Professor Fiona Dykes

Fiona has a particular interest in the global, socio-cultural and political influences upon infant and young child feeding practices; her methodological expertise is in ethnography and other qualitative research methods. As well as being a member of UCLan’s Maternal and Infant Nutrition and Nurture Unit (MAINN), Fiona is a member of the Organising and Scientific Review Committees for the MAINN Conference, a three day, international, peer reviewed event which she established in 2007. The conference is held bi-annually in the UK and, more recently, on alternate years overseas to include Sydney, Sweden and Florida. Abstracts are published in Maternal and Child Nutrition, the Wiley-Blackwell published international journal. Fiona is a member of the editorial board. Fiona has worked on WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, EC, DH NHS, NIHR, Wellcome Trust, British Council, British Academy Newton Fund and Australian Research Council (ARC) funded projects. Fiona is author of the monograph Breastfeeding in Hospital: Mothers, Midwives and the Production Line (Routledge) and co-author of Banking on Milk: An ethnography of donor human milk relations. She is also joint editor of several books including Infant and Young Child Feeding: Challenges to implementing a Global Strategy (Wiley-Blackwell) and Ethnographic Research in Maternal and Child Health (Routledge).

Fiona has a specialist interest in Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) and protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding. She is internationally known for her research in this field. She gives regular addresses and key note presentations to include UK, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Germany, Africa, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and USA.