Mapping the Growth of the Welsh Food Bank Landscape 1998-2015
2016-03-21 09:30 - 15:00 UTC
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
Book via EventBrite
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
Register via EventBrite
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

Scientific Publishing Success: from Research to Acceptance
2017-03-21 09:30 - 17:00
This one-day workshop offers an overview about the different components of a research paper, along with practical advice on how to structure each section and how to draft your paper. In addition, it will also focus on how to enhance your understanding of how the peer review system works, and what editors are looking for in a well-written paper. This workshop is for future scientists (MSc, PhD students and early career researchers) wishing to acquire practical experience in paper writing for peer-reviewed Journals. Additional training will be given on database searching and search tips, this will be delivered as an option for those wishing to make the most of the day.

Registration now open
RSVP here. Further details including programme and how to register for a place can be found here.
Discounted Early bird rate expires on: 21 February

Spring Conference 2017: Nutrition and Exercise for Health and Performance
2017-03-28 10:00 - 2017-03-29 14:00
The main purpose of this conference is to review the latest scientific evidence that demonstrates the interaction between nutrition and exercise in terms of maintaining and/or improving metabolic health and well-being, preventing disease and optimising performance.

Registration now open
RSVP here.
Further details including the programme, registration and learning outcomes can be found here.
Discounted Early bird rate expires on: 28 February

REDICLAIM project (Understanding the impact of legislation on "reduction of disease risk" claims on food and drinks) webinar
2017-04-06 14:00 - 17:00
In 2006, the European Regulation on nutrition and health claims on foods (Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation (NHCR): European Commission No. 1924/2006) established, for the first time, a common framework for the regulation of such claims across the European Union (EU).
The opportunities for product innovation arising from this new legislation combined with protection of consumer interest in respect of controlling misleading advertising, while at the same time promoting public health, are noteworthy. But such opportunities needed to be evaluated against the burden on industry to undertake significant research activity into these claims and to present a scientific substantiation to satisfy the procedure for approval.
The EU-funded REDICLAIM project considered these issues in relation to ‘reduction of disease risk’ claims. As the project comes to an end, this webinar will present the project findings and give you the opportunity to ask questions of our expert speakers.
The session will include:

An introduction to the REDICLAIM project
Ensuring successful health claim applications
Health claims as promoters of new innovative food products?
The NHCR and issues with the regulatory framework
Modelling to predict the health and economic impact of ‘reduction in disease risk claims’

How to Join our webinar:

Please register for the REDICLAIM Webinar on Thursday the 6th of April 2017 at 2pm GMT/3pm CET at:http://www.focusbiz.co.uk/live/rediclaim/06thapril2017/
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

How to Join our mailing list:
Please sign up here to receive email updates about the publication of the REDICLAIM project recommendations and further papers, reports and presentations: http://eepurl.com/cGHCc1

Please feel free to forward this invitation to anyone who you feel might be interested in the webinar.

1st International Conference on Sustainable Energy and Resource Use in Food Chains
2017-04-19 09:00 - 2017-04-21 15:00
RCUK National Centre for Sustainable Energy Use in Food Food Chains (CSEF Centre) at Brunel University London, in collaboration with The University of Manchester and University of Birmingham annouce their 1st conference ‘ICSEF 2017’ to be held Wednesday 19 to Friday 21 April 2017

The aim of ICSEF 2017 is to bring together scientists and engineers working in the field of energy and resource use in food chains. ICSEF 2017 will report on the latest thinking, technologies and approaches for energy demand reduction and minimisation of resource use, including water and waste, across all stages of food chains from primary production to consumption and waste management.
Themes at ICSEF 2017 will include:

Energy and Resource Use in Agriculture/Food Production

Sustainable Food Processing

Distribution and Logistics

Consumption

Waste Management

For further information

Free Range Dairy Network Farm Event
2017-06-06 10:30 - 14:00
Farm Event with the Free Range Dairy Network
Meet the Free Range Dairy Network at the farm event which offers an opportunity to find out more about Pasture Promise Free Range Milk, as well as meeting the farmers and free range cows of Barhouse Farm. The session will consist of a tour around Barhouse Farm to meet the free range cows, followed by lunch and closing with a talk by guest speaker Yeshna Mistry from the Sustainable Restaurant Association.
Attendance is free, however guests will need to make their own travel arrangements. To book a place or if you have any questions please contact Carol Lever via email at carol@freerangedairy.org

Land for What? network launch and planning meeting
2017-06-10 10:30 - 15:30
This meeting will bring together people who are enthusiastic about creating a network of groups and individuals who are working on land issues in the UK. We’ll share some ideas about how we think this network might work but we are also open to suggestions. The coalition who organised the conference will not be running this network – instead it will be a collaboration of the people who step forward at the meeting.
This event won’t be about hearing from speakers, it will be about the roles each of us can play in developing this network. We’re looking for people who want to take an active role in guiding and organising the development of Land for What (or whatever name it takes on).
To find out more and see the proposed agenda, check out the new eventbrite page. Please sign up if you want to get involved in organising the next part of this journey.
Hope to see you on the 10th!
You can also now see videos from the November conference on our youtube channel.

