Innovative Food Systems Teaching and Learning (IFSTAL) launch event
2015-10-22 17:30 - 20:00 UTC
We invite you to join us for the London launch of the Innovative Food Systems Teaching and Learning (IFSTAL) programme on Thursday 22nd October at 5:15pm at the Royal Veterinary College, Camden. To register, please click here.
IFSTAL is a collaborative, interdisciplinary, cross-university food systems training programme for postgraduate students, linking with the workplace to improve future human, animal and environmental health.
This event will offer you an introduction to IFSTAL, the concepts and the food system challenges it is aiming to address, as well as an opportunity to meet people interested in this topic from across the spectrum of academia, industry, government and civil society. Dr John Ingram, IFSTAL programme leader, will be giving a lecture from Oxford that will be live beamed to our collaborating institutions in London, Warwick and Reading. After the lecture, there will be a panel-led discussion and opportunity to ask questions, then meet other colleagues studying and working on food-related topics during our networking drinks reception.
The programme for the evening is as follows:
5pm Registration and lecture theatre opens
5:15pm Welcome from the Chair, Dr Nick Brown
5:20pm Inaugural lecture from Dr John Ingram (live streamed from Oxford): “Food Systems: communities, complexities and challenges”
6pm Welcome from Prof. David Church, Vice-Principal of RVC
Panel of members from LCIRAH and City University London: Dr Deborah Johnston, Dr Suneetha Kadiyala, Prof. Tim Lang and Prof. Jonathan Rushton. Introduction to each institution, discussion about disciplinary approaches and work on food systems issues. Questions about the IFSTAL programme.
Closing words from Prof. Jeff Waage, Director of LCIRAH & LIDC
6:30pm Drinks and nibbles reception, combined networking event with LIDC, display and announcement of the winning “Food Systems” photos (see details below).
There will be simultaneous launches happening across the country in IFSTAL’s partner institutions: Oxford University, Reading University and Warwick University. In London, this event will be hosted jointly by LCIRAH (LSHTM, RVC, SOAS) along with City University London, at the Royal Veterinary College, Camden.
To register, please go to our Eventbrite page here.
As part of the event, we invite you to submit a photograph (your own) that represents food systems to you, with a short description (maximum 50 words) to accompany. The photos will be displayed during the reception/networking, and there will be a cash prize for the best. A selection will also be displayed in an exhibition in the LIDC building. To submit, please email your photo/image and description to ifstal-lcirah@rvc.ac.uk by end of day Monday 19th. This is open to all attendees, and all students and staff (attending or not) at the London institutions (City Uni. London, RVC, LSHTM, SOAS).
Other upcoming IFSTAL events are:

5th November, 5:15pm : What is systems thinking and how might we use it to confront the ‘wicked problem(s) of food?’. Lecture given by Dr Harley Pope from Reading University followed by a local event

Location: 5th November: City University, Northampton Square

19th November, 5:15pm : Who or what is involved in the food system and what are they doing? Lecture given by Dr Barbara Häsler from the Royal Veterinary College and LCIRAH, followed by a local event

Location: 19th November: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street

3rd December, 5:15pm : Explorations in Food System Outcomes: food security, the environment and economy. Lecture given by Dr Rosemary Collier from Warwick University, followed by a local event.

Location: City University, Northampton Square
Any queries, please contact ifstal-lcirah@rvc.ac.uk or ifstal-city@city.ac.uk

BSUFN launch of Hastings Bites Back project at the Hastings Herring Fair
2015-10-31 11:00 - 2015-11-01 16:00
The Brighton and Sussex Universities Food Network (BSUFN) will showcase their newly-developed techniques for collaborative cultural and social research in Hastings.
Abigail Wincott from the University of Brighton in Hastings and Bella Wheeler from the University of Sussex will be joined by members of the Brighton Unemployed Centre Families Project, who have recently completed a 12-month research project on narratives of food poverty. Their exhibition ‘Art on the Breadline’ will be at the Stade Hall on the seafront during the Hastings Herring Fair, from 31 October to 1 November.
On 31 October, members of the public will be able to try out creative research activities involving collage, mind-mapping and a ‘props’ box, developed by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Connected Communities project and similar projects. The aim of the activities is to encourage visitors to propose food research topics and to pose questions they feel strongly about.
For more information on the project and to sign up to be part of it, go to: http://bsufn.com/2015/09/21/hastings-bites-back/
For more information on the Herring Fair event: http://bsufn.com/2015/09/30/hastings-herring-fair/

