Publications by year
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PhD (Queensland University of Technology)
Associate Professor Rebecca Byrne is an ARC DECRA Fellow (2023-2025) and Accredited Practising Dietitian who aims to support parents of young children and educators in the early childhood education and care setting to create calm and enjoyable mealtimes.
Rebecca practised as a clinical dietitian in hospital and domiciliary settings before completing her PhD. After two years as a postdoctoral research fellow within CRE-EPOCH, an NHMRC funded Centre for Research Excellence in the Early Prevention of Obesity in Childhood, Rebecca was appointed as a lecturer within the School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences.
Her research focuses on what and how young children are fed. She has a focus on improving the measurement of dietary intake and other health behaviours in early childhood, and the promotion of responsive feeding practices which support children’s autonomy, development of healthy food preferences and optimal growth. Rebecca works with researchers across the disciplines of nutrition, physical activity, nursing, psychology and education and has successful partnerships with organisations such as Playgroup QLD, Children’s Health Queensland and C&K. She is a founding member of Australia’s National Nutrition Network: Early Childhood Education and Care.
Projects (Chief investigator)
Additional information
- Title
- Effectiveness of an Early Childhood Intervention to Promote Healthy Child Development and Prevent Chronic Disease in Families Attending Community Playgroups: A Multi-Centre Cluster Randomised Trial
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- MRF1200764
- Start year
- 2020
- Keywords
- early childhood; exercise; nutrition; parenting; intervention
- Understanding sibling influences on food parenting practices in families with children aged 1 to 5
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Melanie White - Exploring fathers' food parenting, feeding roles and experiences in the context of disadvantage
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Kimberley Baxter, Professor Danielle Gallegos, Dr Smita Nambiar-Mann
- Effects of a Prebiotic Supplement on Child Behaviour and Parental Quality of Life in Autism Spectrum Disorder (2022)
- Movement behaviours in pre-school children from rural Brazil: The influence of parents (2022)
- The development, validation and assessment of a food literacy questionnaire (IFLQ-19) (2022)
- Development and Evaluation of an Intervention Targeting Parenting Practices Associated with Obesity-Related Behaviours in Young Children Attending Playgroup (2020)
- The family food environment and its relationship with eating behaviours in early childhood (2.0 ¿ 5.0 years) and the implications for obesity development (2019)