The Future of Food Symposium 2021: From Recovery to Resilience

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

• 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

  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.