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  • Dr Claire Pulker

    Dr Claire Pulker

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  • Google Scholar profile
    https://scholar.google.com.au/citations?hl=en&user=66E9LgUAAAAJ
  • Google Scholar profile
  • ResearchGate profile
    https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claire-Pulker-2
  • ResearchGate profile

Dr Claire Pulker

Senior Research Fellow

Staff Member Details
Email: c.pulker@ecu.edu.au
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0262-4135

Dr Claire Pulker is a public health nutritionist with over 30 years’ professional experience. She is a Senior Research Fellow in the Food Environments Team of the Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute within the School of Health and Medical Sciences, responsible for overseeing the development and management of a range of research projects.

Background

Dr Pulker has been recognised as a Registered Nutritionist by the Association for Nutrition (UK) since 2003. She worked in the UK food industry for ten years, including as the Company Nutritionist for two supermarket chains, where she played a pivotal role in shaping healthier food environments. In Australia, Dr Pulker contributed public health nutrition expertise to food regulatory affairs as Senior Policy Officer for the WA Department of Health; led policy development and implementation for the launch of healthy and sustainable fast-casual restaurants in London and New York; and led development and implementation of the obesity prevention strategy at Perth’s East Metropolitan Health Service, where she was the Principal Public Health Nutritionist. She has developed food and nutrition policy for supermarket chains, restaurant chains, and food manufacturers, setting criteria for products considered nutritious and environmentally sustainable, and guiding responsible marketing of food.

Claire’s PhD explored how Australian supermarkets influence public health, producing eight first-author publications in Q1 journals. At only 1-year post-PhD (relative to opportunity), Claire has developed tools and frameworks to objectively assess the risk of supermarket own brand foods, food service menus, and food outlets to dietary health and applied them locally. Her extensive experience in food and nutrition policymaking and implementation informs her focus on integrating feasibility assessment into the policy process. Her research involves developing collaborations with stakeholders from government, health services, non-government organisations, and other academic researchers to understand food environments and the risk to population health. Bringing her real-world experience to research, she is committed to translating findings into practical strategies to improve public health nutrition.

Professional Associations

  • Registered Nutritionist (Food), Association for Nutrition UK
  • Nutrition Society UK
  • World Public Health Nutrition Association
  • Public Health Association of Australia

Research Areas and Interests

  • Public health nutrition
  • Food environments
  • Food security
  • Food marketing
  • Supermarket own brands

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Curtin University of Technology, 2019.
  • Master of Medical Science, England, 1994.
  • Bachelor of Science (Honours) Food Resource Management, England, 1992.

Research Outputs

2024

Journal Articles

  • Mossenson, S., Giglia, R., Pulker, C., Dhaliwal, SS., Chester, M., Bigwood, R., Pollard, CM. (2024). The Nutritional Quality of Food Donated to a Western Australian Food Bank. Nutrients, 16(4), Article number 509. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16040509.
  • Mossenson, S., Giglia, R., Pulker, C., Chester, M., McStay, C., Pollard, CM. (2024). Evidence for initiating food safety policy: An assessment of the quality and safety of donated food at an Australian food bank. Food Policy, 123(February 2024), Article number 102589. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2023.102589.

2023

Book Chapters

Journal Articles

  • Mossenson, S., Pulker, C., Giglia, R., Pollard, C. (2023). Policy approaches to nutrition-focused food banking in industrialized countries: a scoping review. Nutrition Reviews, 81(10), 1373-1392. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuad004.
  • Mossenson, S., Giglia, R., Pulker, C., Chester, M., Pollard, CM. (2023). Dietary risk of donated food at an Australian food bank: an audit protocol. BMC Nutrition, 9(1), Article number 67. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-023-00719-8.
  • Mossenson, S., Giglia, R., Pulker, C., Pollard, C. (2023). Inappropriate and inedible: public health insights into supermarket donations to an Australian food bank. Population Medicine, 5(Article in press), 245-246. https://doi.org/10.18332/POPMED/165339.
  • Bivoltsis, A., Christian, H., Ambrosini, G., Hooper, P., Pulker, C., Thornton, L., Trapp, G. (2023). The community food environment and its association with diet, health or weight status in Australia: A systematic review with recommendations for future research. Health Promotion Journal of Australia, 34(2), 328-365. https://doi.org/10.1002/hpja.679.
  • Pulker, C., Aberle, L., Butcher, L., Whitton, C., Law, K., Large, A., Pollard, C., Trapp, G. (2023). Development of the Menu Assessment Scoring Tool (MAST) to Assess the Nutritional Quality of Food Service Menus. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(5), article number 3998. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20053998.

