PhD Studentship: Greening Minds and Bodies: Assessing the Physical, Psychological and Environmental Impacts of a Plant-based Diet Intervention. MRC GW4 BioMed DTP PhD Studentship 2025/26 Entry

About the GW4 BioMed2 Doctoral Training Partnership

The partnership brings together the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Cardiff (lead) and Exeter to develop the next generation of biomedical researchers. Students will have access to the combined research strengths, training expertise and resources of the four research-intensive universities, with opportunities to participate in interdisciplinary and ‘team science’. The DTP already has over 90 studentships over 6 cohorts in its first phase, along with 58 students over 3 cohorts in its second phase.

Project Summary:

Are you passionate about the intersection of health, sustainability, and behaviour change? Join our cutting-edge research project to learn interdisciplinary skills and drive real-world change! This project examines the potential benefits of plant-based diets, which have 75% less environmental impact and could prevent 24% of premature deaths.

We’ll explore the effects of a temporary plant-based diet plus personalised feedback on health and environmental benefits in students in catered halls. We’ll examine effects on nutrition, environmental impact, physical and psychological health and assess the immediate and longer-term effects, while identifying the key challenges and enablers of adopting a plant-based diet.

Project Information

Project Description:

Large reductions in meat and dairy intake are crucial to achieving population health and climate goals. Vegan diets, with 75% less environmental impact (Scarborough et al., 2023), could prevent 24% of premature deaths (Willett et al., 2019), and increase the proportion of adults (one-third) meeting recommended fruit and vegetable intake. Governments are keen to implement policies that promote plant-based diets to meet net-zero commitments and improve population health. Changing default meals (e.g., in university catered halls) and providing personal feedback on the health and environmental impact of diets are among the most effective strategies (Onwezen et al., 2024; Frie et al., 2022). This unique project will examine the effects of a temporary plant-based diet (i.e., Vegan for one month) in students on multiple outcomes including nutritional intake, environmental impact, physical and psychological health, and attitudes. Participants will receive personalized feedback on nutrition via an app developed by our commercial partner, Fueld (https://www.fueld.ai/). As an iCase studentship, Fueld will provide access to their app and will host the student for a 3-month placement where the student will develop distinctive data analysis and app development skills. The study will evaluate the effects during a one month intervention and at a six-month follow-up.

*RQ: Does switching from an omnivorous to a plant-based diet for one month have a positive impact on nutrition, environmental impact, physical health, psychological wellbeing and attitudes towards plant-based diets?

We will recruit omnivorous students in university catered halls to facilitate dietary change and standardise meal measurement. Participants will receive guidance on how to follow a plant-based diet for one month, choosing options in their catered halls (breakfast/dinner), and university food outlets (lunch). They will log their daily food intake using a smartphone app (Fueld.ai) before and after the intervention to assess adherence. The control group, from a separate catered hall, will only receive information about UK dietary guidelines (omnivorous diet). The student will work on validating and testing the feasibility of a smartphone app to capture dietary intake data, measure environmental, physical and psychological outcomes associated with adopting a plant-based diet, and use results to engage with stakeholders to help implement lessons learnt.