Speakers and Programme for Scottish Obesity Alliance and Obesity Action Scotland half-day conference - 10th June 2025

As MSP for Argyll and Bute, Jenni has contributed to three parliamentary committees and held membership on 15 cross party groups. Her campaign for the removal of VAT from defibrillators received cross-party support in the Scottish Parliament. Ms Minto was appointed as Minister for Public Health and Women's Health in March 2023.

Conference session: Keynote address

Dr Shoba John heads Obesity Action Scotland and convenes the Scottish Obesity Alliance. She has over two decades of experience leading national and international health initiatives and coalitions, with a specific focus on commercially driven risk factors of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).

Prior to joining OAS, Dr John served as the Programme Director for a Canadian non-profit for 16 years, engaged in the deliberations on the tobacco control treaty and strengthening civil society advocacy for NCD prevention policies, with a particular focus on low-and middle-income countries.

International organisations including WHO, World Bank and the NCD Alliance regularly seek her expertise in fostering multisectoral response to complex health problems and creating linkages between health and developmental concerns. Cross-sectoral engagement and a focus on inequalities are therefore dimensions that Dr John has brought to the work of Obesity Action Scotland as well as to this conference.

Recently, Shoba consolidated her work through a doctoral research at the University of Edinburgh, contrasting food and tobacco governance through multi-level case studies that pivoted to Asia.

Conference session: Session 1 - Food Promotions and Inequalities in Obesity; Conference Chair 

Presentation topic: Parental perceptions of food promotions in retail settings in Scotland

With over 30 years in the NHS and third sector, Michelle is driven by a passion for improving children's health and wellbeing. As Head of Children's Services at Children's Health Scotland—the leading children's health rights charity in Scotland— she works closely with children, families, carers, and professionals to champion every child's right to the best possible healthcare. Children's Health Scotland advocates for the healthcare rights of children and young people, providing vital resources, guidance, and support to ensure they receive the care they deserves.

Conference Session: Chair of Session 1 - Food Promotions and Inequalities in Obesity 

Dionne is currently the Head of Place, Environment and Health Harms recently joining Public Health Scotland from the Scottish Government where she has held policy roles in Medicines, Pharmacy and Public Health Policy and sponsorship roles for NHS Health Scotland and the establishment of a new joint Scottish Government/COSLA sponsorship model for Public Health Scotland. Before joining the Scottish Government, Dionne worked with the UK Government’s Department for International Development in the Human Development Department as a Nutrition Advisor (advising on obesity/double burden of malnutrition) and latterly as the Deputy Head of Evaluation in the Research and Evidence Department. Prior to these roles, Dionne has gained experience working in NHS Health Scotland (working in obesity, food and diet evidence portfolios), academia and the Third Sector. She has a PhD in Public Health Nutrition from the University of Dundee and is a Registered Nutritionist (Public Health).

Conference session: Session 1 - Food Promotions and Inequalities in Obesity 

Presentation topic: Setting the scene - obesity trends and projections 

Alana McDonald is a Registered Nutritionist (Public Health), and a senior Public Health Nutrition Advisor at Food Standards Scotland. Alana studied Nutrition at Robert Gordon University, graduating in 2013. Her areas of work involve looking at what people are buying and eating, the impact this has on our overall diet and progress towards achieving the Scottish Dietary Goals. This work forms part of FSS' wider dietary monitoring programme which provides evidence to inform and shape policy across a wide range of actions in diet and nutrition.

Conference session: Session 1 - Food Promotions and Inequalities in Obesity 

Presentation topic: Data and evidence on promotions in Scotland 

Christina is the Director of the Centre for Food Policy, Professor of Food Policy and a registered nutritionist. Her research aims to inform the development, implementation and evaluation of food policies and interventions to improve population health, reduce inequalities and protect our planet.

Her work adopts a food systems approach and investigates the wider determinants of diet. Community participation and public voices are also integral to her research activities and development of policy recommendations to ensure they are appropriate and help shape fairer, more sustainable and more resilient food systems.

Christina leads several major research grants from NIHR PHR, NIHR PRP and the Wellcome Trust. Some of her currently projects include product placement trials with a national supermarket chain, evaluations of the UK Government’s Food (Promotions and Placement) legislation and the Healthy Start scheme, and systems investigation of the UK convenience store sector.

Christina’s research has informed local, national and international policy documents including the House of Lord’s Select Committee reports on Food, Diet and Obesity and Food, Poverty, Health and the Environment, the WHO European Region’s 2022 report on obesity and local authority plans. Her work has received national and international press coverage, and she is Deputy Editor of the scientific journal Public Health Nutrition.

