By virtue of its sustaining and vital nature, food is of central importance to our livelihoods, yet the processes by which food reaches our table and its journey beyond are vastly complex. The food system is a constellation of social and material processes and structures, many of which are imbued with cultural meaning. As such it constitutes a critical site of everyday human experience and research that brings together the theoretical and the material.

About the Event

We are holding an interdisciplinary PhD colloquium, to discuss current issues in the food system and attempt to engage with these issues within and beyond the sphere of academia. It will bring together a wide range of academic and civil society actors engaged in the food system, to share the material joys of food as well as discuss emerging and sometimes controversial issues to do with the security, safety and resilience of the UK food system, which remains embedded in a global context.

The colloquium will be structured around two key themes;

• Food Production and Consumption: Exploring the realities of food production and consumption and imagining alternatives
• Food Politics, Policies and Cultures: Exploring claims, controversies, positions, interests and values connected with food

Food as a topic crosses many disciplines encompassing a range of interests and perspectives; consequently we extend this invitation broadly. The two themes around which the day will be structured accommodate numerous points of view and we encourage PhD students studying food within in a range of subject areas to submit an abstract for a paper presentation. As well as presentations from PhD students the event will engage participants in the material elements of food culminating in an evening feast.

The event will take place on the 12-13^th November in and around Colchester, Essex.

Guidelines on submission:

• Deadline for submission of abstracts: 4^th September, 2015.
• Abstracts should be 500 words maximum, saved as a word document (no pdfs please) and include affiliation and contact details for author(s).
• Please send abstracts to David Watson, djwats[@]essex.ac.uk
• Authors will be notified of the outcome of their submission by 18^th September 2015 at the latest.

About the organisers

The event is being organised by a small group of PhD students and academics already researching food issues at the University of Essex.