2015 Fred Sanger Lecture: “‘EAT. DIE.’ The Domestication of Carcinogens in the 1980s”
2015-11-04 18:30 - 20:30
We are delighted to announce details of the 2015 Fred Sanger Lecture, which will take place on Weds 4th November 2015, 6.30pm in the Henry Wellcome auditorium, Wellcome Collection, London. The lecture will be given bv Angela N. H. Creager, Thomas M. Siebel Professor in the History of Science, Princeton University.
In the two decades following the 1962 publication of Silent Spring, the US government sought to regulate environmental pollutants in the name of controlling human cancer. The development of short-term tests for mutagens promised an inexpensive, rapid way to identify carcinogens among the tens of thousands of chemicals on the market. However, by the 1980s, findings from these rapid, in vitro mutagenicity tests corroded these hopes. On the one hand, it turned out that some chemical carcinogens were not also mutagens, and thus escaped detection in these tests. On the other hand, many natural substances, such as compounds in foods and beverages—as well as products of normal metabolism—proved to be mutagenic. Related advances in understanding DNA damage led biologists increasingly to regard cancer as a by-product of aging. A public anxious about the dangers of contaminating pesticides and food additives was confronted with the message that the natural components of the human diet were already carcinogenic. In turn, antiregulatory interests (especially chemical companies and conservative politicians) seized on the emerging complexities of controlling human exposures to mutagens to subvert environmental regulation. This lecture attempts to offer a critical appraisal of the diet-cancer conundrum of the 1980s against the background of the emerging field of genetic toxicology.
Free tickets will soon be available from the Wellcome Collection website.

IFSTAL Lecture 2 London Event
2015-11-05 17:00 - 20:00 | City, University of London, Northampton Square, London, EC1V 0HB, United Kingdom
Please join us for the 2nd Lecture in the Innovative Food Systems Teaching and Learning(IFSTAL) programme. IFSTAL is a collaborative, interdisciplinary, cross-university food systems training programme for postgraduate students, linking with the work place to improve future human, animal and environmental health.
This event will offer you an introduction to Systems Thinking, the history and theory behind its development and how we might apply it to the ‘wicked problems’ facing food systems.
Dr Harley Pope of IFSTAL at Reading University will be giving the lecture (live streamed from Reading): “What is systems thinking and how might we use it to confront the ‘wicked problem(s)’ of food?”. Afterwards we will have our own local discussion with the audience led by a panel of experts giving you the opportunity to meet other colleagues studying and working on food-related topics followed by a drinks and nibbles reception.
There will be simultaneous events happening across the country in IFSTAL’s partner institutions: Oxford University, Reading University and Warwick University. In London, this event will be hosted by City University London and LCIRAH (LSHTM, RVC, SOAS). If you would like to attend the lecture at any of the other IFSTAL locations please visit our website for more information.

Within Arm's Reach: School Neighbourhoods and the Availability of Food and Drink
2015-12-03 13:00 - 15:00
What young people eat and drink in the neighbourhood around schools is viewed as a significant public health challenge. Food and drink manufacturers and retailers aim to ensure their products are ‘within arm’s reach’ and young people’s diets are often nutritionally poor, with levels of obesity still causing concern.
Is the school neighbourhood – the availability and accessibility of food/drink – to blame? What factors are linked with young people’s food and drink ‘choices’? This seminar, organised by the FoodNet and ReACH networks of CRIPACC at the University of Hertfordshire will explore these complex issues, using insights from recently completed research.
School Neighbourhoods and Young People’s Food Choices (a forthcoming Food Research Collaboration Briefing Paper), Jan Moorhouse, University of Hertfordshire Business School
What else do young people consume, if they consume sugar sweetened drinks? Laura Hamilton, Thomas Coram Research Unit, UCL
Energy drinks: Hype or hyper? Shelina Visram, Centre for Public Policy and Health, Durham University
To book a place and to reserve parking please email Julie Mace j.mace@herts.ac.uk; For further information please contact Dr Wendy Wills w.j.wills@herts.ac.uk

IFSTAL 4th Lecture in London
2015-12-03 17:00 - 19:30
Please join us for the 4th Lecture in the Innovative Food Systems Teaching and Learning(IFSTAL) programme. IFSTAL is a collaborative, interdisciplinary, cross-university food systems training programme for postgraduate students, linking with the work place to improve future human, animal and environmental health.
This event will offer you the chance to explore the outcomes associated with food systems – looking particularly at food security, the environment and the economy.
Dr Rosemary Collier from Warwick University will be giving the lecture (live streamed from Warwick) “Explorations in Food System Outcomes: food security, the environment and economy”. The lecture will address issues of food security/insecurity, health and welfare outcomes, the environmental impacts of food system activities, the cultural world around food, profit, employment and livelihoods coming from food. Outcomes are linked in various ways, and working to alter one outcome will have knock-on implications for others. Afterwards we will have our own local discussion with the audience led by a panel of experts including Dr Barbara Haesler from LCIRAH, Sergio Schneider, Professor of Rural Sociology and Tim Lang, Professor of Food Policy, City University London, giving you the opportunity to meet other colleagues studying and working on food-related topics.
There will be simultaneous events happening across the country in IFSTAL’s partner institutions: Oxford University, Reading University and Warwick University. In London, this event will be hosted by City University London and LCIRAH (LSHTM, RVC, SOAS). If you would like to attend the lecture at any of the other IFSTAL locations please visit our website for more information.

