Penny Bullion-Peters
BSc (Hons), MSc, ANutr, FRSPH
Food and Nutrition Lecturer
Areas of specialism:
Childhood nutrition in practice, applied public health nutrition, dietary behaviour, PRISMA-informed systematic reviews
External roles:
Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, External Examiner for NCFE Technical Awards – Food and Cookery
Biography
Penny has a multidisciplinary background spanning nutrition, health and culinary practice. She holds a BSc (Hons) in Sports and Exercise Science and an MSc in Nutrition in Practice, and is a Registered Associate Nutritionist (ANutr) with the Association for Nutrition. Her academic and professional work centres on translating nutrition science and public health guidance into practical, developmentally appropriate food decisions for children and families.
In her academic role, Penny designed and created the food and nutrition curriculum and learning materials across the Norland diploma, alongside developing the food and nutrition specialist strand for Norland’s MA. The MA strand uses food and everyday feeding practices as a critical lens through which to explore policy, family life and professional judgement within early childhood education and care. It moves beyond skills-based nutrition teaching to examine food as a relational and value‑laden aspect of practice.
Drawing on her experience as a classically trained head chef, teacher and lecturer, Penny integrates culinary expertise with nutrition knowledge to create applied, evidence‑informed learning experiences. Her teaching highlights the complex relationship between food, health, behaviour and environment, with particular attention to feasibility and everyday decision‑making in caregiving contexts.
Her research interests sit at the intersection of childhood nutrition, public health policy and structural inequality. She is particularly interested in how social, environmental and historical influences shape perceptions, feeding practices and children’s dietary experiences.
Events and public engagement
10/09/2026 - 11/09/2026
Nutrition Futures Conference 2026"A Conceptual Analysis of Texture Engineering, Reward Learning, and the Sensory Foundations of the Displacement of Whole Foods in Childhood Diets"
Penny presented this conceptual analysis at Nutrition Futures 2026, bringing together research from oral processing, early feeding development and ultra-processed food literature. The presentation proposed texture endurance as a hypothesis-generating concept and explored whether habitual exposure to foods that require little mastication and rapidly break down in the mouth could contribute to reduced acceptance of more complex whole-food textures. The work highlighted priorities for future research, including the development of a measurable definition of texture endurance and empirical testing of the proposed relationship.
13/07/2026
Norland Annual Research Conference 2026“Are Melt-in-the-Mouth Snacks Rewiring How Children Eat?”
Penny presented research exploring how the food textures children experience in their earliest years may influence their developing eating behaviours and food preferences. The presentation considered the contrasting oral experiences provided by rapidly dissolving snacks and more structurally complex foods, and explored whether these early texture experiences could shape how children respond to different foods as they develop.
24/06/2025
Norland Annual Research Conference 2025"Too much of a good thing? Parental Perceptions vs. Nutritional Reality in toddler cow's milk consumption"
This PRISMA literature review formed Penny's master's dissertation, and was presented at the Norland Research Conference 2025. Penny explained the approach she took to the PRISMA review, as well as the themes, problems and strengths of the literature on this topic.
