Michael Dibley

Professor Michael Dibley is Professor of Global Public Health Nutrition in the Sydney School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, at the University of Sydney. He holds the degrees BSc(Med), MB BS, and MPH. His research centers on global public health nutrition, with a focus on maternal and child health interventions in low- and middle-income countries, including Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar. Key research interests include nutrition, breastfeeding practices, metabolic syndrome, vitamin D status, child growth, anemia, obesity, hypertension, and neonatal mortality.

Dibley has led major funded projects such as the BADUTA cluster randomized controlled trial in East Java, Indonesia, assessing the effect of an integrated package of nutrition behavior change interventions on infant and young child feeding practices and child growth from birth to 18 months, published in 2020. Other significant work includes the Shonjibon cash and counselling trial and impact assessment in Bangladesh, and studies on home gardens predicting dietary diversity in rural Myanmar (2019). He has secured grants from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), Sydney Southeast Asia Centre Ignition Grants in 2024, and was a finalist in the 2018 Australia Indonesia Awards Research category. With 134 publications and nearly 5,900 citations, his influential papers include "Iron and folic acid supplements in pregnancy improve child survival in Nepal" (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2012), "Determinants of low breastfeeding self-efficacy amongst mothers of children aged less than six months old: Results from the BADUTA Study in East Java, Indonesia" (2020), and "How Can We Improve the Consumption of a Nutritionally-Balanced Maternal Diet in Rural Bangladesh? The Key Elements of the ‘Balanced Plate’ Intervention" (2020). Dibley’s research contributes substantially to public health strategies for improving maternal and child nutrition outcomes globally.

Professional Email: michael.dibley@sydney.edu.au