About

Food gives life. It provides energy, strengthens social bonds and enriches culture worldwide. Our collective hunger has remodelled the globe. We have flattened forests, emptied seas and developed an incredible range of technologies to satisfy our collective appetite. Parts of the world have unrestricted access to nutritious food, but many regions are in desperate need of calories or micronutrients. Millions suffer and die from an excess of food while millions suffer and die from a lack of it.

This research group examines multiple aspects of the global food system, following food across academic boundaries from field to table. We cover the collective impact of technological innovations, market forces and human behaviour on global food security. Our aim is to explore how much optimisation can take place within the traditional architecture of our food system and explore the potential of emerging alternative food systems to provide solutions.

Food has the power to help billions, provoke conflict and make or break the economies of entire continents. By bringing together early career researchers from across the University for a seminar series and focussed reading group, we hope to stimulate wide discussion on some of the core questions faced in securing our global food future.
 

Themes for 2015-16

Michaelmas Term:  Generating Food
Lent Term:              Market Forces
Easter Term:          Consumer Choices

 

 

Open to all.  No registration required
Part of the Food: Field to Table? Research Group, series

Administrative assistance: gradfac@crassh.cam.ac.uk

Conveners

Conveners

Claire Agius (Department of Plant Sciences)
Luke A Braidwood (Department of Plant Sciences)
Dr Ksenia Gerasimova (Centre of Development Studies)
Regina Hansda (Department of Geography)
Greg Mellers  (Department of Plant Sciences)
 

Faculty Advisors

Dr Will Simonson (Department of Plant Sciences)
Dr Bhaskar Vira (Department of Geography)

Programme 2015-16

Food field to table
The Importance of Food: Calories and Culture
7 Oct 2015 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar Room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Tim Wheeler (Reading) -Food: Field to Table?

Robots, Insects and Lab Meat: Food in the Future
21 Oct 2015 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar Room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Ian Hardy (Nottingham), Nigel Maxted (Birmingham), Rebecca Di Mambro (LEON) -Food: Field to Table?

Global Food Systems
4 Nov 2015 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar Room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Reading Group-Food: Field to Table?

Land Use Conflicts: They’re not Making it any more
18 Nov 2015 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar Room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Jeremy Woods (ICL),David Nally (Cambridge) -Food: Field to Table?

Paris 2015: Securing Food in a Changing Climate
2 Dec 2015 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar Room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Nazia Habib-Minz (Cambridge), Katrin Glatzel (Imperial College) -Food: Field to Table?

Supply Chains and Scandals: Big Ships, Big Data, Horse Meat
13 Jan 2016 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar Room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Catherine Barnard (Cambridge) -Food: Field to Table?

The Roles of Gender and Technology in Market Exclusion
27 Jan 2016 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar Room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Gina Porter (Durham), David Bright (Oxfam), Representative of Vodafone m-PesaTM project -Food: Field to Table?

Global Food Systems
10 Feb 2016 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar Room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Reading Group -Food: Field to Table?

The Politics of Food Provisioning and Access
24 Feb 2016 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar Room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Patta Scott-Villiers (IDS, Sussex) -Food: Field to Table?

Market Interference-Helping and Hindering Sustainable Food Systems
9 Mar 2016 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar Room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Fiona Smith (Warwick), Christian Theil and Tina Schivatcheva (Cambridge) -Food: Field to Table?

The Modern Hunter-Gatherer: Access to Food in Urban Environments
19 Apr 2016 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar Room SG2, Alison Richard Building.

Anastasia Orfanidou (Cambridge)-Food: Field to the Table?

You are what you eat: Nutrition and Health Policy
3 May 2016 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Bhavani Shankar (SOAS) Theresa Marteau (Cambridge) -Food: FIeld to Table?

Waste not: Overcoming the Food Waste Problem
17 May 2016 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Erasmus zu Ermgassen (Cambridge) Food: Field to Table?

Ethical Consumerism: Good for the Food System?
31 May 2016 5:00pm - 7:00pm, Seminar room SG2, Alison Richard Building

Sushil Mohan (Brighton), Bev Sedley (Cambridge Sustainable Food) – Food: Field to Table?

CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN THE ARTS, SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Tel: +44 1223 766886
Email enquiries@crassh.cam.ac.uk