Nutritional Sciences

Program Description: 

Sufficient food, in terms of both quality and quantity, has been known to be a vitally important determinant of maintaining and improving health status in the individual and society. This is considered the fundamental right of the public. In addition to meeting the nutritional requirements, food should be consistent with the socio-economic and cultural norms. These challenges have led to a growing demand for trained nutritionists to work in a range of contexts to achieve this aim at national and international levels.  This field of study will offer the graduates the specialized, scientific knowledge and practical skills in accordance with the requirements of the individual and society. The aim of training nutritionists is to educate the experts with appropriate and specialized knowledge and communication skills to help in the treatment and prevention of the nutritional problems of the individual and society, using a holistic and community-oriented approach.

The Ph.D. program in Nutritional Sciences provides interdisciplinary training and integrated sciences of Biology and Social Sciences to prepare the nutritionist to expand the border of knowledge and to apply this knowledge in public and clinical health care settings through proper programming and research. This field includes a number of comprehensive and participatory activities that require deep knowledge of physiology, biomedicine, food and nutrients metabolism and epidemiology on the one hand, and ecological, cultural and socioeconomic factors affecting the access to, choice, and consumption of food, on the other hand. 

The goal of the Ph.D. program in Nutritional Sciences is to train professionals who can work efficiently as leaders and active participants in nutritional research and education at the national level and help to expand the boundaries of nutrition knowledge for public health promotion.

Objectives:

General Competencies*

Specific Competencies and Skills

At the end of the program learners will be competent in the following skills:

• The ability to develop and provide research and education in all aspects of nutrition including design, conduction and execution
• The ability to detect and resolve the nutritional problems in the individual and society
• The ability to manage and lead food and nutrition programs at policy making level