Short Oral Presentation Nutrition Society of Australia 50th Annual Scientific Meeting 2026

Updating the foundations of contemporary nutrition degrees: A scoping review to inform Australian nutrition science competency standards revision. (147259)

Katya Clark 1 , Tanya Lawlis 2 , Zoe Davidson 3 , Jessica Kempler 4 , Katherine Kent 5 , Susan McLeod 6 , Margaret Murray 7 , Libby Swanepoel 8 , Nichola Thompson 9
  1. Nutrition & Dietetics, Curtin School of Population Health, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia
  2. Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT, Australia
  3. Nutrition, Dietetics and Food, Monash University, Notting Hill, Victoria, Australia
  4. Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition, Deakin University, Burwood, Vic, Australia
  5. School of Medical, Indigenous and Health Sciences, University of Wollonging, Wollongong, NSW, Australia
  6. School of Allied Health, Human Services and Sport, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Vic, Australia
  7. School of Health Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Vic, Australia
  8. School of Health, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Qld, Australia
  9. School of Allied Health and Human Performance, Adelaide University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

Competency standards inform university curriculum. This abstract describes progress of the update being undertaken by the Nutrition Society of Australia’s Special Interest Group Nutrition Education and Tertiary Teaching (SIGNETT) to inform Australian nutrition science programs and majors. Stage 1 involved a scoping review to identify contemporary and emerging knowledge, skills and workforce expectations relevant to nutrition science that have emerged since publication of the 2019 competencies (1). The review was guided by the scoping review framework of Arskey and O’Mally (2), with reporting informed by the PRISMA-ScR checklist (3). The review process was managed using Covidence. Two search strategies were employed. First, electronic database searches were undertaken in OVID Medline, CINAHL, ERIC and Scopus using combinations of the terms nutrition*, competency*, workforce*, employ*, curriculum*. Second, grey literature searches identified competencies appearing in international nutrition organisation, relevant national position statements and strategic documents. Publications from 2019 onwards addressing nutrition workforce capabilities, professional competencies, curriculum development, or future workforce needs were included. Two reviewers independently screened titles and abstracts, followed by full text review against pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Disagreements were resolved through discussion and consensus.

Following screening, 53 studies met the inclusion criteria. Key concepts were extracted and charted in MS Excel and mapped against the 2019 competencies (1) to identify areas of alignment and novelty. Emerging concepts were synthesised into draft competency statements through an iterative review and refinement process involving the research team. The draft competency statements underwent several rounds of revision, including one round of generative AI-assisted review (Claude Opus 5) to identify overlapping concepts and suggest improvements in wording. Preliminary findings identified novel areas, including food ecology, nutrition literacy, nutrition education and counselling, knowledge in personalised and precision nutrition, professional identity development, as well as emphasising skills in employability, generative AI, data privacy, digital communication and evaluating bias in nutritional discourse.

This scoping review constitutes Stage 1 of the Australian nutrition science competency update project. Stage 2 will involve a Delphi survey in which nutrition experts from academia, industry and the community will rate the proposed competencies. Competencies achieving greater than 70% expert consensus will be retained in the final set, providing an evidence-informed foundation for revising the Australian nutrition science competency standards and guiding curriculum design. Incorporating contemporary and emerging competencies will enable higher education providers to design curricula that prepare future-ready nutrition graduates to meet current and evolving workforce needs.

  1. 1. Lawlis T, Torres SJ, Coates AM et al. (2019) Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 28(1), 166-176.
  2. 2. Arksey, H. and L. O'Malley (2005). "Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework." International Journal of Social Research Methodology 8(1): 19-32.
  3. 3. Tricco, A. C., E. Lillie, W. Zarin, et al. 2018. “PRISMA Extension forScoping Reviews (PRISMA- ScR): Checklist and Explanation.” Annals of Internal Medicine 169: 467–473. https://doi.org/10.7326/M18-0850.