IFSTAL lecture: 'Drivers and Influencers: what shapes the food system?'
2016-01-28 17:00 - 19:00
This lecture will look at what shapes the food system, and who (if anyone) is in control? The talk will be streamed to the other Universities that are partners in the IFSTAL project and and it will be followed by a discussion hosted jointly with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, The Royal Veterinary College, and SOAS.
Speakers: Tim Lang, Prof of Food Policy, and Raquel Ajates-Gonzalez & Rebecca Wells, IFSTAL Teaching Fellows
Location: ELG01 Lecture theatre, City University, Northampton Square (enter through main reception and ask for directions)

UK Food Policy & Nutrition: Tracking Progress
2016-02-10 17:30 - 19:30
This event will review the policy and practice of Government and business on nutrition by looking at 3 new bodies of evidence:

The Global Nutrition Report’s data on UK progress on global nutrition targets;
The Access to Nutrition Index which ranks food manufacturers on the extent to which they are supporting good nutrition outcomes; and
The Food Foundation’s research applying the Food Environment Policy Index to the UK.

We will be hearing from:
Prof Boyd Swinburn – Professor of Population Nutrition and Global Health at the University of Auckland and coauthor of the Lancet’s obesity series
Lawrence Haddad – Senior Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute and Co-Chair of the Global Nutrition Report’s Independent Expert Group.
Inge Kauer – Executive Director of the Access to Nutrition Index.
Further details of the event will be updated shortly.

IFSTAL London event 7: ‘Decision makers and influence in food systems – a critical engagement’
2016-02-25 17:00 - 19:00
Please join us for the 7th event in the Innovative Food Systems Teaching and Learning (IFSTAL) programme. IFSTAL is a collaborative, interdisciplinary, cross-university food systems training programme for postgraduate students, linking with the work place to improve future human, animal and environmental health.
At the IFSTAL Event 7 in London, Dr Barbara Haesler from LCIRAH, Dr Claire Marris and Prof Tim Lang from the Centre for Food Policy at City University London will tell us about their experiences of being involved in informing and researching interventions to shape the food system. The audience then will have the opportunity to work in multidisciplinary groups and critically engage with different food system governance initiatives (i.e. initiatives that seek to change or reform the wider food system in some way). Attendees are encouraged to bring a laptop or tablet for the group activity. A prize will be offered to the winning group and the session will be followed by an informal drinks and nibbles reception.
There will be simultaneous events happening across the country in IFSTAL’s partner institutions: Oxford University, Reading University and Warwick University. In London, this event will be hosted by City University London and LCIRAH (LSHTM, RVC, SOAS). If you would like to attend the lecture at any of the other IFSTAL locations please visit our website for more information.
Book your place

IFSTAL Lecture Event 8
2016-03-10 17:10 - 19:40
Please join us for the London branch of the final lecture event of the series in this acedemic year of the Innovative Food Systems Teaching and Learning (IFSTAL) programme.
Live streamed from Oxford University, Lecture 8 will focus on Future Food Systems: Dealing with Uncertainty and Complexity. We will be hearing from a panel of experts exploring some approaches to and methods for thinking about food system futures, as we have to confront the increasing challenges of an increasing population, globalisation, and climate change. Exploring the future of our food systems is as much an art as it is a science. In particular we will focus on scenarios and gaming.
Our panel consists of:

Prof Charles Godfray – Hope Professor & Director, Oxford Martin Programme on the Future of Food, University of Oxford
Dr Monika Zurek – Senior Researcher, SUSFANS, University of Oxford
Dr Joost Vervoort – Senior Researcher, TRANSMANGO and SUSFANS, University of Oxford
If you are registered on the IFSTAL VLE through your institution you can find more details here.

