Staff profile

I did an MPhil in Human Population Biology and a PhD in Human Nutrition from the University of Cambridge. For my PhD, I investigated how dietary, lifestyle and environmental factors contribute to the aetiology of a bone deformity called rickets. I researched into the effectiveness of early intervention comprising maternal education+child feeding interventions in reducing malnutrition in my MPhil and iodine nutritional status of adolescent school children for my MSc.

The Royal Society awarded me for my PhD research in the MRC Centenary Celebration of Research. I received full scholarship from the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust, Islamic Development Bank and Shell Centenary Chevening Programme for pursuing my degrees in the UK. Additionally, I received travel grants from Churchill college. In Bangladesh, I received three awards, 'Excellence in women’s education', Gold Medal and Merit Scholarship for my MSc results.

Workshops and Conferences

I have organised an international workshop on behalf of Durham University on ‘Accelerating developmental impact in improving health & nutrition in Bangladesh & Ethiopia’ in 2019. I have organised another national workshop in University College London to brainstorm models of participatory intervention to promote better nutrition in Bangladeshi children of Tower Hamlets in East London in 2015. I have presented my PhD findings in MRC 100 years centenary celebration in London and also in the 20th International Congress of Nutrition (ICN) in Spain and 8th International Symposium on Nutritional Aspects of Osteoporosis (ISNAO) in Switzerland.

• Human nutrition, diet, environment and their role in diseases
• Calcium, vitamin D, micronutrient deficiencies and bone health
• Maternal and child health
• Health inequity
• Participatory health intervention

Journal Article

• Ahmed, Sonia, Goldberg, Gail R., Raqib, Rubhana, Roy, Swapan Kumar, Haque, Shahidul, Braithwaite, Vickie S., Pettifor, John M. & Prentice, Ann (2020). Aetiology of nutritional rickets in rural Bangladeshi children. Bone 136: 115357.
• Manikam, Logan, Prasad, Ankita, Dharmaratnam, Abina, Moen, Christy, Robinson, Alexandra, Light, Alexander, Ahmed, Sonia, Lingam, Raghu & Lakhanpaul, Monica (2018). Systematic review of infant and young child complementary feeding practices in South Asian families: the India perspective. Public Health Nutrition 21(4): 637.
• Manikam, Logan, Sharmila, Anika, Dharmaratnam, Abina, Alexander, Emma C, Kuah, Jia Ying, Prasad, Ankita, Ahmed, Sonia, Lingam, Raghu & Lakhanpaul, Monica (2018). Systematic review of infant and young child complementary feeding practices in South Asian families: the Pakistan perspective. Public Health Nutrition 21(4): 655.
• Manikam, Logan, Robinson, Alexandra, Kuah, Jia Ying, Vaidya, Hrisheekesh J., Alexander, Emma C., Miller, George W., Singh, Kunjshri K., Dawe, Victoria, Ahmed, Sonia, Lingam, Raghu & Lakhanpaul, Monica (2017). A systematic review of complementary feeding practices in South Asian infants and young children: the Bangladesh perspective. BMC Nutrition 3(1).