A Danish-American network on using Choice Architecture to Reduce unhealthy Eating

The purpose of the uCARE collaboration is to connect researchers from Denmark and the United States of America within the field of behavioural nutrition, in order to perform joint research focusing on the role of choice architecture (CA) as a tool for public health nutrition (PHN), and to organize an international workshop, focusing on interventions addressing behaviours that are associated to food intake and nutritional status of populations. CA describes the way in which decisions are influenced by how choices are presented/organized in the foodscapes (physical, organizational and sociocultural spaces in which consumers encounter meals, food and food-related issues including health messages). The main outcome of the collaboration will be fourfold: 1) A proposal for a workshop in the ISBNPA conference 2016 on the implications of CA; 2) A roadmap for collaborative research in the field of choice architecture; 3) The context for sustained PhD & MSc students interchange between AAU and the Boston based research units at MGH and Harvard University within the field of choice architecture research and, 4) Create the environment for knowledge transfer among the two participating countries. The expected outcome will be achieved by bringing together AAU’s expertise in innovative CA research, the technological solutions implemented at AAU, including the FoodScape laboratory equipment and software, with Harvard’s worldwide recognised excellence and expertise in the study of public health and health policy; and with MGH pioneering in preventive medicine and the largest hospital-based research program in the world, as well as their role in the local communities in greater Boston. All together, partners will develop the methodology to scale up CA from the Foodscape Lab level to the communities in both countries. The activities presented in the plan of action (Appendix 4) will be translated in future joint peer-reviewed publications and a roadmap for joint fundraising.