As it’s the last lecture in the series of streamed events for 2015/2016, we want to make sure there’s time to have fun and socialise too. So, afterwards we will have a reception with wine and nibbles in the RVC Lightwell and a food systems pub quizz, with prizes for the winning team!
Book via EventBrite

Mapping the Growth of the Welsh Food Bank Landscape 1998-2015
2016-03-21 09:30 - 15:00
A one day conference facilitated by Bangor University School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography Bangor University and the School of Social Science to exchange information and opinion on the current rise in food bank use, consequential issues raised and on future improvements in delivery.
The dissemination of early mapping of Welsh food banks will illustrate the worryingly growing trend and facilitate discussion on the reasons for this and possible solutions.
The stakeholder workshop will feature contributions by several local food bank organisers to provide evidence of real experiences of food poverty to inform policy makers and political groups at both local and national level within Wales, in order to develop appropriate and sustainable responses to the growing need for delivery of food welfare services.
Book your free place via EventBrite

Measuring outcomes: Tools for evaluating health and wellbeing outcomes for community growing programmes
2016-03-23 10:45 - 15:30
This free seminar for community growing groups will highlight a new Guide to tools for evaluating health and wellbeing outcomes from community growing programmes and share experiences from community growing groups using the tools and leading academics in the field.
Several of the most commonly used tools will be featured, along with opportunities for debating and sharing how you and other groups have used them in practice. We will be gathering feedback on how the new online guide (due for completion early March) might be enhanced and promoted.
Refreshments and lunch will be provided, and a report of the event circulated to attendees.

Antibiotics and Farming: Prescriptions for Change
2016-04-14 09:45 - 16:30
The critical nature of antimicrobial resistance has been well documented by experts across the globe, and the inappropriate use of drugs in livestock farming is widely recognised as a contributory risk.
The UK Government-appointed O’Neill Review found that there is “compelling” scientific evidence that antibiotic resistance is being transmitted from farm animals to humans and states that this warrants a significant reduction in farm antibiotic use. The recent finding of colistin-resistant E. coli from pigs and humans in England and Wales is the latest sign that the future efficacy of our antibiotics is under threat.
And yet, the overuse of these vital medicines within the farming sector continues. Across Europe, twice as many antibiotics are used in farm animals than are used in humans. Routine, purely preventative dosing of groups of healthy animals remains legal within the EU, despite opposition from the European Medicines Agency and several European countries. In the UK, veterinary use of antibiotics classified as “critically important for humans” is at an all-time high.
Our conference will bring together multi-disciplinary stakeholders; from policy-makers, health professionals, livestock farmers and veterinarians, to scientists, civil-society and environmental groups. The event will explore practical steps to reduce farm antibiotic use; drawing on successful interventions taking place across the EU.
A conference organised by The Alliance to Save our Antibiotics and Medact.
Register via Eventbrite (deadline: 17 March)
Read the agenda

EU Referendum: a spotlight on food & farming
2016-04-19 15:30 - 18:30
The EU influences every aspect of the UK’s food and farming systems; subsiding farming to the tune of billions and regulating everything from worker and consumer protection to rural development, biodiversity and river water quality.
The result of the impending referendum will have profound implications for the future of our food and farming sectors. As we prepare to go to the polls, join us as we bring together industry experts and those working in the sustainable food sector to get clued up about the implications of staying in or leaving the EU.
Hear from Nourish Scotland’s Pete Ritchie, agricultural economist Steve Webster, Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s Anne Selby and City University Research Fellow in Food Policy Charlie Clutterbuck and discuss the issues with others working for a more sustainable food system in our city and beyond. The event will be chaired by Dan Crossley of the Food Ethics Council.
We’ll be exploring the social, economic, cultural, environmental and ethical implications of the ‘stay’ or ‘leave’ outcomes, covering issues including:
-the environment and our countryside
-animal welfare
-TTIP and trade
-food safety
-consumer protection
-rural economies
Food and farming has barely featured in referendum debates so far. Let’s put it back on the agenda! We hope you will be able to join us for this event and contribute to what promises to be a fascinating and informative discussion. It will also be a great opportunity to network with others working in, and with an interest in, food and farming.
Organised by The Kindling Trust and The Food Ethics Council. (More information)

The Hand That Feeds: A musical about food crime
2016-05-14 12:00 - 16:00
Free outdoor performance on Saturday 14th May at midday and again at 2:30pm outside St Martin in the Bullring, Birmingham city centre.

A Narrativium production from The New Optimists, a science-based forum of regional artists and others, working in partnership with local artists, business people and community members, as well as scientists.

