A new e-learning course designed by Fuse to help local authorities use planning powers to support healthier food environments has launched on the online platform FutureLearn.
‘Planning for a Healthier Food Environment’, developed collaboratively by Fuse with academic experts from Teesside University, Newcastle University, and the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, is now live.
The course is aimed at local authority public health and planning professionals but is open to anyone interested in how the built environment can be shaped to promote healthier lives. Learners will gain practical knowledge of the planning system and learn how planning and public health can work together to address rising levels of obesity and poor diet.
Participants have free access to complete the course within four weeks, by selecting the ‘limited access’ option.
An online Fuse Research Event on 23 September 2025 will introduce the wider policy and planning context for the course, provide insights into its cross-disciplinary development, and outline how the resource can be applied in practice to support healthier, more equitable environments.
Healthy Weight and Treating Obesity Community of Practice
16 September 2025, 10:00am – 11:30am, Online
One of the most significant and complex challenges we face in our communities is the rising level of obesity. Following on from the successful LOC in the Lakes Conference in November 2024 there is a desire to continue to learn and improve as a system on this important area of work.
To support this we have launched our Healthy Weight and Treating Obesity community of practice. This community is for anyone interested in improving the outcomes for our communities in the North East and North Cumbria – including all partners in our system, those with formal or informal roles, regional and national experts and those with lived experience.
On 16th September, we will be joined by Dr Susanna Mills (Consultant in Public Health at Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Trust, and Research Fellow at Newcastle University) and Dr Angela Rodrigues (Associate Professor in Psychology at Northumbria University). They will be facilitating a session on ‘Evidence-based recommendations for supporting healthy weight in people living with severe mental illness (SMI)’.
Find out more and book your place here…
