Performance Management SIG event report: ‘Sustainability-related performance: Global Food Security’ workshop
A day event was held in Canterbury at the University of Kent on the topic of ‘Sustainability-related performance: Global Food Security’ on 5th April 2023. It followed on from concluding themes from a prior event at the University of York on ‘Pathways to Net Zero’. As the UN has recognised ‘no credible pathway to 1.5°C in place’ with current global commitments to reduce global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, more needs to be explored for how the important role of food systems and global food security have to play: this day event did just that.
Starting early in the morning, Dr Luisa Huaccho-Huatuco (University of York) welcomed the delegates and highlighted the Performance Management special interest group’s scope of projects and research interests, and then Dr Vinh Sum Chau (University of Kent) outlined the broad issues of concern – ranging from more targeted livestock management to reduce methane in digestive systems, improving water and residue management in crop and in nutrification processes to reduce carbon footprints – stressing the multiplicity of credible solutions out there that can be nurtured. In particular, he highlighted how the University of Kent represents a perfect setting to explore sustainability and climate impact, as since its inception in 1965 had placed sustainability at the core of its management, and more recently has put together a policy commitment for meeting environment related SDGs, and furthermore had become the world’s first right-to-food university. Parallel sessions organised by Professors Jonathan Liu (Ming Ai Institute) and Soo Hee Lee (University of Kent), respectively on professional/academic networking and doctoral research workshops, then broke the ice to explore the audience’s research interests and industrial experiences. Unlike any other workshop before, these took place in break-out rooms, with groups sat in informal circles to interlink pressing concerns of academia, industry and policy practice. The networking session was honoured to be joined by Mr Dodie Hung (executive vice-president) and Ms Maria Chong (managing director, Europe) of Lee Kum Kee International Holdings, Asia’s largest sauce producer, all the way from Hong Kong, where it is headquartered – who shared their views on the industry’s concern of food sustainability and sourcing of ingredients, while Sofia Amirzai (University of Kent) was delighted to discuss her current research in the other parallel session.
A set of three keynote presentations then followed. Professor Iain Wilkinson (University of Kent) kicked off the first by presenting the case of food injustice and how that had led to the development of the University of Kent’s four missions in being a right-to-food university – those being: (1) putting the right to food on the world stage (official visits from key voices on the right to food, along with a team of supporting researchers, and hosting event, such as the present!), (2) transforming food systems through teaching and research (integrating a stronger food focus across the curriculum with a view to establishing the university as a leading provider of education and research into the role of food within the promotion of human health and a fair society), (3) tackling food insecurity in the university and food community (from immediate subsidised provisions to community projects), and (4) addressing food inequality in the region (such as engaging with local authorities, charities, schools, farmers and communities across Kent to develop a plan to tackle food inequality across the county). Professor Catherine Robinson (University of Kent) then gave the second keynote presentation which formally gave technical definitions of food security, highlighted productivity concerns and explained the technicalities of the leading work in this area. Her own work on innovations in sustainability sectors summarised the key concerns and future challenges in the area of food security, and particularly why it is a global one. Professor Nigel Poole (SOAS University of London), in the third keynote speech, focused on a specific concern – that of wheat production – and explained why the concerns buck the trends of carbohydrates in developed countries – that the story is different in developing countries that struggle to grow crops because of a lack of fertilised soil, resulting in malnutrition – the difficulty of ‘staying alive’ as the mantra was so clearly put.
The final set of talks in the afternoon began with Dr Luca Cacciolatti (University of Westminster) on the Italian Slow Food Movement. This focused not on production or technical issues of food, but on human behaviour. The movement (not limited to Italy) concerns the need to rethink consumption and eating habits. Specifically, it is premised on the principles of (1) learning from diversity (while empowering youth and embracing technology), (2) good, clean, fair food (including ethicality of small-scale food production), (3) food sovereignty (local chain control), (4) biodiversity (preservation of traditional varieties), (5) cultural heritage (preservation of local food traditions), and (6) conviviality (sharing and community building). This talk was followed by Dr Marios Samdanis’ (Brunel University London) talk on food technology. He introduced the audience to a range of technologies in the market, such as apps and wearables that address very specifically malnutrition, obesity and other food system concerns.
Dr Luisa Huaccho-Huatuco put all the day’s fruitful discussions together by giving an informal workshop on strategies towards achieving Net Zero targets in local/regional food systems, focusing specifically on funding applications and project management. The informality of breaking out into pairs/threes to reflect on stakeholder groups, project plans and steps forward, was absolutely what was needed, after a long day of head-scratching, throat-soring debates on solutions and crises, before reporting back to agree on a sensible agenda to move forward.
Dr Vinh Sum Chau closed the event. Reflecting on how the delegates arrived in the morning with great anticipation, he assured they would not finish with disappointment. Food was indisputably the topic of the day – food for lunch, food for thought and discussion, and delegates left with a complimentary ‘goody bag’ of responsibly sourced oriental cooking sauces most generously donated by Lee Kum Kee and a sustainable tote bag kindly gifted by Ming Ai Institute, meticulously coordinated by Chungwen Li (Dean) of the Ming Ai (London) Institute. Their corporate sponsorship of the event is gratefully acknowledged, as are thanks extended to all the speakers for their insightful contribution and of course to the attendees who have travelled from fields afar. The Performance Management special interest group will host a further workshop at the BAM annual conference in Brighton this summer on this topic where food continues to be a key issue of examination, and hopes this event has sufficiently whetted your appetite for further discussion to come.
Reported by
Dr Vinh Sum Chau, University of Kent