Conference session: Session 1 - Food Promotions and Inequalities in Obesity

Presentation topic: Evidence and learnings from England's location promotions regulations 

Simon has worked in public health for three decades, teaching, advising on policy, and researching the epidemiology and prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), hence studies on inequalities, tobacco, alcohol, inactivity and, crucially, obesity and poor diet.

Simon’s personal outputs thus far include over 400 publications (Google H index 80), and some £30 million in total funding (over £5m as Principal Investigator). 

Simon enjoys family time, walking & gardening. Though officially retired, he also greatly enjoys continuing his professional activities, especially supporting three NGOs (OAS, ASH Scotland and HEG), and mentoring colleagues at all levels.

Conference session: Chair of Session 2 - HFSS Food Advertising and Sponsorship: Public Health Impact and Response

Robin Ireland has worked in public health since 1984, including being employed by Princes Park Health Centre in Liverpool 8 and Mersey Regional Health Authority amongst others.

He is the former Chief Executive of the Health Equalities Group (HEG) charity based in Liverpool. Ireland established the organisation in 2002, followed by Healthy Stadia in 2004 and Food Active in 2013, both part of HEG, and is now an Honorary Director of Research with the charity. He has since worked with the University of Dundee and Obesity Action Scotland. Robin was elected Member of the UK Faculty of Public Health through Distinction in 2015.

Robin received a BA (Hons) in Development Studies at the University of East Anglia and gained his MPH at the University of Liverpool. He was awarded his PhD by the University of Glasgow in 2021. His thesis was on the Commercial Determinants of Health in Sport.

Conference session: Session 2 - HFSS Food Advertising and Sponsorship: Public Health Impact and Response

Presentation topic: HFSS sponsorship in sport and impacts on public health 

Fran Bernhardt is Sustain’s Commercial Determinants Coordinator. She specialises in supporting governments to champion children’s health by switching the spotlight away from unhealthy foods and drinks across their advertising estates. In 2018, she was seconded into the Mayor of London’s team where she advised on writing and implementing the policy across the Transport for London network. Since then she has written Sustain’s Healthier Food Advertising Policy Toolkit and supported a further 24 English local authorities to successfully introduce policies including the UK’s first ever comprehensive commercial baby food advertising restriction in line with World Health Organization recommendations. She now runs a working party of over 150 UK local governments, has been consulted by several international governments and has given keynote speeches at international conferences. She regularly contributes to academic research, has been published as lead author in a peer-reviewed journal and in 2024, was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to explore successful food industry regulations in Latin America.

Conference session: Session 2 - HFSS Food Advertising and Sponsorship: Public Health Impact and Response

Presentation topic: Experiences and lessons from outdoor advertising policies in English local authorities 

Ryan McShane is an activist with interests in young people's rights, human rights, food poverty and insecurity, climate change and childhood trauma and adversity. He is a member of Who Cares? Scotland, a membership organisation which provides independent advocacy for care experienced people in Scotland. He subsequently was elected by its members to represent them at Scotland's Youth Parliament from 2017 and 2019. During his term, he chaired the Sport and Leisure Committee which had remit to constantly review young people's health and public health trends. This included how our food systems were impacting young people's lives and how the changing climate around us was having on our daily lives. An opportunity came around when the UK Future Food Inquiry took place in 2018, he attended its Findings Reception in the Scottish Parliament, joined by other UK Food Ambassadors. He was later asked to join the Food Foundation, and become a UK Food Ambassador. In that role, he amended the Right2Food charter due to the pandemic that came from the Future Food inquiry which is a series of asks on policy matter for all four governments. He has a particular interest in political campaigning and is passionate about how open and transparent governments are when implementing policy that relates to young people, food systems and the climate. Having been successful in a national campaign around young people's rights in Scotland which seen a change to the law, he is committed to taking a human rights based approach to Climate Change, transformative food systems, and nutritional foods for the future, and achieving NetZero in a timely fashion.

Conference session: Session 2 - HFSS Food Advertising and Sponsorship: Public Health Impact and Response

Presentation topic: A young person’s perspective on advertising and sponsorship of HFSS products

Prof Mary Brennan completed her Bachelor of (Agricultural and Food) Engineering (BE) degree at University College Dublin (Ireland) in 1998. In September 1998, she received an MSc. International Agricultural and Food Marketing and PhD (by published work) from Newcastle University (UK) in 1999 and 2011 respectively. From September 1999, she held a series of academic positions at Newcastle University before moving to University of Edinburgh Business School in Nov 2013. Since joining University of Edinburgh Business School, she has taken on the role of Head of the Marketing Group (Aug 2015 - current), been promoted to Professor of Food Marketing and Society (August 2017) and had a 3 year term as Director of UG Programmes on 1 August 2017.  

