Food GRP Networking Event

A networking session consisting of short talks on current research on a variety of topics linking
with food and food systems, followed by an exploration of potential exchanges and collaborations

Clean Eating and Orthorexia

A 'Food & Drink Cultures' webinar led by Louise Morgan (Centre for the History of Medicine)

Dietary Dilemmas

An international workshop exploring influences on consumer choice in pre-industrial societies,
co-hosted by Warwick's Food GRP with BrIAS (Brussels Institute of Advanced Study)

My Food & Drink

Building on the 6 February networking event, Warwick-based researchers from numerous departments
talked about particular foodstuffs or beverages they consider 'important' and how these might inspire future research agendas.

The Game - Food System Transformation

Food Action and Research Midlands : Advancing Food Security through Research and Collaboration

9th December 2022

Together with the Early Modern and Eighteenth Century Centre, the Food GRP co-hosted a Panel discussion on 'Developments and Perspectives in Drink and Food Studies' with Rebecca Earle (Warwick), Allen Grieco (Villa I Tatti/Harvard), and Phil Withington (Sheffield)

5th December 2022

Our 13th Webinar on Monday 5th December, 4.30-6.00pm, was led by Dr Lucy Aphramor, Associate Professor at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience Coventry University

They led a discussion on 'Does Food System Transition Need Public Health Nutrition Abolition?

16th November 2022

She talked about: ‘Food, Art and Migration'

8 June 2022

Our eleventh (hybrid) webinar on 8 June 2022, 6.30-8 pm, was led by Imogen Bevan,
Research Fellow in Social Anthropology, University of Edinburgh, imogen.bevan@ed.ac.uk

She talked about: ‘Sugar: a substance of kinship and relatedness? Practices of growing children in a Scottish neighbourhood'

It forms part of our Food & Drink Cultures theme

20 April 2022

Food & Drink Extravaganza

Mobilizing members of the Classics, History & Philosophy departments, regional partners & alumni, FEAST! supported a day of free attractions in the Resonate Campus Festival: 'Roman Coventry Activities' (offering fun for families); 'The Dinner Party' (involving place settings created by visitors) & a public debate on ‘Rethinking Hospitality - The Future of Food & Drinks Catering’ (featuring entrepreneurs, academics & Coventry caterers) - catch up with our video highlights.

Our tenth webinar was led by Dr. Alastair Smith from University of Warwick.

The title of the talk was ‘International Food Prices actually Higher than for Most of Modern History: Why don’t more people know?'

It forms part of our Food Security theme

Exhi-BEAN-tion

Unfazed by Covid-19 complications, we held an event featuring taster pots of vegan bean dishes from around the world, showcasing our locally grown haricot beans. You can read about the event, watch a recording and access some fantastic bean recipes here.

Feast Food Festival

From starters to mains, sides to what to drink, local food / beverage producers, restaurants & Food GRP researchers have been sharing the stories behind their feast delicacies to showcase what's on the plate in Coventry & Warwickshire. Check out our 'Feast Food Festival' introduction and the weekly themed videos we produced with food blogger Ellen Manning and cameraman Dan Watts who filmed and interviewed on location throughout the region at the end of 2021.

Our ninth webinar was by Dr. Sara Pennell from the University of Greenwich,

The title of the webinar was Prince Henry's sweet tooth? How to shop for a 1612 banquet and bring it alive in the present.

It is part of our 'Food Cultures' theme

More information

FOOD ON THE MOVE - an online workshop to discuss the ways in which fast-moving food chains have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is part of our 'Food Cultures' theme

More information

Our eighth webinar was by Dr. John Ingram from the University of Oxford Environmental Change Unit.

The title of the webinar was ‘Enhancing Food System Resilience’ - see the video recordingLink opens in a new window

It is part of our Food Security theme

More information

FOOD, RELIGION & WRITING - a 2-part examination of interactions between faith and food studies:

A reading group discussion of extracts from Food, Religion and Communities in Early Modern Europe with the author Christopher Kissane

An evening panel debate on the relationship between Food, Religion and Writing - see the video recording.

It is part of our 'Food Cultures' theme

Our seventh webinar was by Dr. Sue Kleve from Monash University.

