Biography
Dr Zoë Bell is a Research Associate within the Department of Nutrition Sciences. She completed her MSc in Human Nutrition at the University of Surrey and her PhD, which explored food insecurity during the first 1,001 days, at Newcastle University. Zoë also holds a postgraduate certificate in Social Sciences Research Methods and has been awarded both a PhD studentship and a postdoctoral fellowship from the Economic and Social Research Council. At the core of her research is a commitment to bridging the knowledge gap between academia and other sectors, translating research findings into impact and improvements in public health. Her collaborators include Local Authority Public Health Teams, Health Determinants Research Centres, NGOs, NHS partners, and faith organisations. She is a Registered Associate Nutritionist (Association for Nutrition) and, in 2025, received the KCL Faculty of Life Sciences Staff Award for Outreach and Engagement.
Following her PhD, Zoë joined King’s College London in 2023. Her research portfolio focuses on understanding and addressing dietary and health inequalities among women with community-based, nutritional interventions. Specific interests include food insecurity, pregnancy, postpartum, gestational diabetes, and menstrual-related conditions such as PCOS and endometriosis. Zoë employs mixed methods, with particular expertise in qualitative and participatory approaches.
Zoë is the module lead for Introduction to Nutrition Science Communication and Professionalism on the BSc in Nutritional Sciences. She also lectures on topics including financial and psychological determinants of food behaviours, maternal obesity, health inequalities and the social determinants of health, public health in practice, and the first 1,001 days. In addition, she supervises BSc and MSc student projects.
Zoë holds several leadership positions, including Impact, Translation and Interdisciplinary Lead for the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Network Lead for the Nourishing Futures Network, an international group advancing knowledge exchange and generation on food security during preconception, pregnancy, and early life. Previously, she was a committee member for The Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO UK).
Research
Health Inequalities, Societies and Systems
Central to our research is understanding and tackling the systemic and intersecting drivers of disparities in health over the life course such as racism, gender, crime, precarious livelihoods, environmental pollution, and inaccessible health care. We work collaboratively across the School of Life Course and Population Sciences to strengthen the theoretical aspects of population health research.
Behavioural and psychosocial determinants of food choice
Numerous factors influence individuals' food choice and in turn their intake. This broad topic involves investigations of widers behaviours, including food safety behaviours
Maternal and child nutrition
Women and children have unique nutritional requirements. Emerging evidence highlights that nutrition during early life, especially the period from conception until the first two years of life, plays an important role in setting the health trajectory of an individual and even future generations.
Lambeth Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC)
Lambeth HDRC is a place-based research and evaluation partnership hosted by Lambeth Council and funded by the NIHR.
Project status: Ongoing
News
Food insecurity putting mums-to-be at risk
Pregnant women who have limited access to affordable, nutritious and healthy foods have a higher chance of developing both physical and mental health...
Features
Health policy priorities: What should the incoming UK government focus on?
Whoever takes up residence at Number 10 after the general election will have a bursting in-tray. What are the health priorities the next government should be...
Research
Health Inequalities, Societies and Systems
Central to our research is understanding and tackling the systemic and intersecting drivers of disparities in health over the life course such as racism, gender, crime, precarious livelihoods, environmental pollution, and inaccessible health care. We work collaboratively across the School of Life Course and Population Sciences to strengthen the theoretical aspects of population health research.
Behavioural and psychosocial determinants of food choice
Numerous factors influence individuals' food choice and in turn their intake. This broad topic involves investigations of widers behaviours, including food safety behaviours
Maternal and child nutrition
Women and children have unique nutritional requirements. Emerging evidence highlights that nutrition during early life, especially the period from conception until the first two years of life, plays an important role in setting the health trajectory of an individual and even future generations.
Lambeth Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC)
Lambeth HDRC is a place-based research and evaluation partnership hosted by Lambeth Council and funded by the NIHR.
Project status: Ongoing
News
Food insecurity putting mums-to-be at risk
Pregnant women who have limited access to affordable, nutritious and healthy foods have a higher chance of developing both physical and mental health...
Features
Health policy priorities: What should the incoming UK government focus on?
Whoever takes up residence at Number 10 after the general election will have a bursting in-tray. What are the health priorities the next government should be...