Please click on each speaker to find out more info.
Tim Lang is Professor Emeritus of Food Policy at City St George’s, University of London. After hill farming in Lancashire in the 1970s, he worked on food policy across health, environment, politics and culture. He set up and directed the Centre for Food Policy in 1994, a prime source of research and education on food system dynamics. Since Brexit, his focus has been the UK, writing Feeding Britain (Pelican 2021). His current attention is on the state of civil food resilience. His Just in Case report was published by the UK’s National Preparedness Commission in February 2025.
Judith is a Biochemist, nutritionist, has Honorary Doctorates from Harper Adams University, and Jharkhand Rai University, is a Fellow of the Institute of Food Science and Technology (IFST), the Royal Society of Arts and Manufactures (RSA) a liveryman at The Worshipful Company of Butchers, and Associate at the Royal Agricultural Societies of England
Starting her career in pharmaceuticals and teaching before finding her true vocation in food and farming, she worked in the food and drink industry for over 40 years, first in manufacturing at Bass and Mars, before moving into retail at Marks and Spencer and eventually Sainsbury’s, as Director of Sainsbury’s Brand.
Today Judith is Honorary President of the British Nutrition Foundation, Chair of the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Co-Chair of the Eco Working Group that is part of Defra’s Food Data Transparency Partnership, Chair of MicroSalt, and a Non-Executive Director of Monaghan Mushrooms and Daemon. Judith is a Trustee of The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, The Food Foundation, and an ambassador for the Woodland Trust and Farm Africa.
In her spare time along with her family, she is a keen rugby supporter of both Harlequins and England, and a patron of the Royal Ballet and English National Ballet.
Elaine Hindal is Chief Executive of the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF), a charity supported by over 50 UK food sector companies. The BNF’s mission is to promote health and prevent diet-related illness through evidence-based nutrition science, working with industry to improve the food environment and delivering education, including its “Food – a fact of life” programme, which reaches half of UK secondary schools. The Foundation is guided by a Board of Trustees, an Advisory Group led by Professor Janet Cade, and a 25-member independent Scientific Committee chaired by Science Director Sara Stanner, who also oversees its journal, Nutrition Bulletin.
Elaine joined BNF in 2022 after leading Drinkaware, an alcohol education charity. Her earlier career includes senior roles at Cadbury Schweppes, Coca-Cola, Nokia, and Boots, with experience across Europe and North America. She brings expertise in marketing, brand strategy, and commercial leadership, and has served as a trustee for Mencap and addiction support charity Change, Grow, Live
Dr Kelly Vere MBE, is the University Director of Technical Strategy at the University of Nottingham and a leading advocate for technical skills and careers in higher education and research. She began her career in 1999 as a Junior Medical Technician and now drives the strategic direction of the University’s 500+ technical colleagues. Kelly founded and leads the Technician Commitment, a sector-wide initiative promoting visibility, recognition, career development, and sustainability for technical professionals, with over 120 institutional signatories. She also led TALENT, a £5 million Research England-funded programme advancing technical careers, which included the TALENT Commission, a landmark study on the UK’s technical workforce. Now leading the new UK Institute for Technical Skills & Strategy (ITSS), Kelly continues to champion the technical community, shaping policy and opportunities across the sector.
Ryan Rafferty is a seasoned expert in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) with over 13 years of experience driving digital transformation across multiple industries. Now at Centric Software, he focuses on the Food & Beverage sector—where innovation can make a critical impact on sustainability, health, and supply chain ethics. Ryan helps brands leverage PLM and AI to create smarter, more agile, and responsible products from farm to fork. Passionate about reducing waste and enabling resilient systems, he is committed to working with organizations that want to build a better future for the global food ecosystem.
Gareth has been in the food industry for over 15 years in a range of roles and began his career completing a PhD in Food Science at the University of Nottingham. Afterwards, he started working in several laboratory and front-end research roles in Mondelez and Pladis until moving into product development. He has headed up product development for a range of businesses including multinational FMCGs such as Pladis and Nomad Foods, SMEs such as WARP Snacks and currently is Chief Product Officer at the start up Adamo Foods leading the creation of ground break whole cut steak alternatives made from mycelium. These companies have allowed him to work over several categories including chocolate, biscuits, savoury snacks and alternative meat. In my spare time his passion for food continues and he loves to cook and explore new restaurants.
James is the Managing Director of Daymer Ingredients and Fifty50 Food Technology.James has over 20 years of experience in advising food manufacturers texturising and stabilising ingredients - predominantly in starches, proteins and fibres across multiple categories.James became a member of the IFST in 2023 and is a passionate advocate for good science unlocking the future for a good food system.
Sarah has spent the last 20 years working in the agricultural sector, helping improve sustainable production of crops and livestock. Her focus in recent years has turned to reducing the climate impact of food production through both emissions reductions and carbon removals. This work has led to towards increased understanding of how woodland, soils and natural habitats can be used to store and capture carbon to balance residual emissions.
Sarah has developed tools and measurement approaches to quantify the carbon storage and removals from different habitat types. She also worked with BASIS to develop the ‘BASIS Certificate in Greenhouse Gases, Carbon, and Climate Change Mitigation’ qualification.
Sonalika is Research Partner at RSSL, driving innovation in the food sector through building and nurturing strategic R&D collaborations and leveraging government funding. Together with an MSci Chemistry from Imperial College London and chartership from the Royal Society of Chemistry, she brings 8+ years of analytical science experience within the food and pharmaceutical industries, and most importantly, a passion for building impactful partnerships. As Project Lead & Network Manager for NFX UK, she is committed to fostering effective collaboration across the Novel Foods ecosystem, to advance regulatory science and position UK as a global leader within the growing sector.
Barbara Bray MBE FIFST is a Registered Nutritionist and food safety consultant of African heritage.
Her work over the last 30 years focussed on delivering food safety in food supply chains and nutrition strategy for businesses, alongside leadership and educational roles in her public engagement activities.
She is currently researching diets to protect health of older adults at Queen’s University Belfast under the BBSRC funded Doctoral Research Programme to train PhD researchers in food systems.
In 2017, Barbara was awarded a Nuffield Farming Scholarship to study international food and farming systems.
Her TEDx talk ‘What Youth can teach us about positive ageing’ https://youtu.be/43j-Qj0Mi1g?si=GRXLTldy87-16COc looks at how we shape our food environment for the young and how we can adapt to better accommodate an ageing society.
She hosts the podcast ‘Women Positively Ageing’, the show for women in mid-life and older who want to live well for longer.
In 2019, Barbara was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list for her 'Services to Food Nutrition’.
Jess Gray graduated with a Food Science and Nutrition degree from the University of Nottingham in 2023, and now works as a Food Innovation Technologist at the University's Food Innovation Centre (FIC). The FIC supports small, medium and large food businesses with their product and business development, offering bespoke consultancy and practical work across multiple product categories. The FIC team has expertise in new and existing product development, application studies, shelf-life testing, HACCP and food safety advice, and support with scale-up. It also acts as a gateway to the University, linking industry with academics for longer-term research projects and knowledge exchange. Jess is passionate about seeing more students interested in food science, and has experience with creating and leading STEM workshops in schools. Previously, Jess has worked for both a small social enterprise bakery, and multinational Nestlé cereals company. She has a love for baking, and is on a mission to develop the perfect croissants and gluten-free sourdough loaf!