The title of the webinar was 'Harnessing community expertise to reimagine a food secure future in Cardinia Shire Council'

It is part of our 'Food Security' theme.

More information

21 April 2021

Our sixth webinar was by Professor Rob Proctor

The title of the webinar was 'Applications for data science and food safety, risk detection and mitigation'

It is part of out 'Food Security' theme.

More information

23 March 2021

Our fifth webinar took the form of a panel debate involving Susan Flavin, Allen J. Grieco and Peter Scholliers

The topic was 'Food and Drink Cultures Through the Ages' - see the video recording.

It is part of our 'Food and Cultures' theme.

More information

24 February 2021

Our fourth webinar was by Dr Charlotte Allender and Dr Graham Teakle

The title of the webinar was 'Vegetable variety – how diversity in our crops keeps food on our plates'

It is part of our 'Food and the Environment' theme.

More information

Our third webinar was by Dr Gurpinder Lalli, Senior Lecturer in Education and Inclusion Studies at University of Wolverhampton.

The title of the webinar was 'Come dine with me! The school restaurant: A space for social learning?'

It is part of our 'Food Security' theme.

 More information 

Our second webinar was by Mary Swander, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Emerita, Iowa State University, Executive Director of AgArts and Artistic Director of Swander Woman Productions.

The title of the webinar was 'Addressing Food System Issues through Drama and the Creative Arts' and is part of our 'Food Cultures' theme.

More information

Our first webinar for this academic year was by Dr Tom Barber, Associate Professor and Honorary Consultant Endocrinologist at the University of Warwick and University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW).

The title of the webinar was 'Obesity', and is part of our ‘Food and Health’ theme.
More information

This event was in collaboration with the Health GRP.

Recording of the webinar

Warwick's UK Vegetable Genebank celebrates 40th anniversary

The UK Vegetable Genebank was opened on 8th October 1980. Forty years on, a programme of events took place between 5th-9th October, as an online celebration of the genebank, its collections and how their seed has been used in plant breeding and research. View the resources from the event

Interdisciplinary Conference - 'Food Encounters: A Network Conference'

The event was in two parts; the first part showcasing University research on food across the four Food GRP themes, with short presentations followed by networking sessions and the second, an Ideas Café workshop for conversations on memories, thoughts, interests and ideas for improvements around our food and food system.

70 years of research on vegetables and other crops celebratory event at the Wellesbourne Campus

Families and Food in Hard Times: FARM Network event

In the years following the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent so-called austerity measures, household food insecurity has risen in Europe. This is different in each country. Families and Food in Hard Times (2014-2019) examined the extent and experience of food poverty in the UK, Portugal and Norway.

Dr Rebecca O'Connell discussed with attendees the findings of the study Families and Food in Hard Times. Dr O'Connell was the study's principal investigator from 2014-2019.

Food poverty workshop

Led by Dr Martine Barons and Professor Ann Nicholson

Celebration event

A celebratory event to mark the 25th anniversary of a hugely successful partnership between academia and industry, and a discovery which changed modern farming practices worldwide. Read our article.

Caste-ing Nutrition: The Politics of Health and Food in Modern India

The Centre for the History of Medicine and the Institute of Advanced Studies organised this workshop to consider the relationship between food and caste hierarchy in India. Find out more with our event summary.

Can't we do it ourselves?

A 1940s project to set up a healthy housing estate for Coventry has inspired a new generation of city residents to think about the relationship between food, community and health. The Coventry Family Health Club was the dream of city GP Dr Kenneth Barlow who wanted to discover if people could plan and build their own self-sufficient community. Although two farms were bought in Binley Woods and more than 200 families signed up for the scheme, the proposals were rejected by Coventry City Council in 1947. Now the ideas behind the Coventry Family Health Club – and another healthy community scheme in Peckham, London, which did go ahead – have inspired a project to encourage the people of Coventry to think more about healthy eating and how food can help build communities.