Call for Abstracts: Brighton and Sussex Universities Food Network Annual Symposium 2016
2016-06-16 09:00 - 17:30
The annual symposium has become the highlight of BSUFN’s year, showcasing the diversity of food-related research at Brighton and Sussex Universities alongside non-academic and community-based initiatives in East Sussex and beyond.
In recent years, food and related topics have received an increasing profile in the media, in policy debates, and in research and theoretical discourse. Food has become a pressing issue of our time and interacts with other pertinent topics such as politics, economics, sustainability, environment and climate change, health, society and culture, and the food-water-energy nexus.
The 2016 annual symposium will reflect this current agenda. Within the broad theme of ‘Contemporary Food Issues’ the format for contributions to the symposium is open. BSUFN invites the submission of abstracts for presentations, posters, panel sessions, discussions or interactive sessions according to the format you consider to be most appropriate for your topic.
Submissions are invited from researchers, undergraduate and postgraduate students, non-academic organisations, community groups, practitioners, policy-makers, and other interested parties or individuals. Submissions from any disciplinary background are welcomed.
Please submit an abstract of no more than 350 words in length. Along with a brief description of the research and subject area, abstracts should provide contact details of the corresponding individual, others who are collaborating with the symposium presentation, and the format of the presentation or other contribution. Abstracts should be submitted via e-mail to food.network@sussex.ac.uk by 17:00 on Friday the 29th of April 2016. Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their submission no later than Friday the 6th of May 2016.
If you would like to become a member of the Brighton and Sussex Universities Food Network, you can register your interest using the online form at www.bsufn.com/join-us/ or by expressing your interest via e-mail to food.network@sussex.ac.uk
The BSUFN Symposium will be from 9:00 until 17:30 on the 16th of June 2016 and will be held at the University of Brighton Falmer campus. Lunch and refreshments will be provided.
Registration to attend the BSUFN Symposium is free of charge. You can register to attend by going to http://bsufn-contemporary-food-issues-symposium.eventbrite.co.uk
Details for the symposium will be made available online as they are updated. Please check the website for updates at www.bsufn.com/events/symposium-2016/
The Brighton and Sussex Universities Food Network Annual Symposium 2016 is kindly supported by: SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit) and the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex, and COSTALS (Centre of Sport, Tourism and Leisure Studies), University of Brighton.

Critical Foodscapes: what does the future hold for urban gardening?
2016-07-07
-A One Day Conference on July 7th 2016 at the University of Warwick, UK–
Confirmed Keynote: Dr Chiara Tornaghi (Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University, UK)
Urban gardening has long promised radical alternatives to industrialised food production and the organisation of modern urban spaces. Yet despite recent increases in popularity and a conspicuous proliferation of its forms, urban gardening appears to have had minimal material influence on how we eat or how we live.
It is now time to ask what the future holds for urban gardening. What evidence is emerging of urban gardening’s social and environmental impacts? Can such forms really mitigate some of the major crises of our times – from mental illness and unemployment to the unsustainability of our food systems – or do they remain a fringe concern? And what changes – at the level of policy or grassroots mobilisation (or otherwise) – are required to maximise the impact and reach of future iterations of urban gardening?
This conference seeks to put critical – but constructive – pressure on some of the assumptions which underlie current theory and practice of urban gardening; as such, the conference organisers welcome papers encompassing a broad range of approaches and perspectives (whether research-, practitioner- or participant-orientated) considering the past, present and future of urban gardening. The conference will take the UK as its main focus but will accommodate international perspectives where possible. Papers might address, though not be limited to, the following topics:
· Community gardens
· Community supported agriculture
· Urban and peri-urban food production
· The cultural representation of urban gardens
· Urban gardening and…
– local/national food policy
– grassroots activism
– food production
– mental health
– town planning
– education
– environmental sustainability
– economic sustainability
– emergency food aid
Please send 300 word abstracts and 100 word biographies to Dr C Maughan (IAS Early Career Fellow, University of Warwick) by Monday 11th April 2016: christopher.maughan[@]warwick.ac.uk.
Following the conference, speakers and delegates are encouraged to submit papers to a proposed special issue with the journal, Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, subject to the peer-review process.
For more information, updates and to register see the conference website.

What does the right to food mean in practice? Experiences from India, Brazil and Scotland
2016-07-07 15:30 - 17:00
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The Food Foundation invites you to join a seminar to consider experiences of implementing the right to adequate food and nutrition. Along with most other countries in the world, the UK is a signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Article 11 requires that states recognise the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living including adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger. Some countries of the world including Brazil and India have captured this obligation into their national legislative frameworks. In the UK there is considerable debate as to whether enough is being done by public authorities to protect our most disadvantaged households from food insecurity. Most recently the Food Foundation shone a light on new UN statistics which estimate that 8.4 million people could be living in households affected by food insecurity in the UK. This event will draw on international experience to discuss to what extent a stronger legal framework around the right to food could help to protect households from food insecurity in the UK.
Welcome: Deputy Chief of Mission, Minister Ana Maria de Souza Bierrenbach
Chair: Anna Taylor, Executive Director Food Foundation
Speakers:
Biraj Patnaik, Principal Adviser on the Right to Food to the Commissioners of the Supreme Court in India
Biraj will discuss how India has enshrined the right to food into law, what this means in practice for its citizens and the lessons which have been learned.
Elli Kontorravdis, Policy & Campaigns Officer, Nourish Scotland
Elli will present Nourish Scotland’s recent report to the UN Committee on Econmic, Social and Cultural Rights on the right to food as part of the UN’s 6th period review of the UK.
Professor Sergio Schneider, Professor of Sociology of Rural Development and Food Studies Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul – UFRGS/Brazil
Sergio will discuss how Brazil has enshrined the right to food into law, what this means in practice for its citizens and the lessons which have been learned.

