Congratulations to our current PhD student and GLOBE Centre administrator Julie Mansuy on her recent publication. Julie is second author on a co-publication with our former colleague Tomaso Ferrando on ‘The European Action against Food Loss and Waste: Co-Regulation and Collisions on the Way to the Sustainable Development Goals’ which was published on the 6 November 2018 in the Yearbook of European Law.

Abstract: The daily loss and waste of edible food represent one of the most evident failures of the European food system. The area currently represents one of the top priorities for the European Union and some Member States and a clear example of Open Method of Coordination, co-regulation and horizontal governance. Despite the political and legislative emphasis, recent studies recognize that very little improvement has been obtained at the regional level and that more needs to be done to achieve the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals. The discrepancy between ambitions and achievements is at the core of this contribution, which looks at food loss and waste through the lenses of the system of co-regulation in the search for more effective mechanisms of governance. Through an analysis of the EU regulatory framework, the role of multi-stakeholderism and the concrete example of two national legislations on food loss and waste, we question whether the current mechanism of governance is structured in a way that fosters intra-EU and EU-Member States cooperation, regulatory dialogue and the implementation of effective and non-contradictory solutions that make the realization of the Agenda 2030 possible. Are the EU and its Member States actually co-constructing a holistic and systemic approach to food loss and waste that reflects the existence of a common goal and is aware of the multiple ways in which law and regulation may obstacle its achievement or, on the contrary, are they reproducing a fragmented and sectorial approach to the problem that favours quick-fix interventions rather than its systemic redressal?

The article is the result of a two-year research collaboration on the issue of Food waste which began when Julie was studying for her LLM in International Corporate Governance and Financial Regulation back in 2016. Her dissertation on the regulation of food waste sparked the interest of Tomaso whose own research and interests lay in this area. With help from Tomaso, Julie published a report on the different actors involved in the issue of food waste, and assisted him in the organisation of a roundtable to discuss these issues in June 2016. These different projects naturally led to a collaboration on a conference paper which resulted in the publication of this article.

Julie told us “I am really pleased to have had the opportunity to publish in a law journal during my PhD, and I am grateful to my co-author Tomaso for showing me the ropes. PhD research is very rewarding in and of itself, but it is also very exciting to be able to make a contribution to current academic literature.”

Julie is currently in her second year studying for a PhD at Warwick Law School. Her main research interests fall into the areas of Law and Food along with Intellectual Property Law. She has combined these areas to focus her research on Geographical Indications of Origin during her PhD.

Congratulations Julie, from everyone at Warwick Law School.

Read the full article.