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Miranda Mirosa image 1x 2022Head of Department

Professor

Honorary Professor, International Business School Suzhou, Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China

Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Food Science and Technology (FNZIFST)

Chartered Member of the Institute of Directors (MInstD)

Named in Aotearoa New Zealand's TOP 50 most influential & inspiring women in food & drink - Cuisine Magazine - From New Zealand to the World

Ph.D. (Otago), BCom Hons (Otago), BA (Otago), Certificate in International Business (Otaru, Japan)


Contact

Tel +64 2 278 7953
Email miranda.mirosa@otago.ac.nz
Location Archway West G.08

About

Miranda’s background is in agri-food marketing and consumer behaviour. She leads a Sustainable Food Systems Behavioural Research Group whose mission is catalysing change for a more sustainable food future. She conducts fundamental and translational behavioural research focused on improving people and planetary health. Miranda's research provides credible evidence for decision-makers in New Zealand's food industry, the waste sector, government and civil society organisations. She has experience working with and advising a wide range of primary sector-related government agencies.

Miranda is the Director of the University of Otago Food Waste Innovation Research Theme which measures food waste, develops reduction strategies, applies innovative technology, and works to modify producer and consumer behaviour. As New Zealand's leading provider of food waste-related research, this group of interdisciplinary researchers harnesses the best scientific expertise at the University and nationwide to provide effective solutions to food waste problems. The group has established a commercially focused 'Upcycled Food Lab', that works with the food industry on product development and other related consultancies.

Miranda is unquestionably passionate in her determination to use her role as a teacher to infect her students with the same passion to learn, and to make a difference in the world. She leads the University of Otago's work on the Global Citizenship Programme, an initiative to improve the Matariki Universities' capacity to be leading institutions in understanding citizenship and community engagement.

Miranda is current with the latest governance thinking, practices, and knowledge through formal governance professional development and training as an active chartered member of the NZ Institute of Directors. Other personal key competencies include comprehending and articulating the big picture, maintaining a strategic outlook and awareness of market dynamics, and food industry-specific knowledge. Beyond HoD duties to Food Science, she is actively involved at the University level through regular contributions to programmes such as the Academic Leadership Development Programme and serving as a Committee Member for the UoO Staff Women’s Caucus. Within the Division of Sciences, holds the role of Pae Tata People Domain Lead.

Teaching

Programme Co-ordinator

  • BSc Hons Food Science
  • PGDipSci Food Science
  • MSc Food Science
  • MAppSc Food and Agriculture

Course Co-ordinator

  • FOSC 111 Food in a Changing World
  • FOSC 421/422/423/424/425 (Topics in Advanced Consumer Food Science). I teach the modules: ‘Research Methods and Communication’ and ‘Food Waste’
  • FOSC 490 Research Project
  • FOSC 480 Research Project
  • FOSC 495 Thesis Preparation
  • APPS 597 Supervised Independent Study
  • APPS 598 Workplace-based Project

Contributor to

  • AGRI 101 Agricultural Innovation
  • FOSC 111 Food Principles
  • FOSC 214 Psychology of Food

Research

Research interests

Miranda's behavioural research engages knowledge from fields such as marketing and psychology. She utilises a range of quantitative and qualitative methods such as: surveys and questionnaires, panels, systematic reviews, behaviour change experiments (in-field and lab based), projective techniques, observations, interviews, focus groups, ethnographic research, and Q methodology. Miranda specialises in conducting behavioural research in the Asia-Pacific region. Her strong network of Asia-Pacific-based research affiliates means that she can conduct in-market behavioural research in the national language. She also has expansive networks in the food industry (both NZ and global, particularly in Asia).

Miranda's projects, which provide insights and interventions for improved food system sustainability, embody many types of engagement outside of academia. In recognition of her proactive engagement with key external bodies, Miranda is a past winner of the 'Outstanding Community Engagement Award', Division of Sciences. Miranda welcomes commercial research proposals and partnerships. She can help your organisation collect and apply insights from behavioural sciences to tackle a wide range of food systems challenges.