Panel comments: (TBC)

Plenary discussion

Urban Food Fortnight
2016-09-09 10:00 - 2016-09-25 17:00
From 9 to 25 September Londoners can take part in activities celebrating the fabulous food grown, made, cooked, saved and foraged in the capital. There are over 70 events taking place across London.
Urban Food Fortnight is the brainchild of London Food Link, the voice of good food in the capital. Each year, it sees thousands of Londoners taking part in myriad events across the capital, with a particular focus on its sister network – Capital Growth – which connects food growing gardens across London, including around a dozen urban farms. It gives people a chance to sample ultra-local menus at places ranging from high end restaurants like Mews of Mayfair, or their favourite local spot such as Poco on Broadway Market. The event is run in partnership with Grub Club and the SRA.
Find details of these and more events, plus how to register your own event, at www.urbanfoodfortnight.org

Feeding Affordances and Decent Helpings
2016-09-13 09:00 - 17:00
This event is for those who work with/in communities to help meet the dietary and/or food access needs of residents, local authorities, academics and other interested parties. In this workshop we will consider the challenges and opportunities that underpin the question of how third sector organisations, local authorities, and others can effectively come together to reduce food insecurity and improve public health in communities.
Book your place via EventBrite

Workshop context
The paradox of our food system is that those places where people are the most food insecure are also those with higher rates of illness linked to dietary practices. But how can the food futures of local communities, and the inequalities linked to them, be addressed against a backdrop of global food chains, powerful economic and political interests and complex interaction of social, cultural and personal influences? Local authorities are expected to play an increasing leadership role in addressing these challenges against a backdrop of continued budget reductions, as well as the possibility of locally devolved funding.
In this context, Local authorities and organisations concerned with supporting those who are food insecure need new ways of working together to enable the long term sustainability and security of a community’s food system. The solutions are not easily achievable, but only through a coalition informed by effective civic leadership and the knowldege, skill and energy of third sector organisations will effective strategies be developed reflecting the culture and values of communities themselves.
Programme:
9:00-10:00 Registration, Coffee and Networking
9:45-10:00 Welcome, Megan Blake, Director of the MA in Food Security and Food Justice, Sr Lecturer in Human Geography, University of Sheffield
10:0-11:30 Confirmed Speakers
Ingun Borg, Principle Research Officer, Department of Work and Pensions, will offer an explanation of Universal Credits and outline its implications for the ways families manage their time in order to meet care and work demands.
Jemma Hynes, Director of Food Programmes at FoodSync, will tell you about Feeding Stockport and the food development work of FoodSync in using whole systems approaches to tackle some of our biggest challenges.
Pamela Graham, Postdoctoral Researcher in Psychology at Northumbria University, will be discussing her research on children’s hunger, brealfast clubs and non-term time feeding programmes.
Katie Badger, Masters Researcher at the University of Sheffield and Summer Intern with Doncaster Council Public Health, will present her work on the ways people use and interact with food banks.
Robert Reid, Ddirector of the Hilltop Centre, will talk about the activities they do to support food security in Edlington and some of the challenges that they face.
11:30-12:00 Questions for the speakers
12:00-12:30 Participant introductions and explanation of the afternoon workshop activities
12:30-1:30 Lunch
1:30-3:30 Workshop: collaborative SWOT analysis on the question of how to work together to enable healthy and secure food for communities.
3:30-3:45 Coffee
3:45-4:00 Table Summaries
4:00-4:30 Table discussions on Ideas to take forward into practice for Local Authorities, Community Organisations, and for further research.
4:30-5:00 Feedback on final discussion and summary of the day
Attendees are invited to a wine and cheese reception from 5:00-6:00 pm to round out the day.

