Hi, Hello, Namaste! I’m Madhurya from India. I’m currently doing my Masters in Nutrition & Behaviour at Bournemouth University. I’ve been in the field of nutrition for close to a decade now and while I was working as a nutritionist in India, I realised that diet and behaviour go hand in hand which I found extremely fascinating and yet undermined in practice. I decided to look up courses where nutrition met psychology halfway and narrowed it down to the BU MSc Nutrition & Behaviour course. My choice was fairly easy because Bournemouth was the only university that offered such a unique course.

I read about the course and experiences of international students who had done this course. I found the course accreditation to be extremely useful for when the job hunt begins, especially being an international student. Apart from that, the faculty seemed to be diverse in terms of their expertise and at the same time, exceptionally qualified. The course content was a perfect balance of nutrition and psychology which I really liked. I also particularly liked how a 10-day placement was offered as part of the course to widen my professional network and skills.

Starting university after being in a professional set-up for a couple of years was certainly challenging but when I saw how the classes were designed and how much time was given for working part- time or taking part in various aspects of uni life, it eased the burden off of me. One of the main challenges that I experienced as a first-time international student was making use of time effectively. As the days progressed, I learnt to manage my time better and used it more effectively to be an active part of university. I’m currently a student representative for my course cohort and a student ambassador for the university. I’m also currently doing my placement in five divergent areas of nutrition. To support my studies, I have two part-time jobs. One, as a research assistant to one of the researchers at the university and another as an activities assistant at a dementia and residential care home.

So far, the course has equipped me to understand and execute a research project effectively. It has also given me the skills required for critical thinking and critically appraising research papers, which is extremely useful for my upcoming dissertation project. The placement has been great for me in terms of building a professional persona for working in the UK. At the end of my placement, all my experiences will add to my resumé for when I step out of BU. Speaking of my future, I’m keeping my options open. I’d like to be a part of academia or the corporate world.

If you are looking towards studying nutrition and behaviour, my advice would be to come prepared to do a lot more than you’ve done before and be ready to take up any opportunity that knocks on your door because this one year is worth it all!

My course mates and I volunteering as part of our placement

Delivering student ambassador duties

As a newly trained student rep!

The cohort at their Christmas Party ‘22

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MSc Nutrition & Behaviour