Mark Lawrence from Deakin University joins the FRC for our Food Bites series and explores the current issues in the food system and what civil society organisations and academics could be doing to work towards solutions that address the issues within the food system.

Mark is a Professor in Public Health Nutrition at Deakin University. He has more than 30 years’ experience working as a practitioner and academic in food and nutrition policy at local, national and international levels. Mark’s research interests focus on investigating the science and politics of evidence use in food and nutrition policy-making.

He is leading a transdisciplinary research team analysing policy interventions to promote healthy and sustainable food systems and is a Chief Investigator at the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) Centre for Research Excellence in Obesity Policy and Food Systems. Mark was responsible for developing the Public Health Nutrition component of the Nutrition Society of Australia’s professional registration scheme.

Mark is a technical advisor to the WHO, a member of the Australian Department of Health’s and New Zealand Ministry of Health’s Advisory Committee for the review of the Nutrient Reference Values, a former member of the NHMRC’s Dietary Guidelines Working Committee and a member of Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s Public Health Dialogue.