Winning the end-game against tobacco
2016-09-16 09:30 - 17:00
The purpose of this meeting is to explore the strategies that will enable the countries of the United Kingdom to become tobacco-free. It will look at the opportunities that arise from legislation, health education, treatments supporting smoking cessation and the contribution of advocacy.
The meeting will also review the strategies being used by the tobacco industry to preserve their sales, obstruct health promotion efforts and to recruit new smokers in the UK and in developing countries.
The participants will learn of the contribution that can be make by smoking cessation services, the contribution, if any, that e-cigarettes might make and the strategic steps needed to make tobacco-free countries a reality.
Professor Simon Chapman, world leading anti-tobacco advocate, will be attending and speaking on his professional lifetime spent in public health advocacy as well as giving a keynote speech on the plain packaging pandemic.
Special rates are available for PHE and NICE employees, please contact the Event Coordinator to book your place: epidemiology[@]rsm.ac.uk

C3 Breakfast Seminar: Prof. J Dixon: Chronic disease & working-time regimes
2016-10-12 08:30 - 10:00
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On Wednesday 12 October, Professor Jane Dixon will present one of C3 Collaborating for Health’s international breakfast seminars in London, reporting on the preliminary findings from an Australian project that has been examining the interplay of working-time arrangements and the ways of living that prevent chronic disease. The ‘Work, Time and Health’ project concerns two significant trends: first, the explosion of chronic diseases internationally and, secondly, the transition to changing working-time regimes through the deregulation of working-hour regimes, including flexible work arrangements.
Time for health is shaped by different overlapping facets of working time – flexibility, predictability, quantity, sociability of hours, intensity and so on. While there is a growing body of research regarding the health implications of shift work and long hours of work, other forms of labour-market engagement are less studied. Further, there has been little attention paid to work-time flexibility and whether it assists workers to practise lifestyle behaviours. Jane and her colleagues conducted two studies that both found that the vast majority of workers prioritised work over other aspects of life. Participants were using their work-time arrangements to anchor all other routines, including the routines of food intake, physical activity and sleep. Jane’s presentation will outline specific findings from both studies, and it will offer a sociological perspective on the mechanisms that connect working time to health practices.
Jane is senior fellow at the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, Australian National University and a visiting research fellow at the International Institute for Global Health, United Nations University. Through 2016 into 2017, Jane is Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor based at the Centre for Food Policy, City, University of London. Her research takes place at the intersection of cultural sociology and public health, and focuses on transformations within national food systems with special interests in consumer power, commodity chains, food retail and the nutritionalisation of the food system.
We hope you will be able to join us from 8:30am until 10:00am on Wednesday 12 October at CAN Mezzanine, 7–14 Great Dover Street, London SE1 4YR. Breakfast will be available from 8:00am.

IFSTAL Year 2 Launch - London Event
2016-10-18 18:00 - 20:00 | City, University of London, Northampton Square, London, EC1V 0HB, United Kingdom
Please join us for the Year 2 Launch Event for the Innovative Food Systems Teaching and Learning (IFSTAL) programme. IFSTAL is a collaborative, interdisciplinary, cross-university food systems training programme for postgraduate students, linking with the workplace to improve future human, animal and environmental health.
Professor Martin Caraher and Dr Barbara Haesler will be charing the event, introducing the audiences to the objectives of the programme and how you can get involved. You will have a chance to meet our partners in the other participating IFSTAL institutions at Oxford Univerisity, Warwick University and Reading University during a live-streamed video call. Afterwards we will have our own local discussion with the audience led by a panel of experts including Professor Jane Dixon from Australian National University, Professor Peter Mollinga from SOAS and LCIRAH and Professor Bhavani Shankar from LCIRAH. To close the event there will be a reception giving you the opportunity to meet other colleagues studying and working on food-related topics.
There will be simultaneous events happening across the country in IFSTAL’s partner institutions: Oxford University, Reading University and Warwick University. In London, this event will be hosted by City University London and LCIRAH (LSHTM, RVC, SOAS). If you would like to attend the lecture at any of the other IFSTAL locations please visit our website for more information.
Book your place via EventBrite

Introduction to Food Policy workshop
2016-10-25
This workshop offers an overview of the policy cycle, and the factors that organisations have to consider when deciding the details of a policy. It explores what a policy is and what prompts a policy to be developed and reviewed. The interactive workshop will enable attendees to understand the process, and put the knowledge into context to suit their needs.
More information and registration

The Case For Measuring UK Household Food-Insecurity
2016-11-08 18:30 - 20:00
The Food Foundation in partnership with the Food Research Collaboration, Sustain, and the Sociology Department of Oxford University are holding an interactive session exploring why, and how, household food insecurity could be measured in the UK
The session is being run between 18:30 and 20:00 on Tuesday 8th of November in Committee Room 9 of the Palace of Westminster as part of the ESRC Festival of Science.
Recent analyses from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations suggests 8.4 million people live in food insecure households in the UK and are unable to secure enough food of sufficient quality and quantity to stay healthy and participate fully in society. However, there are currently no routine measurements of food insecurity in the UK. An absence of regular data collection means the true magnitude of the problem remains hidden.
This session is being convened to build the case for measurement amongst the wider academic and policy community, and the general public. We will explore, through plenary discussion, the public policy case for quantifying levels of food insecurity, and showcase a number of measurement tools which could readily be applied in the UK. The session will also explore how complimentary research techniques can help amplify the voices of the food insecure in the public policy process.
The links between food security indicators and other forms of poverty measurements – such as childhood poverty indicators and fuel poverty – will be discussed, as will the UK’s commitment to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Please do circulate this event to colleagues and peers involved in broader poverty work in addition to food policy.
The session will close with an interactive session, where guests will be introduced to a number of groups and campaigns currently thinking about the measurement and alleviation of food insecurity.
Please RSVP to the event here.