ACCESS TO LAND IN EUROPE: LEARNING FROM THE FIELD
2017-06-19 09:30 - 2017-06-21 12:30
Seminar 19th and 20th June and Conference 21st June – Brussels
Europeans need farmers to produce good food, feed our communities, foster rural development and take good care of our environment. But growing evidence from farmers, rural development organisations and experts shows that access to land is a significant obstacle for farmers in Europe, as well as being the primary obstacle to entering farming.
Meanwhile, social innovations are emerging throughout Europe to support farmers in securing land to enter farming or to consolidate their farm businesses. Over the past few years, organisations – coming together in the Access to land network – have mapped good practices and explored core issues related to access to land. These issues include how to open up land for new entrants, the role of local authorities, and available legal tools for land tenure and stewardship.
For two days, on 19-20 June, practitioners from across Europe will meet to share experience and analyses about issues and practical solutions to improve access to land for agroecological farmers.
In complement, on 21 June, a public conference will focus on drawing lessons and discussing policy levers with other civil society organisations, experts and policy-makers.
Please find the program here: www.accesstoland.eu/-Conference-
SEMINAR – ACCESS TO LAND IN EUROPE: LEARNING FROM THE FIELD
Date: 19th & 20th June 2017Venue: Chant d’Oiseau Training Centre, Avenue des Franciscains 3A, Brussels
During this seminar, top experts from all over Europe gather to share the results of their search for best practices that can overcome the obstacles to access to land.
We tailored the seminar for a wide panel of actors ranging from policy makers, members of an organisation who manage access to land, social entrepreneurs who wish to set up a new access to land initiative in their country, researchers or citizens interested in the subject.
CONFERENCE – SOLUTIONS AND POLICIES FOR ACCESS TO LAND IN EUROPE
Date: 21 June 2017Venue: L42, Rue de la Loi 42, 1000 Brussels
Access to land has been identified as the number one obstacle for the development of agroecological farming in Europe. However, solutions exist.
This conference reflects on the potential policy changes needed to improve conditions for access to land in Europe

Fifth BSA Food Study Group Conference: Food & Society 2017
2017-06-26 08:00 - 2017-06-27 17:00
**FINAL CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: Less than 1 week left until deadline! **
https://www.britsoc.co.uk/events/key-bsa-events/fifth-bsa-food-study-group-conference-food-society-2017/
Confirmed keynotes – see biographies below:
Corinna Hawkes, Professor of Food Policy, Director, Centre for Food Policy, City, University of London, UK A people-centred approach to the study of food: a policy perspective.
Anthony Winson, Professor of Sociology, University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada From Wide Angle to Zoom: Critical Perspectives with the Food Lens.

