Dr. Poonam Singh

Discipline/Centre/Institute: Education (TVET)

Email address: Poonam.n.singh@usp.ac.fj

Extension number: (679) 32 31489

Expertise / Activities: 

Specialization in Food and Nutrition, Home Economics.

She is involved with the teaching of UG blended/ online courses:

• TE 113: Food choices & dietary challenges,
•  TE 213: Nutrient requirements & the lifecycle,
• TE313: Applied nutrition in the South Pacific,
• TE156, TE 256, TE 356: Industrial laboratory practices and project in Home economics and Education courses.

Educational Background/ Qualifications: 

BSc, MSc, (Food and Nutrition), Barkatullah University, Bhopal, India.

PGCE, PhD, The University of the South Pacific, Fiji.

Biography: 

Dr Poonam joined the University of the South Pacific as a student for PGEC in 2010. She has joined SPACE in 2019 as a temporary lecturer for one year, later appointed Lecturer (Food & Nutrition) in 2020.

She has completed MSc in Food & Nutrition from (Barkatullah University) Bhopal, India. She then completed her PG Certificate in Education and was awarded Ph.D. in Food Chemistry (2019) from The University of the South Pacific, Fiji. Her PhD work dealt with research on bioavailability of iron, zinc and calcium on commonly consumed food samples in Fiji. She has worked as volunteer teacher in high school for a year and also did supervision and demonstration in the chemistry laboratory, at the University of the South Pacific from 2013-2016.

Research Interests: 

Research areas;

• Human nutrition and health,
• Nutrition/Dietary requirements in life cycles.
• Bioavailability of macro and micronutrients,
• Food habits and choices,
• Nutritional issues & deficiencies.
• TVET in Pacific

Awards: 

• Commonwealth Science PhD delegate award by Royal Society, London, 2017.
• Certificate of recognition for the publication of high quality output in 2016 and 2019 form the office of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Innovation), The University of the South Pacific, Fiji.

Publications & Presentations: 

Research Publications

1. Singh, P., Prasad, S. and Aalbersberg, W. (2016). Bioavailability of Fe, Ca and Zn in selected legumes, cereals, meat and milk products consumed in Fiji. Food Chemistry, 207, 125-131.
2. Singh, P. and Prasad, S. (2018). Determination of ascorbic acid and its influence on the bioavailability of iron, zinc and calcium in Fijian food samples. Microchemical Journal, 139, 119-124.
3. Singh, P. and Prasad, S. (2019). Spectroscopic review of chelating agents and their influence on the bioavailability of Fe, Zn and Ca in Fijian foods. Applied Spectroscopy Reviews, 55 (7). pp. 574-592. ISSN 0570-4928.
4. Singh, P. and Prasad, S. (2021). A review: iron, zinc and calcium nutrient bioavailability and factors affecting. In -progress

Conferences Presentations

1. Attended 12th Pacific Science Inter- Congress, Suva, Fiji Islands, 8th -12th July 2013.
2. Paper presentation on determination of iron, calcium and zinc in selected raw foods in Fiji. Paper Presented (oral) in International Conference on Applied Chemistry (ICONAC), 2014, Suva Fiji.
3. Paper presentation on bioavailability of iron in some selected Fiji foods using In vitro technique. Paper presentation in 6 th International conference on Food Factors (ICoFF), Seoul, Korea.
4. Poster presentation on Influence of ascorbic acid on iron, zinc and calcium bioavailability. Commonwealth Science Conference (CSC) 2017, Singapore.