Nutrition Scientist Job Kit

with STEM™ CAREERS JOB KIT

NUTRITION SCIENTIST

Your recipe for a career helping people connect diet and health

Where a nutrition science degree could take you

If you love food and the science around it, why not take your love of food to the next level by studying and working in the field?

With its majors in culinary nutrition and food science, and minors in exercise science, sports nutrition and international development, ACU’s Bachelor of Nutrition Science enables students to purse a range of different career paths, depending on their interests.

Nutrition scientists can work across lots of different areas – as health promotion officers, culinary nutritionists, food scientists, community development workers and health educators, food and nutrition communicators or policy workers.

A range of four-year double degrees with Business, Exercise Science, and Psychology expands career opportunities even further with potential roles in food safety and regulation, quality assurance, health and fitness, high performance sport, human resources, marketing and market research.

ACU Nutrition graduates are creating menus, promoting healthy meal plans, and developing recipes for meals that meet a particular nutrient profile.

If you think big enough - nutrition is the type of course that means you can work anywhere and do anything!

Fun with food

From a young age I was always interested in the physical look of food, its shapes, textures and colours, but as an adult the science of it had me hooked.

Take, for example, how we cook food. Kitchen chemistry starts with the temperature that you heat food to, and knowing that when it’s hot enough you get the Maillard reactions, transforming the proteins and sugars in your food into something delicious to eat.

Food is such an important part of everyone’s life, and when you get the kitchen chemistry right you’ll enjoy eating healthy and tasty food.

At ACU our students get to put this into practice from their first year of study, not just learning about food, but applying the principles of kitchen science.

In third year, they can go on a food and culture tour to Bali or Rome as part of their studies.

Food is such an important part of everyone’s life”

Or, undertake a work placement, getting hands-on with food or culinary nutrition science. Our graduates have gone on to work for food companies like HelloFresh and Nutrition Australia, in careers in health coaching or nutrition support as part of a team in hospitals. There’s going to be more growth in the food and culinary nutrition science side of the discipline as more organisations look to diversify their product offerings. Nutritionists are also in increased demand in the wake of the aged care and disability royal commissions as we get better at giving older people and people living with disability more choice in their lives.

So if you’re interested in food and how it interacts with science and people, there’s a rewarding career in nutrition science for you.

Sharon Croxford, Associate Professor (Nutrition & Dietetics), ACU

Sharon

Postgraduate

Discipline

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Carve out an exciting, unique and rewarding career in nutrition science

Have you always been fascinated by where food comes from and how it fuels the body? Is health your passion and do you want to work in science one day? A nutrition science study and career path would be a great choice for you!

Delicious degrees

You’ll need a qualification to work as a nutrition scientist. Here’s what you could study at ACU.

Undergraduate degrees

Diploma in Nutrition Science

Perfect for preparing for further nutrition science study, this diploma allows you to transfer into the second year of the Bachelor of Nutrition Science.

Bachelor of Nutrition Science

As well as learning the theory behind nutrition science, you’ll undergo work placement, be skilled up in community engagement and be able to register as a nutritionist with the Nutrition Society of Australia.

Bachelor of Nutrition Science (Honours) Undertake a research project and gain a qualification that will give you an edge when applying for nutrition science roles.

Postgraduate degrees

Graduate Certificate in Culinary Nutrition Science

Master of Dietetic Practice

As a nutrition scientist, you’d have the important role of teaching the importance of good nutrition, influencing food systems to promote sustainability, and helping design products that encourage a healthy diet. And the good news is you’ll be in demand. According to Jobs and Skills Australia, there will be

a 7.2% increase in job opportunities for nutrition professionals by 2026.

Studying nutrition science is also an excellent stepping stone on the way to becoming a dietitian.

With a Bachelor of Nutrition Science from ACU under your belt, you could then go on to study a Master of Dietetic Practice. This would allow you to work in places like hospitals and community health centres, helping patients with conditions such as allergies and eating disorders.

Whatever you decide, there’s a lot on the menu!

DOUBLE degrees

Bachelor of Nutrition Science/ Bachelor of Business Administration

Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science/Bachelor of Nutrition Science

Bachelor of Science/BachelorPsychological of Nutrition Science

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Reasons to study at ACU

Studying nutrition science at ACU will set you up for career success. Some of the perks include:

1Travel opportunities as part of your coursework – you could fly to places like Bali and Rome to learn from other cultures.

2Industry and NGO connections that bring a range of opportunities – ACU has almost 100 nutrition and dietetics partner organisations across the country including Arnott’s Group, Cobram Estate, The Healthy Grain and St Vincent de Paul.

3Build skills employers want –show employers you have real-world experience thanks to industry placements, community engagement and study abroad experience.

4Gain professional recognition – Graduates can apply for registration as a nutritionist with the Nutrition Society of Australia.

5Smaller class sizes – with fewer students in each class you can get to know the lecturers and tap their industry connections as you forge a career in nutrition science.

Show me the money

According to PayScale, the average salary of a food scientist is $66,453.

Your future employers

There are lots of paths to take in nutrition science. You could work in:.

• Public health

• Research

• Culinary nutrition

• Education

• Food industry

• Defence

• Media

• Marketing

You could also work for yourself as a consultant! Government agencies and companies like fitness centres need nutrition scientists to help deliver plans for healthy lifestyles.

A banquet of jobs

Not sure what jobs you could apply for after graduating? Pop these exciting roles on your radar:

• Food scientist

• Culinary nutritionist

• Public health nutritionist

• Food & nutrition/Health policy advisor

• Digital nutrition content developer

• Food and communicatornutrition

• Food product developer

• Food consultantsustainability

Healthy choice

While Iesha is sooo close to realising her dream of becoming a dietitian, she actually went to an arts-focused school and didn’t study any science subjects in Year 12.

