Clare Whitton

Dr. Clare Whitton is a Post Doctoral Research Associate in the Food Environments Team of the Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute within the School of Medical and Health Sciences at Edith Cowan University. With over 10 years of experience across academic and government settings in the UK, Singapore, and Australia, she specializes in public health nutrition research focusing on dietary assessment methods, population nutrition surveillance, food environments, and policy evaluation.

Dr. Whitton completed her academic training with a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health from Curtin University of Technology (2024) and a Master of Science in Public Health Nutrition from the United Kingdom (2009).

Her research primarily investigates how technology can improve dietary assessment accuracy, examining the relationship between digital food marketing exposure and dietary behaviors, and evaluating food environments to inform public health policy. She has conducted extensive work on dietary patterns in multi-ethnic Asian populations and their relationship to chronic disease risk factors. Her methodological expertise includes developing and validating dietary assessment tools and conducting large-scale nutrition surveillance studies.

Dr. Whitton's recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on technology-assisted dietary assessment methods, food environment analysis, and the relationship between dietary patterns and health outcomes in diverse populations. Her work bridges nutritional science, public health policy, and technological innovation, with particular attention to the Asian context and increasingly, Australian settings.

Dr. Whitton has received significant recognition for her research:

• Australian Government Research Training Programme Stipend Scholarship (2020-2023)
• Public Health Association of Australia WA Branch Student Award (2023)

As an active member of the Public Health Association of Australia, Dr. Whitton contributes to research that directly informs nutrition policy development and evaluation. Her current work includes implementing local government policies to restrict unhealthy food advertising through a $922,241 Healthy Communities Grant from Healthway (WA Health Promotion Foundation) running from 2024-2026.

Dr. Whitton is a key member of the Food Environments Team within the Nutrition & Health Innovation Research Institute, collaborating with researchers across Australia and internationally on projects examining food environments, dietary assessment methods, and population nutrition.