Dr Marina Chang, of Coventry's Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience has teamed up with Sophie Greenway, PhD student at the University of Warwick's Centre for the History of Medicine to run a series of public events to share the stories of the Coventry Family Health Club and The Peckham Experiment with people in the city. The events have included film screenings and discussions about the two projects and how the ideas behind them can be applied in today’s society and help people live healthier lifestyles. Photographs taken and comments recorded during the events have been used to create a tablecloth for use in the Moat House Leisure and Neighbourhood Centre in Winston Avenue, Coventry. The researchers have worked alongside the Moat House Community Trust, which runs the centre.

The project – titled 'Can’t We Do It Ourselves?' - is part of a series of collaborations this summer between the city’s two universities to bring their research directly to local people in the run up to UK City of Culture 2021.

Dr Marina Chang, a research associate at Coventry University’s Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience, said: “We’re using the community spirit evident during the Family Health Club as a catalyst to encourage people to think about what they eat, how they can take control of their own health and how they can empower their own communities to make a difference.”

Sophie Greenway, a PhD student in the Centre for the History of Medicine at the University of Warwick, said: “The Family Health Club has been relegated to a footnote in the city’s history, even though members felt the benefits of its ethos right from the start. This project seeks to change that by making people more aware of the ideas behind it and how they can apply those to their own lives.”

Conference: Plant variety protection debates: Connecting law, science and social science

The World Trade Organisation’s obligation for all members to protect plant varieties as set out in Article 27.3b of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights raises debates about appropriate systems of protection. To unpack these debates, this multidisciplinary conference explored the process and importance of plant breeding, definition of plant varieties, conditions for protecting new plant varieties, as well as existing systems of protection. The conference also addressed the future of intellectual property rights for plant varieties considering global discussions on agroecology, climate change, food security and food sovereignty. The objectives of the conference were:

• To provide a platform for law, science and social science researchers to exchange knowledge about plant variety protection
• To bring together key organisations and stakeholders involved in plant variety protection to discuss recent developments
• To contribute to discussions on the pending review of the plant variety protection provision in the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (Art. 27.3b)

The conference was organised by Dr Titilayo Adebola from the Law Department.

Food GRP Showcase Event

An event to provide information on Warwick's engagement with ‘food’ through research and teaching, and ‘pump-priming’ funding and other opportunities available to engage with the Food GRP. The event closed with an exploratory performance-conversation with women in UK agriculture entitled 'Who's driving the tractor?' performed by the Theatre and Performance Studies department.

'Food at the University of Warwick' presentation

Presentation by Professor Rosemary Collier at the Warwickshire Food and Drink Showcase Exhibition.

Diet and Nutrition in Institutions of Care: History & Policy

The Warwick Food GRP part-funded a one-day conference, Diet and Nutrition in Institutions of Care: History & Policy, which joined up the work of the Centre for History of Medicine’s Cultural History of the NHS project and a Wellcome funded multi-institution (of which Warwick is one) project Prisoners, Medical Care and Entitlement to Health in England and Ireland 1850-2000.

The one day event saw expert speakers and guests discuss the history of, and current policy around, diet and nutrition in institutions of care. They considered who makes the choices around food in institutions, and how and why those decisions might differ in terms of funding, quality, and source in different settings. The workshop particularly focused on hospitals and prisons.

'How food shapes our lives: Hungry cities and beyond?'

Carolyn Steel, an architect, lecturer and author of 'Hungry City', visited the University of Warwick to deliver a lecture and lead a discussion exploring the inner lives of cities, how they have been fed through history, starting from around 10,000 years ago, and how we might use food to re-think the design of cities in the future.

Carolyn’s TED talk – How Food Shapes our Cities

Challenges to sustainable production of fruits and vegetables

Professor Rosemary Collier gave this presentation at the 18th World Congress of Food Science and Technology, Dublin

CFP: Critical Foodscapes: What does the future hold for urban gardening?

A one-day conference held at the University of Warwick, part-funded by the Warwick’s IAS and Food GRP. The conference was put together by Dr Chris Maughan (IAS Early Career Fellow) with the intention of bringing a ‘critical studies’ approach to the emerging research area of urban community food growing; that is to put critical but constructive pressure on some of the assumptions which underlie current theory and practice of urban gardening.

