News

Pulses are an important area of research for global food security, so we were especially pleased to see GFS member Dr Nadia Mohd-Radzman’s work on broad beans featured in the national news this week.   The article about her work in the Observer newspaper focused on the health benefits of eating broad beans.  These legumes are a rich source of prote…

In a new case study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production, doctoral researcher Lisa Arianna Rossi and GFS Co-chair, Dr Jagjit Singh Srai from the Centre for International Manufacturing explore innovative and sustainable methods to valorise agricultural waste in India.Their research focuses on transforming the harmful practice of burning ri…

As the proportion of populations going hungry in parts of Asia and Africa continues to rise, so preventing the reduction of harvests of cereal crops due to fungal diseases, remains a top challenge for governments and food agencies around the world.  Two new publications from member of Epidemiology and Modelling in the Department of Plant Sciences,…

Tejas Rao completed his undergraduate studies in Arts and Law at the Gujarat National Law University in India, after which he came to Cambridge to read for the Masters in Law, with a specialisation in International Law. After a year gathering research and teaching experience in International Law and Public Policy, with a focus on Sustainable Develo…

This interdisciplinary research symposium organised with Cambridge Zero took place on Thursday 21st March 2024 at the West Hub in Cambridge. The symposium's focus was how our complex food system can become more sustainable.  The symposium's speakers addressed the issues of food system sustainability from multiple perspectives.  A theme of many pres…

Min-Yao Jhu is a postdoctoral research associate at the Crop Science Centre, where she is pioneering efforts to engineer nodule organogenesis in cereals, aiming to enhance crop productivity and sustainability.Her career embodies a commitment to leveraging scientific research for agricultural innovation, with a particular passion for unravelling the…

Dr Rachael GarrettisMoran Professor of Conservation and Development in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge.  She is also a member of the Global Food Security Steering Committee.She has 15 years experience studying agricultural processes in Latin America (especially soy, beef, dairy, and coffee production), Indonesia (oil palm…

Participatory research is an increasingly popular way to co-produce solutions to the numerous challenges faced by our food system. However, defining the goals of co-production is complex and can involve stake-holders with very different ideas of what a desirable outcome might be.In a blog for Table, GFS IRC member and IfM Research Associate, Dr Sou…

GFS IRC member Franziska Fischer, facilitates stakeholder engagement for the IPBES ONet facilitation team.  Here she writes about the opportunities and benefits that IPBES has to offer ECRs.The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is “the IPCC for biodiversity.” It is one of the world’s largest an…

A report published this month by GFS network member, Dr David Willer, Henslow Research Fellow, Department of Zoology, in the journal Sustainable Agriculture, sets out how ‘naked clams’ could be farmed to create a new sector in sustainable nutritious food production.‘Naked Clams’ live in and feed on wood, turning it into protein and essential nutrie…

This Food for Thought on-line panel event took place on Thursday 16 November from 17:30 to 18:30.The event’s focus was wheat; why it’s the perfect crop for the capitalist era, what this reveals about our food system and how our reliance on modern wheat might make us more vulnerable to climate change.Chaired by Dr Nadia Radzman, a plant biologist fr…

This event was part of our occasional online Food for Thought panel discussion series.  You can watch the recording here, or read the report below for the main points:Professor Howard Griffiths, Dept of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, our excellent chair, started the event by inviting each of our expert panellists to answer the title quest…

Lisa Neidhardt is currently in the final stages of her PhD in molecular biology working in Prof David Ron’s lab at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research (CIMR). Her research explores the molecular basis of cellular stress response pathways – specifically the unfolded protein response – through a combination of cell-based assays and in vitro/…

A hidden community of billions is working to keep your body running smoothly.Meet your gut microbiome: a community of around 4,500 different types of bacteria living in your bowels. You carry around as many microbial cells as human cells in your body. The community's composition is different in all of us, but when it’s knocked out of balance, so ar…

Dr Soujanya Mantravadi is a research associate at the Institute for Manufacturing at the University of Cambridge, currently working on food supply chains and digital interventions for the Mandala project. She has a PhD in Industrial engineering and Information systems. The Manufacturing Academy of Denmark financed her PhD, where she worked closely …