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  4. Monica Hunsberger

Monica Hunsberger

Senior Lecturer

School of Public Health and Community Medicine
Telephone
+46 31-786 68 46
+46 766-18 68 46
Mail
monica.hunsberger@gu.se
Visiting address
Guldhedsgatan 5 A, plan 3
413 20 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 469
40530 Göteborg

About Monica Hunsberger

About Monica Hunsberger, PhD, MPH, MBA, Registered Dietitian

My research and teaching focus on public health nutrition, food systems, health equity, and the social, environmental, and policy conditions that shape health and well-being. I examine how food environments, schools, communities, and broader structural factors influence health across the life course.

My work is interdisciplinary and applied, combining perspectives from social epidemiology, health promotion, nutrition, sustainability, and policy analysis. I use qualitative and quantitative methods, including stakeholder interviews, content analysis, intervention development, evaluation, and participatory research. A central aim of my work is to support more equitable, sustainable, and evidence-informed public health practice.

Roles

Programme Director, Master’s Programme in Public Health, University of Gothenburg

Academic subject lead: Public Health

Collaborations (selected)

Formas-funded Farm to Fork Taste and Sensory collaboration includes: Chalmers Industriteknik, Örebro University, Warbro Kvarn, Alhströms Food Factory, Nordisk Råvara, Freja school, and the City of Gothenburg.

Research interests (keywords)

  • Public health nutrition

  • Sustainable food systems

  • Food policy

  • School meals and food environments

  • Child and adolescent health

  • Climate-friendly and sustainable diets

  • Health promotion

  • Mental health

  • Social determinants of health

  • Public health interventions and evaluation

  • Community-based participatory research

  • Social epidemiology

  • Health equity

Ongoing research (selection)

  • Developing tasty, nutritious, sustainable, and local menus for youth, with youth: A Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) project (Formas)- This project aims to develop nutritious, climate-friendly and locally produced school meals that are attractive to children and young people, while supporting sustainability, food system resilience, and Swedish food producers.

  • Health Behavior in School-Age Children- in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Sweden. HBSC is a WHO collaborative cross-national study that monitors the health and well-being of adolescents in their social context. Conducted every 4 years using school-based surveys among 11-, 13- and 15-year-olds, the study provides internationally comparable data on health behaviours, social determinants, and developmental trends in adolescence.

  • Identification and prevention of Dietary-and lifestyle-induced health EFfects in Children and infantS (IDEFICS) and I.Family an International collaboration among eight European countries, including Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, Estonia, Germany, Spain, and Hungary – IDEFICS from 2012-2017 and I.Family 2018- ongoing

Teaching commitments (selection)

  • Senior Lecturer, Master’s Programme in Public Health Science and Master’s Programme in Global Health

  • Course leader, MPH 235 Public health work: interventions, implementation, evaluation

  • Course leader, MPH303 Public health work: intervention planning and evaluation

Teaching themes (selection)

Health promotion; behavioral theory; public health nutrition; food environments; sustainable food systems; intervention development; evaluation.

Ongoing PhD supervisions

  • Khin Thiri Maung- Inequalities in healthcare utilization among older people in Cambodia (Main supervisor)

  • Mohammad Awad M Alhazmi- Intense online contact and associated health outcomes among students participating in Health Behavior in School Age Children Sweden: Translating knowledge to Saudi Arabia (Main supervisor)

  • Melissa Mjöberg-Food environments as determinants of healthy food choices (Main supervisor)

  • Khaled Shaeel A Althabaiti -Health coverage reforms in Vision 2030 towards private health insurance in Saudi Arabia: Effects on healthcare utilization and socioeconomic inequalities (Co-supervisor)

Previous PhD supervision (defended)

  • Sophia Nguyen Ngoc Phuong – Tobacco control policies in Vietnam: evaluation and stakeholder perspectives (Main supervisor)

  • Louise Arvidsson-Diets of European children, with focus on BMI, well-being, and families: IDEFICS/I.Family cohort (Co-supervisor)

  • Agnes af Geijerstam-Outside in: COVID-19 from a life course perspective