CALL FOR ABSTRACTS
— What is food? And how should we study it? —
Spanning the social sciences, humanities and beyond as well as public health and nutrition, food is established as a prominent topic of interest for research. It is also of significant relevance to those outside the academy, including governments, UN agencies, NGOs, community groups and the private sector, particularly in the light of recent political events. Growing numbers of scholars and students with an interest in food and food-related issues have contributed not only to the emergence and expansion of sub-disciplines dedicated to the study of food – e.g. the sociology of food, the anthropology of food, food history, food economics, the geography of food – but also to the effervescence of an inter-disciplinary ‘food studies’. In building this body of work, researchers within and across these disciplines and sub-disciplines also contribute important knowledge to policy-makers and practitioners.
However, ‘food’ may not mean the same thing to all those who study or seek to influence the practices and systems which produce, sustain and consume it. Depending on disciplinary frameworks, epistemologies and domains of practice, ‘food’ connotes different objects of study, requiring different framings and measurement. For some, ‘food’ is a material substance, or a source of nutrients and means of avoiding disease. For others, it is a commodity for economic exchange, or the basis of livelihoods, or the object of policy. For others still, ‘food’ is a language through which to express relationships, whether affinities or differences. These ‘false cognates’ may deceive us into thinking that we are addressing the same ‘thing’ when, in fact, we are not. Yet food remains central not only to global systems and local lives, but is a fascinating and challenging area of study precisely because it connects with so many other urgent issues; tracing these connections entails transgressing boundaries not only across different domains of human experience, but also across disciplines, requiring engagement with a range of theoretical paradigms and methodologies.
The conference thus poses the questions: what do we mean by ‘food’, how do we study it and to what end? Key themes are: How is ‘food’ conceptualised and operationalised within particular disciplinary and methodological frameworks? How is it understood in relation to its entanglement with other materials, meanings and practices? Should we ‘study up’ or ‘study down’? What are the implications of the ways in which food is defined for contributing to knowledge, practice and informing policy?
We seek to enrich our conversations about food and to transcend boundaries, as well as pause to consider what, exactly, we are talking about. Only then can we learn from each other how better to study ‘food’ and better inform policy and practice. To this end, we invite proposals for papers that not only present studies of food-related issues, but that reflect explicitly on how ‘food’ is delineated as an object of study and how particular theoretical frameworks and/or methods of analysis may be used to explore and understand its significance.
The committee intends to organise papers into thematic sessions that include presenters from different disciplines or sectors to facilitate and stimulate reflection and discussion about how and why issues in ‘food’ are conceived, studied and applied. Themes may include but are not limited to:
– Agriculture, trade and food retail
– Processing and food technologies – traditional and modern
– Food justice, labour and livelihoods
– Food and cultural heritage
– Consumption and social relations
– Methods for researching food and what should we study
– Risks and food safety
– Interventions and policies
We invite abstracts of up to 300 words for oral papers (lasting 20 minutes with 10 minutes to follow for questions) and for posters. As in previous years a prize will be awarded for the poster which delegates agree best communicates its aims, methods, findings and conclusions. Following the successful trial of a new format at the previous conference, and taking feedback into account, oral presentations may also include Pecha Kucha* style sessions and roundtable presentations. Please indicate your preferred format when you submit.
We also invite abstracts for symposia with a maximum of three connected papers, of relevance to the conference theme, to run in parallel with presented papers. We would be particularly interested to receive proposals which address methodological challenges in studying ‘food’. All proposals for symposia should be emailed to the BSA Events team events@britsoc.org.uk with subject ‘BSA Food Study Group Conference – Special Event’.
Special event submission deadline: 12 February 2017 and abstract submission deadline: 19 February 2017.
Submit your abstract at: https://portal.britsoc.co.uk/public/abstract/eventAbstract.aspx?id=EVT10611
Please direct any academic enquiries to the Food Study Group co-convenors: Rebecca O’Connell: rebecca.oconnell@ucl.ac.uk, Hannah Lambie-Mumford: h.lambie-mumford@sheffield.ac.uk and Andrea Tonner: a.tonner@strath.ac.uk
For administrative issues please contact the BSA Events Team: events@britsoc.org.uk
*A 20-slide presentation in which each slide lasts 20 seconds
— Registration Rates —
BSA Member Registration: £120
Food Study Group Member Registration: £140 Non Member Registration: £180 Concessionary Member Registration: £100 Food Study Group Concessionary Member Registration: £120 Concessionary Non Member Registration: £140
If you/your organisation cannot afford to pay the conference fee, please, in addition to your abstract, submit a covering letter to Dr Elizabeth Hull (eh17@soas.ac.uk) explaining your circumstances and what you hope to both gain and contribute. There are a very limited number of subsidised places and letters will be considered by the committee on a case by case basis. Decisions will be communicated the week commencing 25th March. The decision of the committee is final.
Brief biographies of our 2017 keynote speakers:
Professor Corinna Hawkes
Professor Corinna Hawkes is Director of the Centre for Food Policy in the Department of Sociology at City, University of London and Co-Chair of the Global Nutrition Report, an international report tracking progress in malnutrition in all its forms across the globe. Her work is concerned with identifying effective food systems policies to improve diets around the world. She has published widely on the role of globalisation, trade, retailing, marketing, agriculture in diet and diet change and is now focused on making food policy more effective through a people-centred approach. Corinna has worked at the International Food Policy Institute, the World Health Organization, the University of Sao Paulo and the World Cancer Research Fund International, where she established the NOURISHING Policy Framework for healthy diets and obesity. She sits on the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems and the Lancet Obesity Commission.
Professor Anthony Winson
I am currently Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph, Guelph Canada. I have also taught at Western University and Saint Mary’s University. I have researched issues related to agriculture, food, agrarian development, politics and the state in the context of Canada, the United States and the Third World and my current focus is on the political economic determinants of diet and nutrition. I am the author of the following books: Coffee and Democracy in Modern Costa Rica (Macmillan, 1989); The Intimate Commodity: Food and the Development of the Agro-Industrial Complex in Canada (Garamond Press and U. of Toronto Press, 1993); Contingent Work, Disrupted Lives: Labour and Community in the New Rural Economy, (U. of Toronto Press, 2002 with Belinda Leach which has won the John Porter book prize of the Canadian Sociology Association); and more recently The Industrial Diet: The Degradation of Food and the Struggle for Healthy Eating (UBC Press and New York University Press, 2013). I have co-edited (with Mustafa Koc and Jennifer Sumner) Critical Perspectives in Food Studies (Oxford University Press, 2012), the only interdisciplinary textbook in food studies in Canada. I have published numerous book chapters and refereed articles in Canadian, American, European and Latin American journals and have served for several years on the editorial boards of Agriculture and Human Values and Rural Sociology.