Prof Brennan is a food consumer researcher who explores the complex, dynamic relationships people have with food, how these shape everyday food practices, underpin contemporary food policy challenges and which are considered very resistant to change. She is also Chair of the Scottish Food Coalition and has worked extensively on the newly passed Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022, establishing and leading the Wellcome Trust funded Good Food Nation Lab, in her role as Lab Director. 

Conference session: Chair of Session 3 - Delivering a Good Food Nation for Scotland locally

Dr William Cook has worked as a dietitian for over twenty years. He started his career as a clinical dietitian in the NHS before an interest in research led him to undertake a PhD at the University of Cambridge, investigating iron absorption in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and the development and in vivo testing of novel iron supplements. He subsequently worked as a research dietitian both in industry and academia, including research studies conducted in prisons- looking at the effect of nutrition on behaviour, and care homes- investigating malnutrition. In his role as Dietetic Consultant in Public Health he has responsibility for a number of programmes of work including food, fluid and nutritional care, maternal and infant nutrition, whole systems approach to child healthy weight and the type 2 diabetes prevention and remission framework.

Conference session: Session 3 - Delivering a Good Food Nation for Scotland locally 

Perspective: Local voices – the role of health boards in supporting delivery of a Good Food Nation locally

Tracy has worked for the Scottish Government in a wide variety of roles ranging from marine science, marine planning and licensing and now food policy. She headed up the policy team that took the Good Food Nation Bill through Parliament and is now working to implement the legislation. Her current work is focussed on developing the first national Good Food Nation Plan.

Conference session: Session 3 - Delivering a Good Food Nation for Scotland locally

Perspective: National Good Food Nation policy supporting local delivery  

Dr Meadhbh Maguire MRTPI is a practicing Chartered Planner with over 10 years of experience spanning planning policy, development management and planning academia. Her areas of specialist interest include transport, health, retail and rural development. Holding a PhD from McGill University, her doctoral thesis examined how the planning system could be used to intervene in regulatory retail environments following the Canadian legalisation of Cannabis, and was awarded the RTPI Early Career Research Excellence Award. She has worked in partnership with Nesta and Public Health Scotland to explore how the planning system can intervene in food environments since the adoption of National Planning Framework 4. Dr Maguire has most recently received the RTPI Early Career Research Grant to investigate takeaway food outlet regulation in four local government areas in the North East of England. She continues to practice in local government in Scotland as a Principal Planner with the Highland Council.

Conference session: Session 3 - Delivering a Good Food Nation for Scotland locally 

Perspective: Using the planning system locally to support a Good Food Nation

With a strong background in housing and community development, Mandy previously served as a local councillor for Glasgow City Council and worked in various frontline roles including Housing Officer and Accommodation Officer. Mandy played a key role in establishing the Ruchazie Pantry and supporting the growth of the wider community through the Development Trust, Growing 21. Mandy is the founder and manager of The Scottish Pantry Network and TSPN Enterprise, organisations focused on tackling food insecurity by supporting pantry development, delivering meal kits, and running community cookery classes.

Conference session: Session 3 - Delivering a Good Food Nation for Scotland locally 

Perspective: Third sector organisations in supporting local food provision through the Good Food Nation agenda  

Andrew was Director of Public Health in NHS Highland from 1994-97, Deputy Chief Medical Officer in the Health Department of the Scottish Office, then Scottish Executive from 1997-2003. He was responsible for advice on Public Health Policy, taking a particular interest in health protection matters, alcohol-related harm, public health laws and, increasingly, health inequalities and the health of marginalised groups. He worked in the Scottish Prison Service from 2003-2012 as Director of Health and Care, also advising the government and World Health Organisation on prison-related health matters, alcohol and drugs policy. From 2012 until 2021 he was Director of Public Health Science at NHS Health Scotland until it became Public Health Scotland, when he took on Medical Director and Senior Adviser roles. Throughout, his focus has been on effective ways to narrow health inequalities in Scotland, creating the conditions for change in healthy eating and active living to improve Scotland's health.

Conference Session: Closing session - summary and next steps; vote of thanks