Food Research Collaboration

Feeding Affordances and Decent Helpings
2016-09-13 09:00 - 17:00 UTC
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.
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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.

Urban Food Fortnight
2016-09-09 10:00 - 2016-09-25 17:00 UTC
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

What does the right to food mean in practice? Experiences from India, Brazil and Scotland
2016-07-07 15:30 - 17:00 UTC
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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

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.

Call for Abstracts: Brighton and Sussex Universities Food Network Annual Symposium 2016
2016-06-16 09:00 - 17:30 UTC
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.

The Hand That Feeds: A musical about food crime
2016-05-14 12:00 - 16:00 UTC
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.

EU Referendum: a spotlight on food & farming
2016-04-19 15:30 - 18:30 UTC
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)

Antibiotics and Farming: Prescriptions for Change
2016-04-14 09:45 - 16:30 UTC
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

Measuring outcomes: Tools for evaluating health and wellbeing outcomes for community growing programmes
2016-03-23 10:45 - 15:30 UTC
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.

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.
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IFSTAL Lecture Event 8
2016-03-10 17:10 - 19:40 UTC
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!
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IFSTAL London event 7: ‘Decision makers and influence in food systems – a critical engagement’
2016-02-25 17:00 - 19:00 UTC
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.
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UK Food Policy & Nutrition: Tracking Progress
2016-02-10 17:30 - 19:30 UTC
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 lecture: 'Drivers and Influencers: what shapes the food system?'
2016-01-28 17:00 - 19:00 UTC
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)

IFSTAL 4th Lecture in London
2015-12-03 17:00 - 19:30 UTC
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.

Within Arm's Reach: School Neighbourhoods and the Availability of Food and Drink
2015-12-03 13:00 - 15:00 UTC
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 Lecture 2 London Event
2015-11-05 17:00 - 20:00 UTC | 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.

2015 Fred Sanger Lecture: “‘EAT. DIE.’ The Domestication of Carcinogens in the 1980s”
2015-11-04 18:30 - 20:30 UTC
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.

BSUFN launch of Hastings Bites Back project at the Hastings Herring Fair
2015-10-31 11:00 - 2015-11-01 16:00 UTC
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/

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

Governing Food Policy Workshop
2015-09-25 14:00 - 17:30 (Europe/London)
Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Room 2.10 – University of Sussex campus, Falmer

This workshop sees the launch of a new Food Policy and Governance special interest group (SIG) hosted by BSUFN. The purpose of this workshop is to discuss the broad topic of governing food policy in the context of work being undertaken by BSUFN members. Food policy is considered broadly as any policy of an organisation or governing institution which is related to food. Discussion among workshop participants aims to inform any areas of interest and priorities for activities and collaboration within the Food Policy and Governance SIG and BSUFN more broadly.

The workshop will centre on a series of questions to provoke discussion but these questions should not be considered to be exhaustive and other related topics for discussion are welcomed.

In what ways are local, national, and global food policies and priorities interlinked?
Does existing local, national, and international food policy reflect the needs and priorities of society?
Which stakeholders currently influence the production of food policy?
Through what means can society engage with and influence the production of food policy? Is society currently successful in this?
In what ways could BSUFN interact with food policy research, governance, and societal engagement?

The workshop is kindly supported by SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit), University of Sussex.
Sessions will be structured as ‘quick fire’ introductions followed by a period of open discussion among workshop participants. Speakers will each be given ten minutes to introduce a topic concerning food policy within their area of interest.

The detailed programme is available on the BSUFN website here: http://bsufn.com/events/governing-food-policy-workshop/

Please contact food.network@sussex.ac.uk if you would like to attend.