The 10th International Critical Management Studies (CMS) Conference – CMS 2017
2017-07-03 08:00 - 2017-07-05 17:00
Reorganising the neo-liberal food system: Evolution, Rebellion or Revolution?
Call for papers
Submissions to this conference stream should be a 500-word abstract which demonstrates how it addresses the topic of the research stream as indicated below illustrating a theoretical/empirical contribution to the topic. The word limit excludes references.
The deadline for submission of abstracts is January 31, 2017. Please submit the abstract by sending it to the lead convener by email. If you have queries regarding your submission please feel free to email the conveners.
The acceptance of abstracts will be communicated by February 27, 2017.
Click here for more information about the conference stream
Conveners:
Gillian Hopkinson (lead convener), Lancaster University g.hopkinson@lancaster.ac.uk
Dave Watson, University of East Anglia david.watson@uea.ac.uk
Isabelle Szmigin, University of Birmingham, I.T.SZMIGIN@bham.ac.uk

On one hand the neo-liberal food system can be considered highly efficient. This system of production and distribution has produced higher yields, and lower food prices in real terms, as well being highly profitable for organisations and, latterly, futures traders (Clapp, 2014). On the other hand, it has been criticised for a narrow view of what constitutes efficiency. The organisation of the food system around the primary goal of profit accumulation has also produced obesity alongside persistent undernourishment (Alexandratos & Bruinsma, 2012), and environmental degradation contributing to climate change (IAASTD, 2009). Meanwhile there is a concentration of wealth and power in a small number of trans-national agri-food corporations at the expense of individual producer and consumers (Halweil, 2002, p. 25). This state of affairs has given rise to counter tendencies, apparently expressing discontent and a desire to change the food system for the better (Allen, 2010).
Whilst few could disagree with this sentiment, the question of how to re-organise the food system in a ‘better’ way remains. The call for some sort of ‘food revolution’ to address contemporary problems in our food systems is not new, but it is contested. Specifically, proposals differ in terms of what is to be changed, who is to take action to bring the change about and whether this will be at the individual, civil or political level as well as the means through which that change will be achieved.
Prominent claims to revolution include The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, which is backed by the Gates Foundation. This envisages increased farm productivity and livelihoods through a re-run of the technological farming solutions applied in the original green revolution. The need to boost productivity and ensure food security underpins the argument behind this approach, undermining claims of ‘greenness’ (Tomlinson, 2011). Opponents, however, point out that the world already produces more than enough food for its growing population and point to the need to revolutionise the political economy instead of technological innovation (HoltGiménez, Shattuck, Altieri, Herren, & Gliessman, 2012). Others are concerned with consumers’ dwindling knowledge of food production, nutrition and cookery (Meyer, Coveney, Henderson, Ward, & Taylor, 2012; Thompson & Coskuner‐Balli, 2007). Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution aims to equip people with the requisite knowledge to act as responsible consumers in food markets, taking an educational approach.
A plethora of so called alternative food movements have rebelled against the dominant food system. They reflect a multitude of issues of concern and modes of organisation. Gleaning and dumpster diving networks link up to those concerned with re-distributing food to address undernutrition and food waste. Alternative agriculture groups and famers markets reconnect producers and consumers, often promoting particular production standards of ethical production, such as organic. Meanwhile we are called on to act as individual citizens, to exercise our influence in the market by voting with each fork full. We are enabled to enact this change by a range of labelling and certification schemes designed to inform consumers. Armed with this information we are expected to make responsible buying choices and signal a desire for more accountable production thereby bringing about changes in the food system. Or so the argument goes.
Some ‘revolutions’ (e.g. Jamie Oliver) have been critiqued for lending support to the neo-liberal conceptualisation of the market. Other revolutions (e.g. Green Revolution for Africa) are critiqued because they favour the interests of particular commercial organisations. The actions of civil groups have been portrayed as more rebellious than revolutionary with limited potential to unsettle extant practice. The ability to vote through consumption tending to privilege the values and interests of the wealthy, without unsettling the dominant mode of production and consumption (Eden, Bear, & Walker, 2008, p. 1047). More fundamental re-organising of the food system through community-based food production can be understood as a quiet revolution in the way that it defies the standard market model (Boehm, Mizocsky, Watson & Lanka). Instead, it offers a ‘special emphasis on creating and building community around the interwoven issues of food, land and nature’. (Hinrichs, 2000, p.299) Approaches to change differ then. From those that are evolutionary offering no fundamental change to revolutions aiming to upturn the faith in markets and replace economic values with social and/or environmental values through other methods of organisation.
We welcome papers that critically examine our contemporary food system, the problems it generates and/or the range of initiatives that seek to address its current deficiencies. In particular we hope to explore questions about who might bring about change, the extent of change that might be brought about, the interests served by change and who is/should be responsible for change. In short, can and will deficiencies be addressed through continued evolution of industry, through the rebellious acts of individuals or civic society or might these amount to a full-blown revolution?
We welcome papers from any discipline that critically explores our food systems and the possibilities of change. We encourage contributors to engage with the food system at the political level, as well as the social, cultural and economic level. Contributors may consider any aspects of the food system and approaches to change and take a theoretical or empirical approach. Questions that might be addressed are not limited to but could include the following:

