Astrid Poelman is a Senior Research Fellow at The George Institute. She is a behavioural nutrition scientist with specific expertise in development and evaluation of community interventions, paediatric nutrition, consumer science, the role of sensory science to improve public health nutrition and translational nutrition science. She works with a wide range of stakeholders to facilitate adoption of research findings in practice and policy. She led the development and implementation of two nationally available programs (Taste & Learn™) for children in educational settings (primary schools and childcare) to support the development of lifelong healthy eating habits, in particular vegetable consumption. She has a strong research interest in preventive health interventions to reduce health inequities. 

Astrid holds a PhD from Wageningen University (the Netherlands) investigating children’s sensory preferences to support increased vegetable consumption using product and behaviour-centred approaches. She is a Registered Nutritionist with the Nutrition Society of Australia.

Sarah Suwasrawala is a psychologist and public mental health researcher working at the intersection of women's health, mental health, and community-based care. She currently serves as a Research Fellow at The George Institute for Global Health in India, where she contributes to multidisciplinary research on women's health and well-being across diverse healthcare settings. She holds a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology and has extensive experience designing and implementing trauma-informed, rights-based psychosocial interventions with marginalised populations, particularly youth.

Her work is grounded in culturally responsive and equity-oriented approaches, with a focus on gender-based violence, mental health disparities, and strengthening accessible mental health services in low-resource contexts. She is particularly interested in integrating mental health within broader public health frameworks and advancing community-driven models of care that address the social determinants of health.