Mainstreaming Ethical Consumption: Challenges, risks and opportunities
2015-09-25 11:30 - 17:30 UTC
The ethical market is growing, but how can it break out of its traditional niche?
The Ethical Consumer conference for 2015 will bring together leaders in their field to help develop thinking on how producers, retailers and consumers need to evolve to meet the demands of the mainstream.
In addition to bringing delegates up to speed on the state of the ethical market and looking at future trends, they will be hosting lively discussions on:
The big ethical consumer issues of the day.
Reducing consumption.
Innovative campaigning business.
Challenges and opportunities for ethical labelling.
There will be a wide variety of organisations taking part including the Fairtrade Foundation, the Forest Stewardship Council, Triodos and Fairphone with more to be confirmed.
Book your ticket

Sweetness, social norms and schools: factors influencing children and young people's food and drink practices
2015-09-09 12:30 - 14:30 (Europe/London)
Childhood obesity is a major public health concern and sugar consumption is believed to be a significant contributing factor. Potential interventions include: restrictions on the marketing of certain foods to children; the introduction of a ‘sugar tax’; and prohibiting the sale of caffeinated energy drinks to under-18s. But will any of these ‘solutions’ actually work? This seminar will attempt to explore this complex issue using insights from three recently completed studies:
The social and economic context for young people’s food and drink purchasing in and around secondary schools – Dr Wendy Wills, University of Hertfordshire
Energy drinks: hype or hyper? A mixed methods study on children and young people’s consumption of energy drinks – Dr Shelina Visram, Durham University
Is a sugar tax likely to be feasible, acceptable and effective in the UK context? – Dr Victoria McGowan, Teesside University
Lunch to be provided. Book now, places are limited.

Food for Thought: An interdisciplinary PhD Colloquim - Call for papers
2015-09-04
By virtue of its sustaining and vital nature, food is of central importance to our livelihoods, yet the processes by which food reaches our table and its journey beyond are vastly complex. The food system is a constellation of social and material processes and structures, many of which are imbued with cultural meaning. As such it constitutes a critical site of everyday human experience and research that brings together the theoretical and the material.
About the Event
We are holding an interdisciplinary PhD colloquium, to discuss current issues in the food system and attempt to engage with these issues within and beyond the sphere of academia. It will bring together a wide range of academic and civil society actors engaged in the food system, to share the material joys of food as well as discuss emerging and sometimes controversial issues to do with the security, safety and resilience of the UK food system, which remains embedded in a global context.
The colloquium will be structured around two key themes;

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

Food as a topic crosses many disciplines encompassing a range of interests and perspectives; consequently we extend this invitation broadly. The two themes around which the day will be structured accommodate numerous points of view and we encourage PhD students studying food within in a range of subject areas to submit an abstract for a paper presentation. As well as presentations from PhD students the event will engage participants in the material elements of food culminating in an evening feast.
The event will take place on the 12-13th November in and around Colchester, Essex.
Guidelines on submission:

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

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

Food Matters Symposium: a RGS-IBG AC21015 Pre-Conference event
2015-09-01
Transport will be provided on the day from Exeter University & St. David’s Train Station, Exeter – leaving at 10 a.m. and returning for 6 p.m.)
Panellists:
Prof. Mike Goodman (University of Reading); Dr. Emma Roe (University of Southampton); Dr. Matt Reed (The Countryside and Community Research Institute); Andy Bragg (West Town Farm); Martyn Bragg (Shillingford Organics); and Ashclyst Farm & Dairy.
Group Facilitators:
Dr Emma-Jayne Abbots (UWTSD); Dr Mags Adams (University of Salford); and Dr Agatha Herman (University of Reading).
Rationale:
Although food waste is beginning to appear on academic and political agendas there has been a tendency to frame the problem around individual food practices, and much less work has been done on how food becomes framed as waste at other nodes within food systems. Through employing a mixture of panel sessions, provocations, hands on sessions and group work, this symposium will bring together academics, food producers, food retailers and food activists in order to approach the problem of food waste. We hope this symposium will enable a collaborative process of agenda setting for future research into food waste, food knowledges and food practices.
Abstract:
Food matters are increasingly contested as lively materials that shape issues around human health and wellbeing as well as impacting on ecosystems through their production, consumption and disposal. Food materials decay rendering food inedible. Food material can be seen as unknown, unfamiliar and undesirable for consumption. Food matters can contain anxieties over provenance, authenticity and wider material impacts on our ecosystems and our bodies. However solutions to knowing food, addressing food waste and increasing access to fresh food are contested. Examples of this include the use of waste food to address issues of food poverty, processing technologies precluding edible food from reaching the consumer, or food labelling inhibiting edible food from being consumed. Through this participatory event we seek to explore these issues by not only generating debate for academic research, but by also getting our hands on food matters, and engaging with local producers’ food stories and food knowledges. By incorporating practical hands- on sessions to produce our lunch with ‘waste’ food and hearing on-the-ground experiences of producers and activists, we seek to ground academic debate on production- consumption-waste pathways with the matter of food itself, and to co-create knowledges for ongoing research collaboration.
A symposium dinner will be held in the evening at a venue to be confirmed.
Organised in collaboration with:
Love Local Food, West Town Farm, OrganicARTS, Ashclyst Farm & Dairy, Shillingford Farm. With support from the Nature, Materialities & Biopolitics (NaMBio) research group of the Department of Geography in the University of Exeter, the Social & Cultural Geography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society with the Institute of British Geographers (SCGRG RGS-IBG), the South-West Doctoral Centre of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC SWDTC), and the Catalyst Project at the University of Exeter.
More Info and Event Booking

