A MASTERS student from Greenock is researching the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on people's diet habits in Inverclyde.

Jenna Woods, who is working towards a degree in social innovation at Glasgow Caledonian University, is hoping as many local people as possible will participate in her dissertation survey.

The 25-year-old, who is also a Good Food Scotland ambassador, is interested in finding out if Covid-19 has influenced the choices and consumption habits of people across the area.

Jenna told the Tele: "My interest in food habits, attitudes and behaviours began during my undergraduate degree.

"There's been a lot of focus on how the pandemic has perhaps changed people's choices and habits, whether they be positive or negative.

"I decided to look at this on a local scale for my project as there have been many things happening here - including the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation figures showing Inverclyde as the most deprived area in Scotland and also how badly we have been hit by Covid-19.

"It will make for a really interesting study and I am hopeful that my findings will be able to help the community recover in some way from the pandemic."

Jenna will be looking at factors such as people being furloughed and the availability of items and the impact this has had.

But she is also hopeful that the survey will highlight some positives.

She said: "I was inspired to see how the community have responded to the pandemic.

"Organisations such as Belville Community Gardens, Branchton Community Centre and even boys out on bikes were making sure that people in Inverclyde were on hand to help.

"I also think the pandemic might have meant there's been less food waste, and people are cooking more meals at home.

"The research is all from the bottom up, so I've no hypothesis and am not sure what the outcome will be.

"I am looking forward to seeing that next month."

Jenna has been studying from home during the pandemic and has also been furloughed from her job in a Glasgow bar, allowing her to fully focus on her course.

She will be making the results of her survey and her findings publicly available, so is hopeful a third sector or community development organisation may be able to make use of the data.

Jenna added: "I'm hopeful that I'll get about 250 responses from the survey, so while it won't be fully representative of the whole of Inverclyde it'll hopefully give an idea of how the community can recover from the pandemic and how things may be moving forward.

"The survey is open to those aged 18 and above, however it does ask about families to hopefully provide a better household demographic."

Jenna's survey will be open until July 31 and takes no longer than 10 minutes to complete.

To participate, visit www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/KDPSJMK