Rena (pronounced Ray-Na) Jackson-Belete is an HCPC-registered Dietitian, Research Assistant within the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King’s College London, and Master of Public Health student. Her work sits at the intersection of nutrition, public health, sustainability, and the built environment, with a particular interest in how housing conditions, food environments, and wider social and environmental determinants influence dietary behaviours, wellbeing, and health inequalities.

As a Research Assistant on the Root to Tip project, Rena contributes to research exploring food waste reduction, sustainable food systems, and systems-level approaches to improving sustainability across the UK food service and catering sector. Alongside this role, her Master’s dissertation investigates how housing insecurity, living conditions, and food insecurity shape university students’ ability to eat well and sustainably through a mixed-methods study combining a systematic review with primary research.

Alongside her academic research, Rena works as a Residential Welfare Lead within King’s Residences, supporting student wellbeing and responding to a wide range of welfare needs across the university’s accommodation. She also participates in a collaborative sustainability project with King’s Residences and ResiLife, exploring student energy use and behaviour change within residential settings. Together, these roles have strengthened her interest in translational research that informs policy and practice. She is passionate about developing practical, evidence-informed interventions that improve both population health and environmental sustainability through collaboration with communities, universities, local authorities, and the wider food system.

Rena serves as Education Officer for the British Dietetic Association’s Sustainable Diets Specialist Group, where she contributes to educational resources and professional development in sustainable nutrition. She has also developed and delivered the Uni-Fuel and Eating for the Planet workshops, promoting healthy and sustainable diets among students and staff at King’s College London.

Outside academia, Rena volunteers with the charity FEAST With Us, supporting community cooking programmes, impact evaluation, case study development, and fundraising initiatives. She is committed to making nutrition research accessible beyond academia and enjoys science communication, public engagement, and working collaboratively with researchers, practitioners, and communities to translate evidence into meaningful real-world impact.

PURE profile