Miranda can help you with:

  • Trend-spotting
  • Deep-dives and report writing
  • Collecting insights to understand peoples' behaviours
  • Creating evidence-based solutions to change peoples' behaviours (i.e. identify the barriers to achieving a desired activity, design a behavior change intervention or strategy to overcome the barriers, pilot the interventions/strategies before broad implementation)
  • Strategic advising on food system sustainability issues
  • Keynote talks, workshops and facilitation

Research projects and activities

Miranda's research falls into the following four key food sustainability areas:

Reducing food waste

Ensuring food safety and security

Improving food packaging and labelling

  • Understanding the importance of smart packaging for consumer confidence, food safety and an improved supply chain
  • Challenges and opportunities for the New Zealand food industry associated with the use of recycled non-permanent materials (thermoplastics, paper and board)
  • Nutrition and upcycled labelling research

Increasing consumption of plant-based foods

Postgraduate supervision (current)

PhD Students

  • Ke Wang – Using AI to improve food safety culture.
  • Elena Pierre – Food waste in the aged care sector.
  • Harsh Khatwani - Using immersive VR experiences to encourage households to adopt more sustainable food waste habits.
  • Danielle du Plooy – Alternative Futures for NZ’s Agri-food System.

Masters Students

  • Tuamelie K F Laimani –Food waste in Tonga.
  • Quynh Vu – Vietnamese consumers' perceptions of upcycled foods

Postgraduate supervision (past)

PhD students

  • Jessica O'Connor – Towards a Circular Bioeconomy. 2025.
  • Stella Zhou – Chinese experiences of living a flexitarian lifestyle. 2024.
  • Grace Clare – Upcycling Rescued Food. 2024.
  • Ruijun Li (Charlene) – Food delivery apps and resulting food and plastic waste. 2023.
  • Han Yin – Country-of-Origin and Cross-border Firm Ownership in the Food Industry: A Study on Consumer Valuation in China and New Zealand. 2023.
  • Vibhuti Patel – Changing social norms around eating meat. 2023.
  • Luan Siqiao (Amy) – New Zealand Multinationals in the Food Processing Industry in China: Cross-cultural adjustment of international assignees. 2022.
  • Erin Young – Understanding the importance of smart packaging for consumer confidence, food safety and an improved supply chain. 2022.
  • Xiaohai Geng – The role of implicit methods in understanding food choices. 2020.
  • Annesha Makhal – Consumers’ perceptions of suboptimal foods. 2019.
  • Garrett Lentz – Sustainability diets. 2019.
  • Lei Cong – Chinese consumers’ perceptions of functional foods designed to help the immune system recover from the impact of air pollution. 2019.
  • Karyn Stein – Māori women’s’ involvement with the food sovereignty movement. 2018.
  • PuiYee Lee – Understanding Chinese consumers’ personal values towards New Zealand food products and the influence that these have on their food-related purchase decisions. 2015.
  • Rana Peniamina – The impact of food hypersensitivity on quality of life. 2015.