Food Waste Transitions: Collaborations towards a Sustainable Food System
2015-06-09 17:00 - 20:00 (Europe/London)
Speakers:
Baroness Scott of Needham Market, Chair of House of Lords’ EU Food Waste Prevention Inquiry
Dr. Tim Fox, Fellow and former Head of Energy and Environment, the Institute of Mechanical Engineers & Global Ambassador, Dearman
Mark Driscoll, Head of Food, Forum for the Future
Mark Little, Head of Food Waste Reduction, Tesco
Emma Marsh, Head of Love Food Hate Waste, WRAP
Louise Nicholls, Head of Responsible Sourcing – Plan A & Packaging Technology,
Marks and Spencer
Dr. David Evans, Research Fellow, Sustainable Consumption Institute,
University of Manchester
The Sustainable Consumption Institute (SCI), University of Manchester, is holding an event in Central London to mark the finale of ‘Households, Retailers and Food Waste Transitions’, a research and knowledge exchange project funded by the Economic & Social Research Council and the SCI (January 2014-June 2015). The event will bring together an invited audience of policy makers, academics, business people and NGOs to discuss food waste reduction and related issues of healthy and sustainable food systems.
There will be a round-table discussion with panellists from 5.30-7pm, followed by a networking reception. The event will also showcase food waste research at the Sustainable Consumption Institute.
Refreshments from 5pm
Panel discussion 5.30pm – 7pm
Networking reception from 7pm

Food waste research at the Sustainable Consumption Institute has involved three related empirical studies. In the first, a social scientific approach to household food waste was developed through in-depth fieldwork in people’s homes, exploring domestic practices of shopping, cooking, eating, storage and disposal. Following this, the ‘Households, Retailers and Food Waste Transitions’ project (funded by the Economic & Social Research Council and SCI) undertook two strands of research. SCI researchers analysed data from a survey of c.70,000 Tesco customers as well as a survey of eating habits in the UK completed by c.1500 online panel members, in order to explore the relationships between the organisation of meal occasions, the production of leftovers, and waste generation. Lastly, 33 interviews were conducted with 38 stakeholders, to explore the ways in which the challenge of food waste reduction is being framed, interpreted and responded to by engaged constituencies, with a focus on the interface of households and retailers.
BOOK YOUR PLACE
Please visit http://bit.ly/1Hv5PeN to reserve your place.
MORE INFORMATION
Call us on 0161 275 0189 or email sci[@]manchester.ac.uk

