The Future of Food Symposium 2021: From Recovery to Resilience

Conference / Exhibition

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Wednesday 08 September 2021 to Thursday 09 September 2021

09:00 AM - 05:00 PM

Location

Online

Cost

Free

Current levels of global consumption and production are unsustainable and require transformative changes to meet the emission reductions required to avoid catastrophic climate change (Alfredsson et al., 2018). Food remains a topic at the centre of this sustainable transition with its future critical to the livelihood and wellbeing of both people and planet. The wide reaching impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic has reframed such challenges. Bringing to light both unforeseen problems and at the same time exacerbating existing issues. Insight into the disruption of the pandemic is increasingly being shared by academics and practitioners. We propose this symposium as an opportunity to better understand not only the road to recovery towards a more sustainable food system, but also as a space to discuss, depict and devise what a more resilient transition pathway looks like.

We invite stakeholders across business and society to present, discuss and collaborate in moving forward the sustainable food agenda. Paper presentations and panel discussions will be given by leading thinkers within academia, industry, the charitable sector and grassroots movements to prompt valuable discussion. We invite presenters and participants to join virtually.

Agenda

Day one

09:00 -09.15 Opening and symposium handover, John Harvey, N-Lab, Uni of Nottingham

09.15 – 09.30 Opening speech -Coventry MP

09.30 to 10:00 Keynote- Prof Anna Davies, Trinity College, Dublin

10:00 to 10:30 Keynote- Jamie Crummie, Too Good To Go

10:40 to 12:40 Track A Presentations: The evolving crisis of food waste from farm to folk and Track B Presentations: Key issues, challenges and solutions to food and nutrition insecurity

13:15 to 2:00 Track B Panel Discussion: What enabled and constrained community food groups during the Pandemic?

14:10 to 16:10 Track C Presentations: Digital platforms as sustainable food solutions

16:10 – 17:00 FareShare event - CU presentation and FareShare keynote- Simone Connolly, FareShare Midlands

17:10 - 17:15 Day one close

Keynote speakers

Jamie Crummie

Co-founder of Too Good To Go

Jamie Crummie is the co-founder of Too Good To Go, the world’s largest marketplace for surplus food. The app lets consumers buy unsold food from restaurants, retailers, cafes, pubs, bakeries and wholesalers so that it doesn’t go to waste.

Professor Suzanne Higgs

University of Birmingham, UK

Suzanne Higgs is Professor in the Psychobiology of Appetite at the University of Birmingham. She has a degree in Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology from the University of Oxford and a PhD in Psychology from Durham University. After her PhD, she worked as a Post-Doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford before moving to take up a faculty position at the University of Birmingham. Suzanne leads a research group interested in cognitive and social processes involved in food intake and food choice and the underpinning biological mechanisms. She is Editor in Chief of the journal Appetite and Past-President of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior.

Professor Moya Kneafsey

Centre for Agro-ecology, Water and Resilience, Coventry University, UK

Since 1997 Moya's research has followed two inter-related strands - how ‘traditional’ cultural resources are commodified for tourism, especially in European rural contexts and attempts to ‘reconnect’ consumers, producers and food through ‘alternative’, local and short food supply chains. Both strands are connected by a critical interest in how to develop social and economic practices which are sustainable, fair and ethically sound.

Call for papers

We welcome submission of abstracts (1 page) from a variety of disciplinary and organisational backgrounds. 6 tracks of topics areas are proposed and detailed below. We are also open to submissions outside these areas.

Tracks A to F of suggested topic areas:

A- The evolving crisis of food waste from farm to fork

B- The challenges and solutions to food insecurity and food poverty

C- Digital platforms as sustainable food solutions

D- Alternative experiences of producing, consuming and eating

E- Sustainable sourcing and ethical food consumption

F- Decision making in Food Supply Chains: Transitioning to a circular economy

See http://futurefoodsymposium.uk/ for full track details.

Submission process and deadline:

The deadline for abstract submissions (1 page only) is the 16 August.

Please submit to futurefoodsymposium@gmail.com. We aim to inform participants by the 11th of August. Successful applicants will be invited to give a 15 minute presentation with time for questions.

Guide to

The Future of Food Symposium 2021 Report

The Future of Food Symposium 2021: From Recovery to Resilience was held on the 8th and 9th of September 2021.

Find out more

Enquiries

For enquiries please contact Dr Jordon Lazell

07912327122
jordon.lazell@coventtry.ac.uk

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