Dr Robert Akparibo, Senior Lecturer in Global Health and Nutrition at the University of Sheffield, is working with international organisations and researchers to ensure school meals and child health receive the attention they deserve in global policy. He has been appointed Co‑Chair of the Global School Meals Coalition Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition, leading an international network that turns evidence into action. The consortium builds the evidence base that governments and policymakers need to strengthen school health and nutrition programmes and improve outcomes for children and adolescents worldwide.
Akparibo’s work feeds into UNESCO’s 2025–2026 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, Learn to Eat Well, which examines how education can support better nutrition and promote lifelong healthy eating behaviours. The report advocates a joined‑up approach to food education, embedding food literacy into learning from early childhood through adulthood and recognising the need for opportunities throughout life to make informed food choices.
He attended the report’s international launch at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, joining a panel of international leaders and experts, including UNESCO’s Assistant Director‑General for Education, UNEP Goodwill Ambassadors and the Director General of the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT. The panel explored how education can support healthier, more sustainable food systems, highlighting the links between what people learn, the choices they make, and the wider food environments in which they live. Akparibo said, “Education can play a critical role in building healthier eating habits and more sustainable food systems.”
Beyond education policy, Akparibo’s expertise informs responses to disruption and strengthens monitoring of young people’s health and nutrition. Following disruption to Ukraine’s national school meals programme due to the Russian‑Ukraine conflict, he contributed as a technical expert to a WHO working group developing policy guidance to support its restoration. He also contributes to joint UNICEF–World Food Programme technical working groups reviewing and developing global indicators for adolescent health and nutrition, helping countries track progress and strengthen accountability.
More recently, Akparibo represented the University of Sheffield and the Global School Meals Coalition Research Consortium at an expert consultation convened by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome. The meeting focused on developing a global methodology to help countries establish evidence‑based nutrition guidelines and standards for school meals. While food cultures, resources and nutritional needs vary, all face the challenge of ensuring school meals contribute to children’s health and development. A robust, adaptable methodology can help governments develop standards that reflect national contexts while drawing on evidence about good nutrition.
Akparibo reflected on his international appointments, saying, “It is both humbling and rewarding to have my work recognised through these international appointments. More importantly, they provide an opportunity to contribute evidence and expertise that can help improve the health, nutrition, and learning outcomes of children and adolescents globally.”
Through these partnerships, the University of Sheffield is contributing to international efforts to improve school health and nutrition, supporting a future in which more children and young people can access nutritious food, develop healthy habits and benefit from better opportunities to learn and thrive.