“I don’t think I even knew what a dietitian was in high school,” Iesha says. But after doing some undergrad study in an unrelated area and taking a personal interest in health and fitness, Iesha got interested in nutrition.

“It started to be the only thing I was reading about for my own benefit. And then I really wanted to understand the science behind it, how it affects our health, and just the huge role it plays,” she says. So she took on an undergraduate degree in food and nutrition.

“I think I knew from my first year of nutrition that I wanted to be a dietitian,” Iesha says — a career which in Australia specifically requires studying dietetics. Plus some serious science!

“Being a dietitian is a bit more on the clinical side of things, for example working one-on-one with a patient that has chronic health conditions. Overall, dietetics is very reliant on scientific principles and data analysis,” Iesha says.

Her advice to other aspiring dietitians is to take on those science subjects at school.

“If you are lucky enough to already know that’s what you want to do, then pick up chemistry and biology. I had to put in quite a bit of extra yards especially in the first year to get across the basics,” Iesha says. With her Master of Dietetics at ACU almost complete, Iesha is now planning out her dream career.

“I think what surprised me the most with nutrition and dietetics is all the different careers you can choose. And dietetics also allows you to be in research, which is a passion of mine. I’d love to do two days in research and three days in a hospital setting when I graduate.”

I really wanted to understand the science behind it”

Dietetics student Iesha Eivers is on track to a career doing what she loves

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Bachelor of Food and Nutrition, La Trobe University

Master of Dietetics, ACU

Internship, The Dietologist

iesha eivers master of dietetics student

A day in the life of a… RECIPE TESTER

Imagine getting paid to test the latest recipes! That’s nutrition science

Here’s what an average work day for Julian is like: 8 - 10am

With a passion for hands-on subjects, Julian never planned on going to uni and his first job after high school was as an apprentice automotive technician.

But with a love for the gym and martial arts, Julian became interested in nutrition when wondering why different foods and supplements improved his performance.

“My friends noticed that I loved chatting and researching food and diets and thought nutrition science would be a perfect fit as a career,” Julian says.

So he took on a Bachelor of Nutrition Science at ACU. “I met so many incredible students and academics during my tenure as a student at ACU North Sydney. I felt as if I wasn’t just another number and our lecturers and tutors were there to ensure we succeeded in our studies.”

Julian is now a junior recipe tester at meal kit business HelloFresh where he gets to try out the latest recipes for a living. I met so many incredible students and academics”

I arrive at the office at 8:30 to prepare for a day of testing recipes. I print off 4-5 new recipes that are audited to ensure they adhere to editorial and cooking guidelines. Then I put ingredients for each recipe into a box (1 box for each recipe) so that I am ready to cook/test the recipe at 10 am. On some days recipe testers audit, test and improve older recipes.

10am - 3pm

When I am ready to cook, I mise en place (it means that ingredients are prepped, tools are gathered, and everything is organised before cooking begins) and set a timer to log how long the recipe took to cook. If I find any discrepancies in the recipe I make notes so that I can provide feedback to our team of recipe developers.

3pm - 4.30pm

In the last few hours of the day, I clean my workspace (wash down the bench, stove top, all the pots and pans and equipment I have used for the day) and help my team put away their equipment. I also draft feedback that is shared with the developer who wrote the recipe with the suggested updates to method, flavours etc.

4.30pm - 5.30pm

In the last hour, I print recipes for the next day, catch up on emails and spend time on projects or use the time to prepare for meetings that I may have the following day.

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Julian Pauncz Recipe Tester

Feeling inspired? Here’s how to kickstart

Be inspired

ACU student Alexa Carey switched from nursing to study nutrition science to fulfil a calling to educate people with diabetes on healthy food choices. Alexa lives with Type 1 diabetes and has always been interested in nutrition “because I deal with it in real life every day”. She jumped at the opportunity to travel overseas to learn from a different culture. To help her get there, Alexa received a grant from ACU and the Australian Government under the New Colombo Plan.

Learn people skills

Working with others will be a big part of your job, so it’s important to brush up on these skills:

Electives checklist

Choose these subjects at school to help your future career:

Communication

Knowing effective ways to communicate your ideas for product designs or plans for clients is crucial. Practise with public speaking, professional email writing and tweaking written work for different audiences.

Time management

You’ll be juggling lots of tasks, clients and responsibilities so you’ll need to sort your routines and time management techniques. Start with prioritising tasks, setting goals and minimising distractions – all things that will help you out at school and uni too!

Teamwork

Nutrition scientists don’t go it alone. You’ll be collaborating with professionals from different disciplines, as well as working with the general public to improve their health. When you’re doing group work at school or uni, practise giving out positive feedback, listening skills and defining roles.

✔ Biology ✔ Chemistry

✔ Food Technology

✔ PDHPE ✔ HSIE ✔ Maths

✔ Community and family studies

Listen up

Treat your ears to the following Australian nutrition science podcasts:

study!

The Proof with Simon Hill: science-based chats about the benefits of good nutrition and other healthy practices.

Dietitian Connection Podcast: nutrition career advice and inspo to help you become a leader in this space.

Thinking Nutrition: the latest nutrition research explained in plain English! Presented by Dr Tim Crowe, a career nutrition research scientist and an advanced accredited practising dietitian.

Choose this career if you...

✔ Want to make a difference

✔ Don’t want to be tied to one industry or one type of workplace

✔ Love to solve problems

✔ Like the idea of mixing health with communication, marketing or another interest

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