Transforming food systems for those on low incomes

Kate Halliwell - Chief Scientific Officer, Food and Drink Federation

Kate Halliwell is the Food and Drink Federation’s Chief Scientific Officer. Kate is accountable for the FDF’s food safety, food law and labelling, and diet and health policy briefs. The role involves extensive liaison with food and drink manufacturing companies to develop cross-industry policy positions and responding to scientific consultations. Previously Kate led the FDF’s diet and health policy work, and before that worked for the Department of Health and the Food Standards Agency on a range of nutrition and legislation policies. Kate Chairs the IFST’s Special Interest Group for Food Science and Nutrition and is a registered nutritionist.

Dr Tracey Duncombe - Knowledge Exchange Fellow for the Transforming UK Food Systems Programme, University of Reading 

Presentation Title - An overview of research with low income and vulnerable groups from the Transforming the UK Food System Programme

Tracey is a Knowledge Exchange Fellow, engaging with research teams and programme partners across the TUKFS programme to identify and address key stakeholder evidence needs. She has supported the UK biosciences community for over 15 years in science communication roles (within a learned society, research institute, and at BBSRC) to generate activities and publications that have a strong collective voice. More recently, she steered a portfolio of projects at the University of Reading to build outstanding impact. Tracey is interested in working with partners across the SPF to develop an inclusive platform for mutual learning: to build capacity for delivering transformational change; to broker knowledge exchange; and to showcase the work of the programme

Professor Carol Wagstaff - Research Dean for Agriculture, Food and Health, University of Reading

Presentation Title - Overview of UKRI funded Food Systems Equality project (FoodSEqual)

Carol received her DPhil from the University of York in 1999 and is also an alumnus of Royal Holloway, University of London. She was appointed as Assistant Professor at University of Reading in January 2007 and promoted to Professor in 2017. Carol is presently Professor of Crop Quality for Health and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor Research for Agriculture Food and Health at the University of Reading. Carol was on the Agriculture Food and Veterinary Science Unit of Assessment panel for REF2021 and is on the editorial boards of Annual Plant Reviews Online and the Journal of Molecular Horticulture. She has served on a number of funding panels for Research England, UKRI and overseas agencies. She co-Directed the BBSRC Horticulture Quality and Food Loss Network and the AgriFood Training Partnership. She leads FoodSEqual, one of four projects funded as part of a £48 million investment by government into transforming the UK food system, which aims to co-produce healthy, sustainable food systems for disadvantaged communities, and its subsidiary project FoodSEqual-Health. She is also a Co-I on the Hi-Fi Bread project funded in the same programme. Carol leads a research group that takes a food-system wide approach to improving the quality of fresh produce and ensuring that everyone has access to it.

When not supporting academic research Carol can most likely be found training and competing her dressage horses, or nurturing her garden and discovering just how difficult it is to try to grow your own food.

Ayela Spiro - Nutrition Science Manager, BNF

Presentation Title - Nutritional vulnerability in lower socioeconomic groups

After a previous career in arts and fashion management, Ayela graduated from Kings College, London  and began her nutrition career as a research dietitian at Imperial College, where she developed a special interest in cancer and malnutrition, and subsequently developed strategies for elderly malnutrition with key health and charity organisations  Ayela is currently the Nutrition Science Manager at British Nutrition Foundation. At the heart of her role is  providing expert advice and disseminating evidence-based nutrition science and its association with public health concerns to key audiences including health professionals, academics,  charities, the food industry and consumers, as well as convening transdisciplinary experts to explore diet and health priorities including nutritional vulnerabilities, developing strategic research partnerships, and delivering research and charitable projects and nutrition thought pieces.