Rate My Professor Jacqueline Blisset

Professor Jacqueline Blissett is Professor in Psychology in the School of Psychology within the College of Health and Life Sciences at Aston University. She serves as Director of the Aston Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment and leads the Psychology of Eating in Adults and Children (PEACh) research group. With over twenty years of experience, her research examines biological, affective, and cognitive factors influencing parent-child interactions during feeding, focusing on children’s fussy eating, poor acceptance of fruits and vegetables, emotional eating, and obesity risk. Additional areas include early origins of emotional eating, breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices, development of flavour preferences, sensory processing differences particularly in taste, feeding problems in children with autism, maternal mental health effects on feeding, infant gut microbiome links to early diet and development, fetal responses to flavour stimuli, and cultural variations in feeding practices. Blissett holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Birmingham (1998) and a BSc (Hons) in Psychology from University College Swansea (1994). She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Member of the British Psychological Society.

Blissett has authored 92 journal articles, among them recent publications such as 'A recipe for success: exploratory studies of the predictors of cultivated meat provision by parents of children 6-10 and 11-15 years of age' (Appetite, 2026), 'Examining social and family contextual differences between parental feeding practice profiles in UK parents of pre-school children' (Appetite, 2026), 'Parental use of distraction and portioning to reduce snack intake by children with avid eating behaviour: An experimental laboratory study' (Appetite, 2026), and 'Validating the children's eating behaviour questionnaire in a UK sample: A suitable tool for mothers and fathers' (Appetite, 2026). Her work contributes to public health initiatives, including the Child Feeding Guide recommended by the NHS and used by over 100,000 parents, and resources addressing food insecurity and avid eating in children. Research outputs have been cited 98 times in 71 policy documents worldwide. She delivers public lectures, such as 'Molecules to Minds: Understanding & supporting children's healthy eating behaviour' (2022).