The Food, Nutrition and Health programme is aimed at graduates from a variety of disciplines who wish to develop their knowledge and understanding of food as it relates to human nutrition and health.

The programme is suitable for graduates with no formal educational background in food science or nutrition, who wish to up-skill and become competent and employable in this increasingly important and rapidly evolving field.

This programme is delivered and assessed entirely on- line. Minimum registration to the Graduate Certificate is 1 year. The flexible and online format of the programme enables the majority of students enrolling on the programme to combine studying while in employment.

​Hosted by the UCD School of Agriculture and Food Science, the Food, Nutrition and Health programme brings together academic and research staff from across UCD in health-related aspects of food research, including food science, human and public health nutrition, food production, biosystems engineering, food law, consumer behaviour and food safety.

Students will gain an understanding of the nature of food, how it is produced, how it is affected by processing, why we eat, what happens to food when we eat it, and how food components can interact with the functioning of humans. Upon completion of the MSc graduates will be able to apply this knowledge to address nutrition-related problems in different groups, cultures and societies.

Graduates will be educated to a high level in the science of food as it pertains to human nutrition and health.

Careers & Employability

There are excellent job prospects for graduates in Food, Nutrition and Health with graduates working in a range of roles across the food industry, public health and regulatory agencies. Graduates have the distinct advantage of bringing a nutrition or health perspective to their roles.

Within the food industry graduates will work in areas such as product innovation, technical sales, product quality enhancement, nutrition and health promotion or food labelling regulation.

Graduate Roles include:

• Product Innovation
• Technical Sales
• Production Quality Enhancement
• Health Promotion
• Food Regulation

Vision and Values Statement

The Graduate Certificate in Food, Nutrition and Health aims to enable students to transform their careers, and develop intellectually and professionally, to achieve and demonstrate the skills, knowledge and expertise necessary to succeed in times of rapid global food nutrition and health change. The programme provides an academically challenging and professionally relevant, focused programmes of study for students who wish to develop careers in Food, Nutrition and Health. The programme will allow students to develop subject specific knowledge in core areas of Food, Nutrition and Health. Teamwork, collaboration and communication are integral components of this programme. The programme will provide opportunities to become connected with fellow students from a range of disciplines and cultures, and utilise the online nature of the course to strengthen connectedness, and design innovative and creative solutions to problems across the Food, Nutrition and Health spectrum.