'Designing Law for Nutrition-Related Health' workshop
2015-06-08 - 2015-06-09
Details: http://www.ias.surrey.ac.uk/workshops/nutrition/index.php
Deadline for submitting abstracts: 11 May 2015
Fee: £80 (£30 for PhD students). The registration fee includes workshop materials and refreshments and lunch on both days.
This multi-disciplinary workshop seeks to initiate the development of a model which can improve regulatory design for nutrition and health needs in food law. It will bring together academics, practitioners and policy-makers from a range of disciplines and locations to explore whether and how public health nutrition research can inform better the design and implementation of European Union (EU) food law. Contributing disciplines will be social sciences, public health nutrition, business studies and law. Much has been written on different styles of regulation but there is very little work which seeks to develop a theoretical approach to integrating scientific research into the design and implementation of regulation in the context of nutrition and health.
The operation of much regulatory law is frequently described as a barrier to innovation and development. This is arguably because it often fails to incorporate domain specific knowledge, e.g. in the area of food and health, into the design stage of regulation. This workshop will seek to initiate the development of a regulatory design model in respect of food law so as to promote public health, taking account of the interdisciplinary approach necessary to design good regulation.
WORKSHOP FORMAT
Three themed sessions each with a keynote speaker and 2-3 shorter related presentations (sourced from contributors responding to an open call) followed by chaired round table discussions focussing on key workshop themes, including a final session which will integrate the theme discussions.
THEMES
Styles of regulation for nutrition and health
Designing effective regulation is of primary concern in achieving the public health objective. Whether the law is risk-based, prohibitory, procedural or reflexive are all questions which need to be considered in relation to the particular form of law which is adopted and its ability to achieve the public health objective which is its purpose. Much legislation in the food arena is reactive and, in relation to the EU, is increasingly emerging in the form of Regulations which are directly applicable and leave no discretion to Member States. Concern to ensure harmonisation at the highest level in the face of increasing threats relating to the safety of food is leading to this result. But is that reactive approach the most effective way to design legislation which is aimed at promoting public health? This session will reflect on whether the current legislation adequately supports public health nutrition. Round table discussions will focus on the following questions:
· Does food law support the drive for public health?
· What models of enforcement are appropriate in the food supply chain to drive nutrition and health?
· How much flexibility is generally desirable in the framework legislation?
Domain-specific science underpinning nutrition-related legislation
Within the fields of food and nutrition, research abounds across scientific, technical and behavioural areas but this leaves the question as to how effectively such research is being incorporated into legislation in terms of its design and style. Further, lack of scientific consensus is not operating as a barrier to legislation and the precautionary principle is frequently invoked as a legitimate and ethical basis for new EU Regulations.
This session will reflect on the link between public health nutrition research and the associated legislation. Round table discussions will focus on questions such as:
· To what extent is public health nutrition research being taken into account in the drafting of law?
· Where scientific knowledge is developing how can food and health legislation keep up with such change so as to drive the latest learning on nutritional and health needs?
· How much flexibility should be left to decision-makers at national, regional or local level, e.g. due to different cultures, populations, needs, levels of protection etc.?
· Which risk assessors play/should play the key role, e.g. industry’s scientists, national competent authorities or EFSA?
· How should the precautionary principle be incorporated and implemented?
Behavioural aspects for nutrition and health
The process whereby people make decisions about their choices of food represents a complex decision-making process and behavioural sciences are increasingly important in determining the framework for this cognitive process. Examples of the abundance of scientific research include, for example, the impact of behavioural patterns around nutrition on health, quality of life and longevity. Behavioural research is extensive and shows that individuals may not function in predictable and rational ways. With legislation increasingly used as the main driver for influencing human behaviour in respect of the food choices they make it becomes imperative to examine the efficacy of different approaches to regulation to achieve good public health outcomes. This session will reflect on what the behavioural sciences offer legislators developing food law that promotes nutrition and health. Round table discussions will focus on:
· What role should self-regulation, voluntary codes and other alternatives to ‘command control’ approaches play?
· How can the law give flesh to this developing work on behaviour patterning?
· How can the law promote behavioural choices for health without becoming the nanny state and limiting individual freedoms?
PROCEDURE FOR SUBMITTING ABSTRACTS AND/OR ATTENDING WORKSHOP
Contributions are welcomed from a wide range of disciplines, and from both academics and practitioners. Individual contributions will be around 10 – 15 minutes, and potential contributors should send a 250 word abstract by using the submission form below by 11 May 2015. Attendance will be confirmed by 18 May 2015.
The number of participants in the workshop will be strictly limited to facilitate creative discussion, and there is an attendance fee payable by speakers and attendees of £80 (£30 for PhD students). The registration fee includes workshop materials and refreshments and lunch on both days.
