Apple Espino
Apple Espino is a Filipino Nutritionist-Dietitian with an MSc in Epidemiology and Public Health from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Her broad research interest—understanding context-specific food environment and how it can be influenced to address economic, social, and nutritional inequality in women and children—was shaped by her various roles as a practitioner.
Apple worked in multilevel governance of public health nutrition practice and research in the Philippines, including serving in the Technical Working Group to develop and evaluate the Filipino Healthy Eating Index. As a Nutrition consultant in the Regional Office for the Western Pacific of the World Health Organization, she managed databases related to the Region’s nutrition situation and policy actions on food marketing, labelling, and taxation. In addition, Apple served as the Food Systems Researcher in the Regional Office for Asia of the International Institute of Rural Reconstruction, where she explored how the promotion of climate-smart agriculture contributes to developing sustainable food systems in Myanmar, Cambodia, and the Philippines.
Apple is a PhD Candidate at the University of Greenwich and Rothamsted Research and funded by the UK Food Systems Centre for Doctoral Training Program. For her PhD research, she envisions supporting resilient and sustainable agricultural production systems in the UK that deliver micronutrient-rich, cost-effective, and less resource-intensive staple food crops using a food systems approach. She also sits as the Vice President of the Philippine Stakeholders for Nutrition and Dietetics.