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Attendees engage in conversation at the workshop

A workshop hosted jointly by SSRP and the Sustainable Healthcare Group at the Centre for Equitable Global Health Research (Brighton and Sussex Medical School) provided much food for thought on a range of issues relating to human and environmental health.

Over 40 attendees enjoyed insightful five-minute presentations on everything from climate risk management for farmers to food trade regulation, the commercialisation of children’s food to the development of robotics to aid agriculture.

The workshop on June 12, part of the University of Sussex’s Summer of Research 2025 programme, was split into three panels after the key pillars of the new Sussex 2035 institutional strategy: Environmental sustainability, human flourishing, and digital and data futures.

The event was designed to bring together food research from various disciplines and perspectives at the University and beyond, and foster knowledge exchange and collaboration between researchers.

In his introduction, SSRP Director Professor Joseph Alcamo pointed out that food is central to many cultures, but also that food insecurity caused by climate change and conflict is increasing around the world.

The event was chaired by SSRP Senior Programme Manager Sephora Imomoh, who highlighted SSRP’s focus on environmental sustainability and human equity and its alignment with Sussex 2035.

She stated that food research at Sussex covers themes of sustainability and human and environmental flourishing, and that technology, being ubiquitous in today's world, intersects all of this research.

Environmental sustainability

Our first speaker was our own Deputy Director and Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, Dr John Thompson, who summarised some of the groundbreaking food research being carried out at SSRP and IDS. This includes projects within two SSRP themes, ‘Sustainable Climate and Food Systems’ and ‘South Coast Sustainability’.

Dr Thompson also introduced two of his own projects, ‘Groundwater Futures in Sub-Saharan Africa’ (GroFutures) and ‘CLimate Adaptation and Resilience in Tropical dryYlands’ (CLARITY), both of which seek to identify and analyse pathways to sustainable water development in the tropical drylands of Africa (and India in the CLARITY project). Dr Thompson added that hydrologic and climate modelling can ‘stress test’ these pathways in the context of changing land-use and water demand scenarios.

Next we heard from Professor Fiona Smith (Law, Politics and Sociology), a lawyer by training, whose research examines the intersections of trade, the environment, and human health. More specifically, Professor Smith discussed her work on food systems transformation in Southern Africa, looking particularly at export markets of fresh fruits and vegetables. She also gave an overview of a separate project in the UK and Ireland, focusing on how food systems may be restructured to meet climate neutrality goals by 2040.

Looking ahead, Professor Smith is focusing on ways in which ‘critical zone science’ – an interdisciplinary field that aims to understand the Earth’s near-surface environment, including interactions between rock, soil, water, air and living organisms – can transform research and trade.

Following up on some of the research strands mentioned by Dr Thompson, Professor Martin Todd (Global Studies) then discussed his SSRP-funded research into managing climate risks to mitigate impacts on agriculture, and especially the enhancement of early warning systems for pastoral workers in Africa. In the longer-term, Professor Todd added, investment is urgently required in climate risk management infrastructure, such as irrigated agriculture.

Completing this first panel, Dr Divya Sharma (Business School) shared research on the interrelation of ecological and economic precarity in Indian regions that underwent the so-called ‘Green Revolution’ in the 1960s. In this period, she explained, small-scale farming in Punjab and Tamil Nadu was transformed by rapid industrialisation, with damaging consequences for ecological health and local livelihoods. Dr Sharma concluded by highlighting a new mode of natural, ecologically-conscious farming that has emerged in these regions more recently.

A stimulating panel discussion then took place on issues ranging from the status of biodiversity in trade regulation and food systems, indigenous food produce, and the connection between agriculture and human health.

Dr Divya Sharma presents at the workshop

Human flourishing

Our second panel was kicked off by Petar Tabakov of the Sustainable Healthcare Group at the Centre for Equitable Global Health Research, presenting on the sustainability of NHS food. Petar pointed out that food accounts for 6% of all NHS emissions, with 14 million kilograms of waste produced annually. To address these problems, Petar’s research aims to contribute to systemic change, understanding the impact of food consumption across the entire supply chain, and how food choices made now will influence health in the future. The ultimate objective of this line of work is to deliver high-quality, nutritious, sustainable food for patients.

‘Eating has never been so complicated’, said Dr Kathy Martyn of the University of Brighton at the start of her presentation. She was referring to the difficulty of identifying healthy food in supermarkets amid an excess of ultra-processed products, but also to a wealth of related issues relating to food, from ensuring adequate nutrition to food security. Dr Martyn went on to explain how she has worked with disadvantaged communities in numerous countries, including across the UK, to enhance food knowledge skills and practices and improve dietary behaviour by informing health and social policies.

Next, Professor Benjamin Selwyn (Global Studies) described a ‘polycrises’  concerning food in the UK, citing high rates of malnutrition, obesity doubling over the last 30 years, and the fact that last year saw the second poorest harvest on record. Under capitalism, he argued, profit is prioritised over the planet and human health, bringing us to the point of environmental crisis. As one solution, he proposed the return of community restaurants – which were universal under the leadership of Winston Churchill and can be found in many countries today – run by and for local people, not corporate gain.

Picking up on some of the points raised by the previous speakers in this panel, Rachel Claydon (IDS) honed in on children’s diets in the UK, and particularly the ways that (mostly unhealthy) children’s food products are marketed to children and their parents or carers. Through her work, which includes ethnographic research with mothers and other carers, she aims to enrich debates on critical health, expanding understandings of why these so products are so embedded in public life and so ‘enchanting’ to children and parents.

Lastly on this panel, Dr Lidia Cabral (IDS) introduced the Food Equity Centre, a collaboration of researchers across Africa, Asia, Europe and South America, which brings together knowledge from different contexts in the effort to make food systems healthier and fairer.

She also discussed her SSRP-supported ‘Roots of Change’ project, which strives to achieve rewilding transitions that are just and equitable, benefiting various parties including farmers, food producers, and consumers. This includes investigations into various land-use approaches exemplified by Sussex sites and organisations such as the Knepp estate, Wiston Estate, Weald to Waves, Changing Chalk, and Rock Farm.

A panel discussion followed on the absence of, and need for, rights and policies for universal access to nutritious food in the UK, and the comparative food cultures of the UK and other countries such as Brazil, where there is stronger regulation around the availability of good food.

Dr Kathy Martyn 

Digital and Data Futures

Joining us online, Dr Vishwanathan Mohan from the University of Essex shared his research on ‘agri-food robotics’ – meaning robot technology that can help with labour-intensive, high-value agricultural tasks. There is a global need for agri-food robotics amid the ever-growing demand for crops and food around the world, Dr Mohan said, which is why he and colleagues are working to enhance this technology.

This research has focused on the hand-eye coordination of the robots, ensuring their effectiveness in complex agricultural situations. Answering audience questions, he said that the accuracy of the robots was improving all the time.

Wrapping up the workshop, our Dr Mirela Barbu (Business School) presented on her SSRP-funded ‘Agricultural Voices Syria’ project with Professor Martin Spinelli (Media, Arts and Humanities), which has produced a series of podcasts and videos providing essential guidance for Syrian farmers amid conflict in the country. The podcasts have been played almost 16,000 times by an audience of 4,500 people, she said, proving the impact of the research for agricultural workers on the ground in Syria.

In her concluding comments, Sephora Imomoh remarked upon the great breadth of research discussed at the event, and the difficult ‘trade-offs’ inherent within food projects – such as how many farmers struggling to find short term labour are turning to agri-food robotics for efficiency and to minimise food waste at the risk of increasing their carbon footprint. She thanked everyone who contributed to and attended this very thought-provoking workshop.  

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