About
Agneta Hörnell is Professor of Food and Nutrition at Umeå University, Sweden, within the Department of Food, Nutrition and Culinary Science. Since 2011 she holds the rank of Professor and currently serves as Assistant Head of Department. A registered dietitian with a licentiate and a doctorate in medicine, she leads multiple research groups focused on dietary assessment, school and hospital meals, child and maternal nutrition, and gastronomy.
Education and Qualifications
- Licentiate in Medicine
- Doctorate in Medicine
- Docent qualification (Associate Professorship)
- Registered Dietitian
Research Interests
Professor Hörnell’s work centres on public-health nutrition, dietary assessment methodology, and the interplay between food culture and health. She investigates how school-meal programmes can foster healthy eating among children, explores challenges faced by business travellers in maintaining nutritious diets, and evaluates patient satisfaction with hospital foodservice. Her projects in East African drylands examine livelihood dynamics and nutrition security, while Nordic collaborations address infant feeding guidelines and sustainable gastronomy.
Her extensive publication record (2013-2025) reveals four dominant themes: (1) school meals & child nutrition, (2) maternal & infant feeding in low-resource settings, (3) dietary surveillance & methodological innovation, and (4) gastronomy as a driver of sustainable food systems. These studies combine quantitative epidemiology, qualitative grounded theory, and mixed-method evaluations, ensuring robust evidence for policy and practice.
Research Leadership & Funding
She heads six active research groups:
- Dietary and nutritional treatment
- Health
- Learning
- Meals within school and health care
- Measurement and evaluation of dietary intake and dietary data
- The Individual and Society
Major funded projects include Drylands Transform (2020-2024), investigating SDG pathways in East African drylands; the ProMeal study (2013-ongoing) on Nordic school meals; and Gastronomy as a link between Swedish food production and consumption (2018).
Contact
Email: agneta.hornell@umu.se
Phone: +46 90 786 95 68
Location: Lärarutbildningshuset, Plan 4, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
