معرفی
Elisabet Rudjord Hillesund is Professor and Head of the Department of Nutrition and Public Health at the University of Agder (UiA), Faculty of Health and Sport Sciences. She has held this leadership position since 2020, following her appointment as Associate Professor from 2015-2020. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a Clinical Nutritionist at various healthcare institutions including Sørlandet Hospital HF, Kirkenes Hospital, and in private practice from 1988-2015.
Professor Hillesund's research focuses on diet and nutrition during nutritionally vulnerable life stages, including young adulthood/preconception years, pregnancy, infancy and early childhood. She is actively involved in the Priority Research Centre on Lifecourse Nutrition at UiA, where she has analyzed data from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Study to investigate associations between maternal diet during pregnancy and measures of pregnancy health, child growth and development, mental health and personality up to 8 years. Her work includes developing e-learning resources targeting specific populations and examining the importance of family meals in early childhood nutrition.
Her extensive publication record demonstrates expertise in early-life nutrition interventions, particularly through digital platforms and community-based approaches. Her research has examined dietary patterns in preconception, pregnancy outcomes related to adolescent diet, family meal participation effects on child development, and the implementation of evidence-based nutrition interventions in early childhood education settings. She has contributed significantly to understanding how early nutrition affects long-term health outcomes through the developmental origins of health and disease framework.
As Head of Department, Professor Hillesund oversees two Bachelor's programs in Public Health Work and Public Health Nutrition, a Master's program in Public Health Science, and contributes to Teacher's Education with Food and Health (Home Economics) and Early Childhood Education and Care education. She is currently co-supervising two PhD students and is involved in several research projects including the "Next Generation Nordic Diet" project.
Her department houses the Priority Research Centre on Lifecourse Nutrition, which develops and evaluates e-learning resources for target groups including pregnant women, parents of infants and toddlers, and young adults. The center's research has demonstrated associations between early family meal participation and measures of diet quality, growth and development.