The PerFarmance Project

The project was sponsored by the Food GRP. The project was a research-based performance residency. Using performance and farming, the project produced an exchange between artists and farmers and other engaged in the growing of food.

During the three week exchange, Melissa Aldape, Juan Aldape and Chris Bell researched food production in the West Midlands. They conducted interviews, experiential learning and visiting local sites of food production from large scale farms to community gardens and other forms of 'grow-your-own'.

The role of technology in enabling sustainable food supply chains

In partnership with the University of Warwick, the Industry and Parliament Trust hosted a breakfast meeting at the Houses of Parliament on the role of technology in enabling sustainable food supply chains. The meeting was chaired by Dan Crossley, Executive Director, Food Ethics Council and the guest speakers were Dr Stephen Humphreys, Food Industry Manager, Bayer CropScience and Dr Rosemary Collier, Director of Warwick Crop Centre, School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick. Listen to the podcast.

Kenilworth Show

Staff and students from the School of Life Sciences, including Warwick Crop Centre, manned an interactive display at the Kenilworth show. They demonstrated how the biological diversity of soil can be seen - looking at soil from the bucket to the microscope.

Workshop on food and nutritional security at the European Parliament

Brian Thomas and Rosemary Collier attended this workshop as members of the European Plant Science Organisation. The purpose of the meeting was to help engage policy makers from the European Parliament, representatives from the European Commission and the Member States in a discussion of the potential contributions from plant science, breeding and farming towards food security and nutrition. This was to highlight the advances and opportunities associated with the field. It was attended by a range of stakeholders, including public researchers, breeding industry representatives, farmers, policy makers and journalists.

Food for thought

A University event held in the Students Union, bringing together a range of speakers including Warwick and Coventry academics along with other charities and organisations working with food, to discuss the issues of food waste and wellbeing.

Warwick SU Food Waste campaign video

Workshop on organic movements, markets and systems

A workshop to consider the opportunities and challenges in 'mainstreaming' organic systems.

Delivering dietary diversity using natural variation in crops

Seminar session at Food Matters Live, London ExCel

Sandpit to identify technologies which have potential application in agriculture in the developing world

The aim of a sandpit held on the Wellesbourne Campus was to identify technologies which have potential application in agriculture in the developing world, and particularly for East Africa, within the DfID-funded SEED programme. The sandpit was organised jointly by the University of Warwick Global Priority on Food and H2O Venture Partners.

Food GRP workshop programme

In the spirit of furthering our interdisciplinary cooperation, a multidisciplinary Food GRP Workshop programme was organised, in which each week there was a discussion around a presentation on current research with contributions from a range of departments.

Food GRP events in Brussels

As part of an exciting programme of research-led events in 2015 for the University of Warwick's 50th anniversary celebrations, the Food GRP held events in Brussels, focusing on bee health and the sustainable use of pesticides.

Workshop on evidence-based decision support for food security

This workshop brought together food domain experts and modelling experts in an exciting cross-disciplinary meeting to inform and extend current food security research.

Eating well: Experience and value in meals

At this interdisciplinary workshop researchers and practitioners shared diverse expertise relevant to what is at stake when people gather to eat. A tremendously rich set of factors converge in meals, affecting the meaning, pleasures and healthiness of daily life, the transmission and vitality of cultures, and the sustainability and fairness of large-scale food policies and practices. This workshop aimed to integrate our understanding of these factors, with the hope of developing ideas for a ‘future of meals’ that is well-informed, is ethical and makes the most of meals’ experiential, creative and cultural potential. It was organised by Eileen John and Alisa Mandrigin (Warwick, Philosophy), and Tereza Stehlíková (Royal College of Art/Westminster). This event was made possible through the generous support of the British Society of Aesthetics, the AHRC Re-Thinking the Senses Project, and the Warwick Food GRP Community.

Jam Grove, Centre of Lifelong Learning

The Vice-Chancellor planted the first tree in a new ‘Jam Grove’ outside the Centre for Lifelong Learning at Westwood. The idea came from within Warwick, after a range of workshops, events and consultations identified a strong desire among our community to make our campus more inviting, engaging, sustainable and productive. From this, the idea of a series of garden projects has developed starting with an accessible garden of fruit trees and berries. The garden will have seating and be accessible to all. The area can be used for informal and formal meetings and teaching as well as being a place to relax, to help out with maintaining the space and, in the years to come, to help yourselves to fruit.

