EIT Public Lecture: Dr Pippa McKelvie-Sebileau

Food security, food sovereignty and children’s health and wellbeing: A Hawke’s Bay research perspective on why kai is at the centre of it all

Dr Pippa McKelvie-Sebileau is a founding member of the EIT /University of Auckland Nourishing HB: He wairua tō te kai research team who have been working to improve children’s nutrition and health in Hawke’s Bay since 2020.

In this EIT lecture series, RECONNECTING THROUGH RESEARCH, she will share the journey of establishing this programme of work, setting up a participatory process based on kaupapa Māori research principles and share insights on the current state of health, wellbeing and nutrition for kids in the region.

Pippa’s PhD, completed last year, was the first to document the rates of food insecurity for children in Hawke’s Bay, as reported by the students themselves, and to link this to health and wellbeing. She also looks at the impact of the Ka Ora, Ka Ako school lunch programme where students in half of Hawke’s Bay schools receive a free and nutritious lunch every day at their school.

Pippa will also share personal reflections on completing a doctorate while working, raising a family, through a pandemic and a cyclone. Her work has featured on One News, Morning Report, NZ Herald, the Post and HB Today and her thesis made the prestigious University of Auckland Dean’s list 2023.