Priorities for Healthy Food Policy: Launch of Expert Consensus
2016-11-14 12:45 - 14:00
This event will launch the results of a national Expert Consultation involving 73 experts from 41 organisations in the development of the Food Environment Policy Index. This Index evaluates how well England is doing in the development of healthy food policies and identifies priorities for action. The event will allow experts to discuss the results and their implications with parliamentarians.
To register for the event please follow the link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/priorities-for-healthy-food-policy-launch-of-expert-consensus-tickets-28265519931
The development of the Food Environment Policy Index has been coordinated by:

Roots to Work: Learn to grow food, income and enterprise
2016-11-25 09:30 - 16:30
This day of workshops, speakers and networking opportunities is for people interested in kick-starting or developing a food-growing enterprise or career. Whether you’re running a school garden and want to learn more about selling to parents and the community, or you’ve just finished a horticulture training course and are ready to find paid work, there is something for you to dig in with at Roots to Work.

Register for Event

Growing Health - Gardening for Wellbeing
2016-12-06 10:00 - 16:30
A conference on gardening and food growing for mental health and dementia, plus workshops on evaluating community growing projects.
6th December 2016, 10am – 4.30pm
Sustain, Development House, 56-64 Leonard Street, London, EC2A 4LT (near Old Street Station)
£35 early bird before 6th Nov
£45 full price
A conference for community growing projects, healthcare professionals and commissioners
Speakers from MIND, Growing Support, General Practice, Lewisham Clinical Commissioning Group and mental health gardening projects including the latest research on community gardening and dementia.
Plus workshops on ‘Which tool to use?’ to help projects evaluate gardening activities that deliver health and wellbeing benefits.
Full programme to follow.
Book here – https://growinghealth.eventbrite.co.uk/
Limited early bird tickets available
Please note that I only work one day a week on this project which is a Tuesday so you might not get an immediate reply

Maria Devereaux
Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming
Development House, 56 – 64 Leonard Street, London EC2A 4LT
020 7065 0902
Email: maria@sustainweb.org
Web: www.growinghealth.info

Winter Conference: Diet, Nutrition and Mental Health and Wellbeing
2016-12-06 10:00 - 2016-12-07 16:00
The conference offers the latest scientific research to discuss the link between diet, nutrition and mental health/wellbeing. The purpose of this conference is to review where the evidence is strong, where there are unmet needs for research and to draw together the community working in this area. The conference programme will consist of plenary sessions aiming to set the scale of the problem in context, plus a series of four interlinked symposia examining the evidence linking nutrition to psychological outcomes. The mechanistic basis will be included in the scope of the discussion. Sessions will be devoted to public health and clinical interventions.
Additional speaker and award opportunity: Cuthbertson Award has been awarded annually since 1990 as a tribute to Sir David Cuthbertson. It is awarded to scientists or clinicians at an early stage of their career for excellence in clinical nutrition and/or metabolism research providing an evidence base for clinical practice. The winner of the Cuthbertson Medal will be invited to present on Wednesday 7 December at the Winter Conference. Submission deadline: midnight on 6 October.
Further information including workshop programme, outline of workshop and how to register
Discounted Early bird rate expires on: 9 November

Free Range Dairy Conference
2017-03-07 10:00 - 16:30
STAFFORD BEACON CONFERENCE CENTRE, STAFFORDSHIRE TECHNOLOGY PARK, STAFFORD, ST18 0GB
Grazing and a clear commitment to keeping cows in fields is at the heart of Pasture Promise free range milk. If we’re to provide nutritious milk for a growing population and meet the demands for greener, cleaner food and farming approaches then we need to clarify the means of production on the label.
Free Range Dairy Network has brought together leading experts in their field to examine ways in which we can work together. Build real value in milk and support traditional, family dairy farms to produce enough milk to meet our demands. Book your place here to learn how we’re working to win recognition and reward for British dairy farmers and giving consumers a more informed choice when buying milk.
For further details contact carol@freerangedairy.org.
Hope you can join us…
Neil & Carol
Directors
Free Range Dairy Network CIC
