Pump Priming grants have been made possible through BNF’s management of the Drummond Memorial Fund, established in 1954 in memory of the work of Sir Jack Drummond, who made a significant contribution to developments in the application of nutrition science for public health benefit.

The Awards grant will support Dr Clayton’s study into how timing of eating and fasting periods affect eating behaviour, physical activity, appetite and blood glucose regulation. As one of the first studies to directly compare morning vs. evening fasting, this research will help optimise how intermittent fasting diets can be used effectively to improve health and weight management.

Dr Clayton said: “The funding will be crucial for generating high-quality preliminary data to support larger-scale research grant applications, which will explore how feeding/fasting patterns interact with circadian biology to influence metabolic health and weight management. I am very grateful to the BNF Drummond Memorial Fund for supporting me as an early career researcher to conduct this important research.”

Dr Gibson’s grant will contribute to her study to test if consuming a healthy diet (in line with UK healthy eating recommendations) compared with an unhealthy diet (a typical night worker diet) during night work improves markers of health (blood glucose and heart rate variability) in free-living shift-working employees.

Dr Gibson said: “Given the importance to the economy of a healthy aging workforce, and the increase in night shift work prevalence, it is important to establish if diet modification can reduce the health disparities between night and day working employees. I am delighted with the support provided by the BNF Pump Priming Awards to undertake this research project. This preliminary data will be used to support future funding applications to develop effective nutritional interventions for night workers and contribute to the evidence base for improving the health of this essential workforce.”

Sara Stanner, Science Director at the BNF, said: “Each year we receive many worthy applications for the BNF Drummond Pump Priming Awards and our selection process, which involves members of the BNF nutrition science team as well as the BNF Council, is stringent and robust.  For 2019, we are delighted to be able to award grants to two rising stars whose work, we believe, will make a valuable contribution to future research.”

The Awards will be officially presented during the BNF Annual Day in November 2019.

ENDS

For further information or interviews please contact pressoffice@nutrition.org.uk, 01223 421 831. 

About the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF)

Making nutrition science accessible to all.

BNF was established 50 years ago and exists to deliver authoritative, evidence-based information on food and nutrition in the context of health and lifestyle. The Foundation’s work is conducted and communicated through a unique blend of nutrition science, education and media activities. BNF’s strong governance is broad-based but weighted towards the academic community. BNF is a registered charity that attracts funding from a variety of sources, including contracts with the European Commission, national government departments and agencies; food producers and manufacturers, retailers and food service companies; grant providing bodies, trusts and other charities. Further details about our work, governance and funding can be found on our website (www.nutrition.org.uk) and in our Annual Reports.