Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems Launches
31st May 2024
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Patrick O’Donovan TD and Northern Ireland’s Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Andrew Muir welcomed the launch of a transformative new joint research centre at University College Dublin (UCD) this week.
The Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems will be managed jointly by Queen’s University Belfast, University of Sheffield and UCD, and will bring together world-leading researchers from across Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain for the first time.
Professor Eileen Gibney, Co-Director of the Co-Centre and Director of UCD Institute of Food and Health at University College Dublin, said: “This Co-Centre will play an important role in transforming our food system to be more healthy and sustainable across these islands.
The Co-Centre will drive change in the way we produce and consume food, addressing economic, social, and environmental problems to ensure safe nutritious food for all.
We need to consider the challenges we face now and in the future, and provide solutions that will work for us all.”
Professor Aedín Cassidy, Co-Director of the Co-Centre and Director for Interdisciplinary Research at the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast, said:
“In today’s society, a tenth of our population is undernourished while 25% are overweight, with over a third of the world’s population unable to afford to eat a healthy diet.
Add to this, our food supplies are disrupted by heatwaves, floods, drought and conflict. This funding announcement and the new co-centre it creates, will allow us to do the research needed to address these issues and to develop and test strategies to ensure a safe, transparent, sustainable, resilient food system and enhance the evidence base to realise the transition to healthy diets from sustainable sources.”
The co-centre will have access to research expertise in specific shared areas of common interest that are core to food system transformation including food safety, food production, nutrition, plant and animal science, behavioural change, data science, food system governance, and the political process of food system transformation.
Professor Louise Dye, lead of the integrated UKRI research programme, and Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainable Food at the University of Sheffield, said: “We need to act now to ensure that we develop a robust, resilient and sustainable food system that provides access to healthy, affordable, nutritious food for all.
The Co-Centre draws on a huge breadth of expertise from across the three jurisdictions in a transformative interdisciplinary collaboration which will take a one health approach to nutrition security, supported by UKRI from soil to human health.
The Co-Centre will accelerate the transition towards a more environmentally and economically sustainable, transparent agri-food sector which provides healthy food for all. The Co-Centre will also provide training, education and experiential events to inform the public, academics, industry, policy makers and others about food systems transformation.”
The €35million Co-Centre is jointly funded for six years by the Government of Ireland’s Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and through the Shared Island Fund; and by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and industry.
“There is an urgency to provide food system transformation, with local, national and international food solutions that are underpinned by science, safety and governance. This Co-Centre will lead the charge in collaboratively generating those solutions.” Minister O’Donovan
The interdisciplinary research team will work collaboratively with government, policymakers and industry stakeholders across jurisdictions to deliver innovative solutions to drive societal and political change in the transition to climate neutrality by 2050.
“The Co-Centre provides an opportunity, on a scale not funded by DAERA before, to have very real impact on the transformation we need to see in our food systems.” Minister Muir
SFI’s Director of Science for the Economy, Dr Siobhán Roche said:
“The launch of the Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems represents an important development in collaboratively delivering environmentally and economically sustainable transformation of our food system.
Together with our co-funders, we look forward to seeing the Co-Centre becoming a global leader in food system transformation through innovative research and technology development.”
The new Co-Centre delivers on the Irish Government’s Food Vision 2030, the Northern Ireland Food Strategy Framework, and UK’s National Food Strategy.
Pictured at the launch of the Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems were (L-R): Professor Aedín Cassidy, Co-Director of the Co-Centre and Director for Interdisciplinary Research at the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast; Professor Louise Dye, lead of the integrated UKRI research programme, and Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainable Food at the University of Sheffield; Dr Siobhán Roche, Director of Science for the Economy at SFI; and Professor Eileen Gibney, Co-Director of the Co-Centre and Director of UCD Institute of Food and Health (Image – Jason Clarke Photography).
