Would you let your phone tell you what to eat?
The Fairbrother Lecture is a University public lecture established in 2014. Named after Jack Fairbrother, who in 1929 became the first student to be awarded a PhD from the University, the Fairbrother Lecture is an annual event at which a current, or recent, Reading doctoral researcher presents their work to a wider audience.
Designing technology for personalised nutrition advice
The 2018 Fairbrother Lecture took place on Wednesday 21 March and was delivered by Rodrigo Zenun Franco, a doctoral researcher in Computer Science. Over one hundred people gathered to hear Rodrigo talk about his doctoral research developing an app that can deliver tailored dietary advice to your phone, tablet or computer.
Rodrigo undertook an undergraduate degree in Brazil, before coming to Reading for his MSc. His PhD is supervised by Dr Faustina Hwang (Biomedical Engineering, School of Biological Sciences) and Professor Julie Lovegrove (Hugh Sinclair Unit of Human Nutrition, School of Chemistry, Food & Pharmacy). The work is supported by the British Nutrition Foundation and the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).
Accompanying the lecture, there was a display of work by a number of other outstanding doctoral researchers from across the University: Vincent DeLuca (Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences); Anna Freeman (Geography & Environmental Science - see image to right); Rita Goyal (Henley Business School); Sophie Payne (Literature and Languages) and Suzannah Ravenscroft (Psychology & Clinical Language Sciences).