Go Green Week - Disco Soup

Occupy your body workshop

The workshop was led by Amy Godfrey and Louisa Harvey. This was followed by 'The Biscuit Chronicles', a performance by Amy Godfrey.

Food security policy-making: An interdisciplinary approach

This seminar was held in the University of Warwick Brussels Office led by Professor Jim Smith and Dr Martine Barons.

Food Union meets Disco Salad

A joint event with The Pod in Coventry. A disco salad is made out of food that would otherwise go to waste. Salad was prepared by volunteers and given for free, all while listening to music played by DJ Mr Lowndes.

The Institute of Impossibility by Coventry Mysteries Festival

Food GRP calendar competition

This calendar reflected how diverse the Warwick student community sees food and showcases the wealth of knowledge and creativity around food.

Visiting Fellows

Our Food GRP and the Warwick Institute for Advanced Study invited three distinguished academics as Visiting Fellows. The Fellows took part in a number of events and activities focused on the way that research may be used to inform the way that food is produced in the future, including a post-graduate workshop and a public lecture on the way we grow and distribute food.

Disco Soup event

This raised awareness about food waste and to dance, cook and eat good food together.

PechaKuka event in Coventry on FOOD - Passion, Poverty, Politics

'Solving the global food scandal'

Tristram Stuart gave a talk to over 100 people from the University and the local area. Tristram is the winner of the international environmental award, The Sophie Prize 2011, for his fight against food waste. Tristram has become a renowned campaigner, working in several countries to help improve the environmental and social impact of food production. His latest international prize-winning book 'Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal' revealed that Western countries waste up to half of their food, and that tackling this problem is one of the simplest ways of reducing pressure on the environment and on global food supplies.

'Food security and environmental change: A two-way street'

Talk by Dr John Ingram, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford

Future foodscapes: Grow Warwick

This was an interdisciplinary collaboration connected to the Food Global Research Priority, using the arts to imagine what ‘growing local’ might mean in in the West Midlands in central England. It proposed imaginative ways to increase public knowledge about how our food is produced and to encourage changes in attitudes and behaviour around issues of food. Using the University of Warwick as a possible model of a community where people live and work, a series of performance installations created by Warwick students and staff, artists, and community volunteers asking questions about and suggesting innovative propositions for local food production and consumption in the West Midlands.

Food (In)Security conference at University of Warwick

This one-day conference/workshop, organised by a group of PhD students at the department of Politics and International Studies, University of Warwick, was a starting point for a new postgraduate community where members come together to discuss important issues related to global food security. The intention of the workshop was to strengthen the study of food security by exploring its social, environmental and especially international dimensions. The date selected for the workshop had symbolic significance as October 16th was World Food Day, celebrated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and around the world to raise awareness of the issues behind poverty and hunger.

Research workshop: What is sustainability?

This event was the first part of a project called "Approaches to Sustainability". Its main objective is to provide a central focal point for conversation on issues of sustainability, open and advertised to every faculty of the university. It intends to explore the synergies of the work taking place in different areas by creating a central hub for all the issues that surround sustainability.

09/03/13

Conference: 'Planetary cancer: Growth, economy and culture in an era of climate catastrophe'

Speakers: Jason W. Moore (Umea University), Josh Hodge, (Life Sciences, University of Warwick)
Ben Richardson (Politics, University of Warwick), Robert Spencer (Literature, University of Manchester)

'Prosperty for the poor and health for all' talk

Dr Dyno Keatinge, The Director General of AVRDC-World Vegetable Centre

Gendering Food Security

Half day workshop in conjunction with the Centre for the Study of Women and Gender. Speakers: Stephanie Barrientos (Manchester), Stefanie Lemke (Hohenheim), Jess Duncan (City) and Lopamudra Saxena (Independent researcher).

'Food acquisition and consumption practices among small-holder farmers in South Africa'

Speaker: Dr Elizabeth Hull