Future food symposium UK

14 - 15 September 2026. Future food symposium UK. The Future of Food Symposium is hosted by 6 universities across the UK

1. University of Essex
2. University of Nottingham
3. University of Reading
4. Institute for Development Studies, University of Sussex
5. University of Birmingham
6. University of Sheffield

It is an annual event that brings together researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and advocates working at the cutting edge of food systems research and practice. In 2026, the symposium took place under the theme Food Systems at a Crossroads: Local Action, Global Change, reflecting the urgent need to connect place-based knowledge and community-led innovation with the broader systemic transformations required to build equitable, sustainable, and resilient food futures.

Book of Abstracts - Food Systems at a Crossroads: Local Action, Global Change 29 p,

This year's symposium spans an extraordinary breadth of topics, from agri-food sustainability and Indigenous food sovereignty, to community food resilience, public dining, coastal food challenges, nutrition and health inequalities, and the growing role of data and artificial intelligence in food systems. Together, the tracks reflect a shared conviction: that meaningful change in food systems requires collaboration across disciplines, sectors, institutions, and borders.

Extracts of the programme

14/09 Positive Agri-Food Futures for People and Planet

Food systems are at a critical juncture, facing intensifying pressures from climate change, biodiversity loss, resource degradation, and persistent inequalities in access to nutritious food and sustainable livelihoods. Delivering a transition toward resilient, nature-positive agri-food systems requires moving beyond fragmented approaches toward integrated, outcome-focused strategies that recognise the interdependencies between environmental health, food production, and societal wellbeing. 

• Luh Putu Kartini, Putu Diah Sastri Pitanatri, Bali Tourism Polytechnic - Beyond Food Waste: Women's Culinary Mediation and Circular Food Futures in Rural Bali
• Shreya, Sijo Abraham, Nimisha Mittal, Independent Researcher - Seed Commons as Integrated Infrastructure for Climate-Resilient Food Systems: Evidence from Eastern India
• Alampik Debbarma, Tripura University - Food, Forests, and Sustainability: Indigenous Tipra Culinary Practices in Northeast India
• Nma Goran Dhahir, Water Diplomacy Center - Governing Water, Governing Nutrition: Transboundary Water Governance Failures, Water Quality Degradation, and Nutritional Vulnerability in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
• Alice Mauchline, University of Reading - Working in Partnership: How can farmers best inform peer-reviewed science and scientists best inform farmers?
• Ada Freaney and Claire Mac Evilly, Airfield Estate - Cultivating Sustainable Futures: The Living Classroom Model at Airfield Estate
• Carina Manitius, University of Vermont - Stranded Assets and Stranded Livelihoods in Agriculture: Identifying Barriers to Change to Support Just Transformation

14/09 Community-Based Approaches to Tackling Food Insecurity 

While a significant body of literature exists on people’s experiences of emergency food access, particularly through networked and independent foodbanks, many new forms of community-based approaches to tackling food insecurity continue to emerge. New community-based spaces of food access go beyond food aid provision and seek to create a sense of connection, build resilience and even ‘close the circular loop’ between food surplus, affordable food access, and food waste that is then revalorised as compost to grow local, sustainable food. 

• Anton Rosenfeld and Bruce Pearce, Garden Organic - Growing resilience through culturally relevant varieties
• Connie Dalton, Pamela Louise Graham, and Richard Lee, Northumbria University - Beyond Nutrition: A Mixed-Methods Study of Children, Families, and School Staff's Experiences of Free School Meals Across the UK
• Neal Haddaway, University of Amsterdam - Commensality: exploring agricultural migrant workers'relationships with food and cooking
• Nia Coupe, Hollie Walsh, Zahra Mulla et al., University of Manchester - Getting nutritious food into food aid: the Food Aid Mapping Manchester (FAMM) study
• Purva Bahadkar and Anita Dighe, Foundation for Mother & Child Health India - Beyond Food: Strengthening Food Security Through Timely Behaviour Change Communication During the First 1,000 Days
• Sharon Mada, Thuenen Institute - Approaches to Food Waste Reduction in Urban Sub-Saharan Africa: Practices and Initiatives for Circular Food Systems
  
  Data were collected from 400 households and 39 street market vendors in Hatcliffe, Zimbabwe, through a face-to-face questionnaire survey. In addition, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 experts from Mauritius, Nigeria, Botswana, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. 

14/09 Resilience and Community Food Projects 

• 
  Lucy Shepherd, Heritage Seed Library, Garden Organic - Growing Resilience from the Ground Up: Community Conservation of Heritage Crops for a Changing World
  
  This work presented findings from Sowing Your Seeds: Heritage Crops for a Resilient Future, a National Lottery Heritage Fund project led by Garden Organic's Heritage Seed Library. Working across the Midlands, the project identifies, documents and conserves locally maintained edible crop varieties. Through seed-saving workshops, community events and seed swaps, growers are encouraged to share both seeds and the stories behind them, recognising that cultural knowledge and lived experience are inseparable from the genetic resources themselves. By bringing little-known collections of heritage crops back into active cultivation, ‘Sowing Your Seeds’ helps ensure that locally adapted varieties, together with their cultural heritage, remain living components of our food system. This presentation offered attendees opportunities to consider community seed conservation and will suggest a model for participatory conservation that strengthens biodiversity, celebrates community custodianship, and equips food systems with the diversity needed to respond to an uncertain future. 

15/09 Decolonising Food Systems & Sovereignties [Panel Debate]

This panel explored decolonizing food systems through Indigenous resurgence, governance, and relational accountability. Indigenous speakers from Turtle Island will examine how colonial policies, dispossession, and extractive economies have undermined Indigenous food practices and sovereignties. The discussion addressed dismantling colonial structures that regulate land, water, and agriculture, and disrupting the power relationships that privilege state and corporate control over Indigenous decision-making. 

• Track Chair: Dr. Belinda Zakrzewska (University of Birmingham)
• Shyra Barberstock, Co-founder of Kebaonish Inc / Queen's University (Canada)
• Rye Barberstock, Co-founder of Kebaonish Inc / Queen's University (Canada)