Critiques of current developments within the food system such as technological solutions, sustainable intensification, or the financialisation of commodities.
Case studies and practice-oriented discussions of approaches that challenge aspects of industrial agriculture, the global food system, the monopoly of supermarkets, etc. Contributions from practitioners welcome.
Alternative futures, the scale, limitations and social reach of forms of localism and biodynamic, craft, seasonal and cooperative production. To what extent do these alternatives disrupt and/or reproduce existing market relations and inequalities?
The role and identities of revolutionaries – who can lead change, how can they lead change, how do those engaged in alternative projects understand their role?
Industry responses to calls for change – how are acts of rebellion institutionalised, with what effect at to what end?
The values that underpin the dominant food system and how these might be challenged by ethical or moral understandings of food production and consumption practices?
What might a revolutionised food system look like? Are there other players that can help change the status quo?

Sustainable Food and Agriculture Workshop
2017-07-04 10:00 - 14:30
As part of the REACH (Research Engagement and Collaboration Hub) programme, the Department of Entrepreneurship and Local Economy at the University of Birmingham will be holding a workshop exploring the competing demands and perceptions of sustainability for the food industry. The workshop is part of a wider project to engage cross community debates on sustainability to include economic (sustainable livelihoods), social (minimises negative impact on wellbeing and environmental (minimises negative impact to the natural environment).
We have a range of speakers including Hilary Hammer from East Riding Local Food Network and a founder of the Sustainable Food City project in Hull, she is currently working on a project on innovation in the agrifood sector. Dr Adélia de Paula is the Sustainable Intensification Research Network (SIRN) Coordinator, a project funded by the UK Research Councils BBSRC and NERC and she will be talking about the concept of sustainable intensification. Sam Durham from the NFU will be speaking about the NFU and sustainability issues. Rachel Graham from Solagrow a consultancy services provider who designs solutions to create sustainable farming practices for small family farms will present a case study. Prof. Kiran Trehan will be talking about ways forward for research and how engaged research is critical in delivering impact for scholars and practice. We will also be asking participants for their thoughts and views on demands and perceptions of sustainability. This will be an interactive event where we hope to generate questions to inform future research.
This is a free event and will take place on Tuesday 4th July, registration from 10am for a 10.30am start and ends at 2.30pm. Lunch will be provided and is an opportunity for networking. This event is relevant for anyone interested in small (family) firms, sustainability, and food production. For further information or to reserve your place please email Jane at J.Glover@bham.ac.uk. Please confirm your attendance by Wednesday 28th June and please state any special dietary requirements.
