Project: NERC - Strengthening Nutrition Education and Research Capacity in Universities in Nepal 

Background: Despite significant effort and reduction in childhood undernutrition, malnutrition is still a public health problem in Nepal. The transition through double burden of malnutrition and increase in the incidence of diet related non-communicable diseases has been a challenge in recent times. A valid food composition database would be a good start to study dietary intake of the population and to develop targeted and effective nutrition policies and programs to vulnerable groups. Likewise, our partner university in Nepal has expressed its need for evidence-based nutrition education and a renewal in their education related to food security, overweight and the sustainability of food systems. 

Goal: The NERC project aims to improve the capacity for nutrition education and research in Nepalese universities in an inclusive and working-life-relevant way by: 

1. Building a new valid electronic Nepalese food composition database that can be used together with suitable dietary software for calculating the dietary intakes of people in Nepal 

2.  Strengthening the skills of nutrition teachers, students and working dietitians/nutritionists to collect more valid data on food consumption and dietary intake of people in Nepal, and to analyse the data using the new dietary database and dietary software

3. Renewing teaching contents and methods on courses related to food security and the sustainability of food systems.  

Results:

1)      A new, valid food composition database with about 1000 foods (mainly cooked foods) has been compiled. An integrated Excel-based dietary intake calculator has been developed and piloted, and will be freely available after the project is completed.

2)      The relevant nutrition courses were reviewed and revised in 2024. After training the teachers of the partner departments in April 2025, they have implemented the revised courses. Students’ feedback was collected in December 2025. The revised courses will be integrated into the formal curriculum of the partner departments.

3)      In May 2026, the project team will train about 50 dietitians and 50 nutrition teachers from Nepal to use the new food composition database and calculator. The teachers’ training will also include topics such as food security, sustainable food systems, dietary assessment methods, and pedagogical methods.

Impact: We believe that our project will improve the quality of nutrition education and nutrition research capacity in universities in Nepal. As a result, universities in Nepal contribute to sustainable development, food security and healthy nutrition by providing high-quality, inclusive and working-life-relevant nutrition education and improved infrastructure for nutrition research in Nepal. 

Tarja Kinnunen is a Docent in Nutritional Epidemiology and a University Lecturer at Tampere University, Finland. Her research focuses on diet, body weight, and health, particularly among pregnant and postpartum women as well as women of reproductive age. A significant part of her work has been conducted in low- and middle-income countries and among migrant and ethnic minority populations in high-income settings.

She is an experienced educator and supervisor with extensive international teaching experience in epidemiology and nutrition, and she has supervised numerous master’s and doctoral students since 2011. In addition, she leads and coordinates multiple international research collaborations and capacity-building projects.

Rojina Basnet is an Assistant Professor in Public Health Nutrition at the Central Department of Public Health, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. She serves as the institutional coordinator of the NERC project at Tribhuvan University.

Her work focuses on public health nutrition, maternal and child health, health research ethics, and community health. She has extensive experience in teaching, academic supervision, research management, and stakeholder collaboration through both national and international projects. Prior to joining academia, she worked as a Research Officer at the Nepal Health Research Council, where she was involved in ethical review processes, research coordination, and capacity building in health research.

Rojina has authored and co-authored several scientific publications on nutrition, health systems, research ethics, and public health in Nepal. Her academic background includes master’s degrees in Public Health Nutrition, Child Development, and Sociology, and she received a gold medal for her master’s studies in Public Health Nutrition.

Project: SF-BioVac -Sustainable Futures – Biogas Value Chain for Circular Economy Competence Growth in Zambia

About SF-BioVac

 The SF-BioVac project aims at contributing to High-quality, inclusive and working life relevant higher education in Zambia to support sustainable development and the transition towards a circular economy with biogas as an alternative form of energy. This is achieved by building capacity in the partner HEIs through theoretical and practical training in circular economy (CE) in the waste-to-energy sector in Zambia with focus on biogas. This SF-BioVac project is cooperation between Novia UAS, University of Zambia (UNZA), Copperbelt University (CBU) and University of Oulu , with Novia UAS as the Coordinating Partner. The project works closely with key stakeholders such as the Rural Electrification Authority (REA) of Zambia and ZAMBEEF Products PLC, with the aim to strengthen academia-industry relations in Zambia. 

Cynthia Söderbacka Team Leader - Sustainable Energy Technology (Process Engineering)-Faculty for Technology & Seafaring, RDI

Cynthia Söderbacka works as a Team Leader- Sustainable Energy Technology (Process Engineering) at Novia University of Applied Sciences’ Faculty of Technology and Seafaring (RDI). Her project portfolio covers a wide range of sustainable energy solution and green transition topics, with topic specific expertise in renewable fuels such as biogas and Power-to-X and their value chains, carbon capture, and distributed energy systems to mention but a few. In her work, she has had an opportunity to lead projects in both national & international collaborations in Europe & Africa, giving her an understanding of sustainability from a global perspective and the importance of taking into consideration local perspectives in global solutions.

Cynthia holds a master’s degree from Åbo Akademi University (Finland) in Chemical & Process Engineering, with a major in Energy Technology.

Project:  FoodLeader (Empowering Tomorrow's Food Security Leaders: Strengthening Higher Education Capacity for Sustainable Food Systems in Kenya and Mozambique)

 Foodleader project is a collaboration between University of Helsinki (Finland), University of Nairobi (Kenya), and Universidade Lúrio (Mozambique). The FoodLeader project aims to enhance the capacity of all three academic institutions in educating future experts who provide strategic leadership to enhance food safety and nutrition security. Food safety and nutritional quality are crucial elements of food security. To reach Sustainable Development Goals, universities have a key role in developing related infrastructure and strategic expertise towards nutrition-sensitive food systems.

The project is divided into three consecutive “pillars”. The objective of the first pillar is to improve the current infrastructure and create new tools for teaching, as well as to target governance of the infrastructure for sustainable impact. This will be done by upgrading laboratory facilities and further developing an existing digital Dietary And food Safety Assessment Tool (DASAT) for collecting and analysing diet and food safety data that can be used in teaching and research.

The second pillar focuses on planning and incorporation of DASAT and the new, modern laboratory methods for food safety in the teaching programs, development of course outlines and teaching material, and related teacher training. For DASAT, the training also includes developing visual aids for portion size estimation, updating food composition databases as well as recipe and nutrient calculations.

The third pillar combines theoretical and practical learning with societal outreach. We use local school feeding programs as a case study to link theoretical knowledge and skills in food safety and nutrition to practical needs of the local communities. Based on the results, the students develop solutions to mitigate food safety challenges and improve nutritional quality of school feeding programs and learn how to effectively communicate the results to the school meal programme authorities. The practical learning approach ensures that our project creates societal impact towards achievement of Sustainable Development Goals.

Noora Kanerva, university lecturer, University of Helsinki Noora Kanerva - Helsingin yliopisto

Roseanna Avento is a global development professional specializing in international partnerships and higher education collaboration. As Global Development Manager at the University of Eastern Finland, she advances strategic partnerships, funding cooperation, and global engagement across Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. With over two decades of experience, she has supported the expansion of research and education networks and led initiatives linking higher education with community impact in the Global South, promoting sustainable development. She holds degrees in environmental sciences (MSc), marketing and entrepreneurship (BBA), and engineering (BEng), is a qualified teacher, and is pursuing a doctorate in food policy. Her research is situated at the intersection of higher education, development and food policy, examining the role of  Finnish higher education in enhancing food and nutrition security, with focus on the Global South.