Maria Waling

Research

My research concerns various aspects of food and meals in children and adolescents. The past 10 years, I have performed research on health, social and educational perspectives on school meals. I also do research on food insecurity in a Swedish context.

I have also done research on how overweight and obesity can be prevented through lifestyle changes related to food habits and physical activity.

I have a great interest in different research methods and have experience in carrying out different dietary assessment methods and validating dietary assessment methods. I have competence in both quantitative and qualitative research methods and in conducting randomized controlled trials.

In 2018 I was rewarded with a price from "Kunliga Skytteanska Samfundet" which is a price that a young, successful researcher at Umeå University receives.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9743-8567

Research supervision

I am the supervisor of three doctoral students. I am the main supervisor for Ana Karina Pastrana Polo, who works with a project that concerns food insecurity among adolescents in Sweden. Ana Karina is part of the national research school InSyNC.

I am an assistant supervisor for Susanna Sandberg, who works with a project called "A school lunch for all" and she is part of The Graduate School in Educational Sciences at Umeå University.

I am also an assistant supervisor for Hilde Weiser, who focus on sustainable eating among adolescents in the Swedish Arctic. Hilde is part of The Arctic Graduate School with a focus on Sustainable Development at Umeå University.

Teaching

My teaching mainly focuses on children's and young people's food habits, school meals, dietary assessment methods and scientific methods. I supervise and examine student theses at basic and advanced level.

Leadership

During 2019-2021 I was the head of department and during the years 2014-2018 I was the assistant head of department and responsible for the research.