2022

Journal Articles

  • Trapp, G., Pulker, C., Hurworth, M., Law, KK., Brinkman, S., Pollard, CM., Harray, AJ., Sambell, R., Mandzufas, J., Anzman-Frasca, S., Hickling, S. (2022). The Nutritional Quality of Kids’ Menus from Cafés and Restaurants: An Australian Cross-Sectional Study. Nutrients, 14(13), article number 2741. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14132741.

2021

Book Chapters

Journal Articles

  • Law, K., Pulker, C., Healy, J., Pollard, C. (2021). “Just So You Know, It Has Been Hard”: Food Retailers’ Perspectives of Implementing a Food and Nutrition Policy in Public Healthcare Settings. Nutrients, 13(6), article number 2053. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13062053.

2020

Journal Articles

  • Pulker, C., Farquhar, H., Pollard, C., Scott, J. (2020). The nutritional quality of supermarket own brand chilled convenience foods: An Australian cross-sectional study reveals limitations of the Health Star Rating. Public Health Nutrition, 23(12), 2068-2077. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980020000051.
  • Pulker, C., Trapp, G., Fallows, M., Hooper, P., McKee, H., Pollard, C. (2020). Food Outlets Dietary Risk (FODR) assessment tool: study protocol for assessing the public health nutrition risks of community food environments. Nutrition Journal, 19(1), article number 122. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-020-00641-w.

2019

Book Chapters

  • Pollard, CM., Begley, A., Pulker, C. (2019). Practitioner advocacy to promote healthy and sustainable food systems. Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems (349-381). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351189033-19.

Journal Articles

  • Pulker, C., Pulker, C., Trapp, G., Scott, J., Pollard, C. (2019). The nature and quality of australian supermarkets’ policies that can impact public health nutrition, and evidence of their practical application: A cross-sectional study. Nutrients, 11(4), article number 853. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11040853.
  • Pulker, C., Li, D., Scott, J., Pollard, C. (2019). The impact of voluntary policies on parents’ ability to select healthy foods in supermarkets: A qualitative study of australian parental views. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(18), article number 3377. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16183377.
  • Pollard, C., Booth, S., Jancey, J., Mackintosh, B., Pulker, C., Wright, J., Begley, A., Imtiaz, S., Silic, C., Mukhtar, S., Caraher, M., Berg, J., Kerr, D. (2019). Long-term food insecurity, hunger and risky food acquisition practices: A cross-sectional study of food charity recipients in an Australian capital city. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(15), article number 2749. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16152749.
  • Lawrence, M., Baker, P., Pulker, C., Pollard, C. (2019). Sustainable, resilient food systems for healthy diets: The transformation agenda. Public Health Nutrition, 22(16), 2916-2920. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980019003112.

2018

Journal Articles

  • Pulker, C., Scott, J., Pollard, C. (2018). Ultra-processed family foods in Australia: Nutrition claims, health claims and marketing techniques. Public Health Nutrition, 21(1), 38-48. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980017001148.
  • Pulker, C., Thornton, L., Trapp, G. (2018). What is known about consumer nutrition environments in Australia? A scoping review of the literature. Obesity Science & Practice, 4(4), 318-337. https://doi.org/10.1002/osp4.275.
  • Pulker, C., Trapp, G., Scott, J., Pollard, C. (2018). Alignment of supermarket own brand foods’ front-of-pack nutrition labelling with measures of nutritional quality: An australian perspective. Nutrients, 10(10), article number 1465. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10101465.
  • Pulker, C., Trapp, G., Foulkes-Taylor, F., Scott, J., Pollard, C. (2018). The extent and nature of supermarket own brand foods in Australia: Study protocol for describing the contribution of selected products to the healthfulness of food environments. Nutrition Journal, 17(1), article number 95. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-018-0404-4.
  • Pulker, C., Trapp, G., Scott, J., Pollard, C. (2018). Global supermarkets' corporate social responsibility commitments to public health: A content analysis. Globalization and Health, 14(1), article number 121. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-018-0440-z.
  • Pulker, C., Trapp, G., Scott, J., Pollard, C. (2018). What are the position and power of supermarkets in the Australian food system, and the implications for public health? A systematic scoping review. Obesity Reviews, 19(2), 198-218. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12635.

Research Projects

  • Pioneering a national 'Food Atlas' to map, measure and monitor food access across Australia , National Health and Medical Research Council, Ideas Grants (2023), 2024 ‑ 2028, $2,878,533.
  • Implementing local government policies to restrict unhealthy food advertising, Healthway (WA Health Promotion Foundation), Healthy Communities Grant, 2024 ‑ 2026, $922,241.
  • Supporting healthy eating: The Food Environment AssesSments Tool (FEAST), Healthway (WA Health Promotion Foundation), Health Promotion Project Grant, 2024, $78,414.
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