Masters student

  • MSc. Zahrah Hatraby– Ka Ora, Ka Ako programme. 2025.
  • MSc. Briar Mills – Food waste in university settings.  2024.
  • MSusBus. Elena Piere – A systematic literature review of food waste within aged care. 2024.
  • MA. Trixie Croad – Commercial food waste at the production end of the food supply chain. 2023.
  • Master of Sustainable Business, Kayle Baker – Feeding the Community: Diversity of Social Capital within Everybody Eats. 2022.
  • MSc, Madeleine Rowan – Sustainability as an influence on food choices made for infants. 2022.
  • MSc, Margaret Thorsen – Food waste for New Zealand fruit and vegetable growers. 2021.
  • MIntBus, Kara Ma – Fresh Food Online Shopping Repurchase Intention: The Role of Post-Purchase Customer Experience and Corporate Image. 2021.
  • MSc, Ke Wang – Understanding Consumer’s Perceptions of Novel Food Processing. 2020.
    Techniques to control Listeria.
  • MSc, Ying Yi – Digital traceability technologies in the food industry. 2019.
  • MSc, Kehinde Lawal – A study on two edible insects (Tenebrio molitor and Hermetia illucens) larvae fat. 2019.
  • MSc, Jimmy Cahayadi – The effect of different types of menu - descriptive, image-based and food toy model of portion size - on people’s food choice and food intake. 2018.
  • MSc, Sunny Liu – Determination of the best way to provide Chinese consumers information about the safety of NZ food products. 2018.
  • MSc, Kayna Lloyd – Smart food packaging for increased safety and decreased waste. 2018.
    MDiet, Niki Hartshorn – Evaluating the social impact of rescued food. 2018.
  • MSc. Francesca Goodman-Smith – Retail food waste. 2018.
  • MAppSci. Fiona Zhang – Chinese consumers’ freshness perceptions: A case study of orange juices. 2015.
  • MAppSci. Sharon Tang – Wine choice and consumer value: A means-end comparison of East Asian and Western consumers. 2014.
  • MDiet, Emily Jones – Quantifying restaurant food waste. 2016/17.
  • MDiet, Sarah Chisnall – Quantifying Cafe food waste. 2016/17
  • MDiet. Chelsea Slobbe – Foodservice operations’ potential to foster “Environmental Literacy”. 2015.
  • MA. David Reynolds – Hunger in New Zealand. 2016.
  • MDiet. Jennie Verstappen – Making Meals for an AllerGeneration: Using the systems-practice framework to understand food allergen management practices at college catering operations in NZ. 2016.
  • Apps597. Rosa Yip – A social media analysis of the ‘Clean Your Plate’ social movement in China. 2016.
  • MDiet. Hayley Horne – Evaluating the impact of a rescued food distribution programme in Dunedin, New Zealand. 2015.
  • MDiet. Josephine Greer – Exploring foodservice localisation in a university foodservice setting. 2014.
  • MDiet. Joanne Loh – The feasibility of reducing choice in residential colleges to improve the environmental impact of the food service. 2014.
  • MDiet. Jessie Ross  – Food waste in the production kitchen of an in-flight services provider in NZ. 2014.
  • MDiet. Sarah Goonan – Improving the sustainability of food waste practices in New Zealand hospitals. 2013.

Publications

Thorsen, M., Mirosa, M., Skeaff, S., Goodman-Smith, F., & Bremer, P. (2025). Not all upcycled food is created equal: What is sustainable? The Briefing, (9 January). Retrieved from https://www.phcc.org.nz/briefing/not-all-upcycled-food-created-equal-what-sustainable Journal - Research Other

Hatraby, Z., Smith, C., Mirosa, M., & Skeaff, S. A. (2024). Food waste and the Ka Ora, Ka Ako school lunch programme. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society of New Zealand (NSNZ) 58th Annual Conference: Kotahitanga. (pp. 44). Retrieved from https://www.nsnzconference.co.nz/ Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Mills, B. C., Mirosa, M., O'Brien, R., & Skeaff, S. A. (2024). Food waste at residential colleges at the University of Otago: Statistics and strategies. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society of New Zealand (NSNZ) 58th Annual Conference: Kotahitanga. (pp. 45). Retrieved from https://www.nsnzconference.co.nz/ Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Lim, N., Steien, D., McKerchar, C., Mirosa, M., Tan-Smith, C., & Tuhiwai Smith, L. (2024, November). Child nutrition. Panel discussion at the Paediatric Society of New Zealand Te Kāhui Mātai Arotamariki o Aotearoa (PSNZ) 75th Annual Meeting, Dunedin, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

Mirosa, M. (2024, August). Beyond the textbook: A quest for a future where food is valued, not wasted. University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. [Inaugural Professorial Lecture]. Other Research Output

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