23 September 2024
Sydney-based Damian Maganja switched from the professional working landscape to research four years ago, undertaking a PhD titled ‘Assessing and improving the healthiness of online retail food environments’.
Supervisors: Prof. Jason Wu (Nutrition Science Program Head, The George Institute for Global Health, and Associate Investigator with RE-FRESH 2019-2023); RE-FRESH: Next Generation Director Prof. Adrian Cameron; and Dr Kathy Trieu (Nutrition Implementation Research Program Lead, The George Institute for Global Health).
Damian took a moment to share a little about his research, what he has learned and what the future may hold in this special Q&A piece…
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Firstly, can you share a little about what your PhD aimed to explore?
Online grocery shopping is increasingly popular, but we don’t know much about the opportunities and threats this poses to dietary patterns. Through my PhD, I sought to: 1) investigate marketing practices that can influence the healthiness of purchases in online supermarkets, and 2) develop and test a novel intervention to improve the healthiness of purchases in online supermarkets.
How did you end up ‘here’ – undertaking a PhD?
After completing a postgrad degree in public health, I took up a position with the Australian Department of Health working in and eventually leading the team implementing the Health Star Rating front-of-pack nutrition labelling system. This was a very fortunate experience, as I had a unique opportunity to work closely with, learn from and support some really inspiring researchers and advocates. I sadly had to leave that job when moving cities (this was pre-COVID) and was resigned to not coming back to the public health nutrition space. But after a couple of years working in other health policy areas a PhD opportunity popped up at The George Institute, and somehow my experience and interest was enough to convince my supervisors to take me on – I am very grateful for their trust in me!
You’ve celebrated pressing ‘submit’ on your PhD thesis, what’s next for you?
I started as a Research Fellow at The George Institute, with Dr Alexandra Jones, in February 2024, where I’m working to improve regulation of harmful products and governance of industries that profit from them.
What have you enjoyed most about your PhD?
The opportunities to work with and learn from so many different people and groups. It’s also been a gateway to working on the things that I am personally and professionally motivated by. I’ll admit that this did take me away from the PhD a lot of the time, but it’s been such a rewarding experience more broadly. I am again grateful that my supervisors gave me this freedom.
What did you learn most from your supervisors?
Beyond the critical technical skills, I’ve appreciated learning how to navigate this funny world we work in. Their different perspectives and approaches have really helped me figure out not just what I want to do with my work but also how I want to do it.
What did you learn from studying at this level? Perhaps a pearl of wisdom you could share with others starting their PhD journey?
I think the two main things I’ve realised is that doing a PhD should be treated as far as possible just like regular work, and that doing the PhD is itself validation of your deserving place in the research world (i.e. you’re here because you demonstrate you can and should be here). Maybe the other point is that it provides an incredible platform to advocate for the things you care about, or at least work on, to change the world for the better – I see this as the most important part of my PhD.
Where do you see yourself – hopes/dreams – in 20 years from now?
I genuinely don’t know or have a plan. Really, I just want to be able to keep doing work that I feel is useful and satisfying. Whether that’s within academia, or outside to focus more on policy and advocacy, I’m not at all sure – we’ll see how I go (also my experiences with seeking funding will play a big role, I reckon).
Finally, can you share a list of publications that have come out of your PhD?
Certainly!
- Maganja D, de Carle M, Davies T, Gómez-Donoso C, Scapin T, Cameron A,… Wu JHY. Healthiness of food products promoted through placement strategies in Australian online supermarkets: a cross-sectional study. BMC Medicine. 2024. doi: 10.1186/s12916-024-03557-y
- Maganja D, Davies T, Sanavio L, Louie JCY, Huffman MD, Trieu K, Wu JHY. Current food labelling practices in online supermarkets in Australia. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. 2023. doi: 10.1186/s12966-023-01504-3
- Maganja D, Trieu K, Reading M, Huang L, Hart AC,… Wu JHY. Protocol for a novel sodium and blood pressure reduction intervention targeting online grocery shoppers with hypertension – the SaltSwitch Online Grocery Shopping (OGS) randomised trial. American Heart Journal. 2022. doi: 10.1016/j.ahj.2022.06.007
- Maganja D, Miller M, Trieu K, Scapin T, Cameron A, Wu JHY. Evidence Gaps in Assessments of the Healthiness of Online Supermarkets Highlight the Need for New Monitoring Tools: a Systematic Review. Current Atherosclerosis Reports. 2022. doi: 10.1007/s11883-022-01004-y
Do you have any links to other resources/projects you’ve worked on that you’d like to share?
I’m currently co-convenor of the Public Health Association of Australia’s Food and Nutrition Special Interest Group. We’d love to have you on board!
‘Consumers are increasingly relying on online supermarkets. Damian’s PhD provided unique insights into how online supermarkets in Australia are currently designed and identified features that are likely pushing consumers towards junk foods. Not only has Damian’s PhD expanded the toolkit available for assessing online food environments, but the findings are also policy-relevant as food regulators begin to pay more attention to online food retail. Damian brought his can-do attitude to drive the research and his excellent communication skills to share the findings to a broad range of audiences. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with Damian. ’Prof. Jason Wu, Supervisor
