Tackling household food insecurity in the UK: engaging practitioners, policy makers and academics

粮食不安全违反了获得食物的人权，并对个人、家庭和社区的健康产生有害影响。在2019/20年度，14%的英国家庭经历了粮食不安全。这包括对获得足够食物的焦虑，减少饮食的质量、种类和可取性，以及由于缺乏资金和其他资源而中断和减少食物摄入量。自那时以来，2019冠状病毒病大流行加剧了粮食不安全状况。呼吁解决这一紧迫的社会问题正变得越来越紧迫。有充分的证据表明，国家掌握着关键的杠杆，包括增加家庭收入的政策，以解决粮食不安全的潜在决定因素，越来越多的学术工作支持政策驱动解决方案的呼吁。然而，在实践中缺乏这些有效的政策解决方案的情况下，第三部门组织经常发现自己在支持经历粮食不安全的家庭，在过去的20年里，这类组织有了显著的增长。这项奖学金建立在我的博士研究的基础上，该研究利用制度理论的视角，深入了解在低收入社区工作的第三部门组织，以支持粮食不安全家庭这一新兴领域。至关重要的是，考虑到这些社区食品提供者作为对粮食不安全的反应的作用受到质疑，该研究采用了一种准民族志方法来确定他们的内部观点。这是为了更好地理解他们的结构、日常实践和动机。研究结果包括识别这些组织的异质性，这是由影响其日常实践的多种制度逻辑驱动的。调查结果还证明了这些组织的一些微观行为，这些行为可能共同有助于解决粮食不安全问题所必需的结构层面的变化。在这些研究结果的基础上，奖学金的目的是传播博士的研究结果，并促进政策制定者和实践者的参与。该奖学金将允许我在期刊上发表我的博士研究成果，并在学术会议上发言，从而接触到广泛的学术受众，并展示我的研究对知识的贡献。在进行学术研究时，我还将通过探索在政策或实践角色中最大化实践经验的最佳实践来开发方法。重要的是，该奖学金还将产生非学术影响。我博士的研究结果将用于通知苏格兰政府的国家计划的交付，通过提供他们如何与第三部门组织沟通和支持这一政策的交付来结束对食品银行的需求。它还将支持第三部门组织最大限度地发挥其潜力，为解决英国家庭粮食不安全问题作出集体和协调一致的努力。这两个目标都将通过与决策者和实践者的合作来实现。支持这一非学术影响的计划产出包括一个探索社区食品提供者社会变革活动的在线视频，一个关于这一主题的相关会议的特别会议，以及学术出版物附带的简短政策/实践报告。获得奖学金正值我职业生涯的关键发展阶段。我已经完成了博士学位，并与慈善食品援助领域的顶尖学者一起工作，现在我处于有利地位，可以从博士研究员过渡到早期的职业研究员。该奖学金将在谢菲尔德大学政治与国际关系系举行。该奖学金的工作是对该系和大学的社会学研究议程的补充，包括政治经济学、健康不平等、新自由主义和社会政策。

Food insecurity contravenes the human right to food and has a detrimental impact on the health of individuals, households and communities. In 2019/20 14% of UK households experienced food insecurity. This ranged from experiencing anxiety about accessing adequate food, to reducing the quality, variety, and desirability of diets, to disrupted and reduced food intakes due to a lack of money and other resources. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity. Calls to address this pressing social issue are becoming increasingly urgent. It is well evidenced that the state holds key levers, including policies to increase household income, to tackle the underlying determinants of food insecurity and a growing body of scholarly work supports the calls for policy driven solutions. However, in the absence of these effective policy solutions in practice, third sector organisations often find themselves supporting households experiencing food insecurity, and there has been significant growth in these types of organisations in the last 20 years. This fellowship builds on my PhD research which used the lens of institutional theory to provide insight into this burgeoning field of third sector organisations working in low-income communities to support food insecure households. Critically, given that the role of these community food providers as a response to food insecurity is contested, the research adopted a quasi-ethnographic approach to ascertain their internal perspectives. This aimed to better understand their structures, day-to-day practices, and motivations. The outcomes of the research include identification of the heterogeneity of these organisations, which was driven by a multiplicity of institutional logics informing their day-to-day practices. The findings also evidenced some micro acts of agency by these organisations that may, collectively, contribute to the change at a structural level necessary to tackle food insecurity. Building on these findings the purpose of the fellowship is to distribute the PhD findings and facilitate engagement with policy makers and practitioners. The fellowship will allow me to publish my PhD findings in journals and present at academic conferences, thereby reaching a wide academic audience, and showcasing the contributions to knowledge of my research. I will also make methodological developments by exploring best practice in maximising practical experience in a policy or practice role, when undertaking academic research. Importantly, the fellowship will also have non-academic impact. The findings of my PhD will be used to inform the delivery of the Scottish Government's national plan to end the need for food banks by providing insight into how they can communicate with and support third sector organisations in the delivery of this policy. It will also support third sector organisations to maximise their potential for contributing to a collective and concerted effort to tackle UK household food insecurity. Both these aims will be achieved through collaborative working with both policy makers and practitioners. Planned outputs to support this non-academic impact include an online video exploring social change activities of community food providers, a special session at a relevant conference on this topic and short policy/practice reports that accompany the academic publications. The fellowship comes at a key development stage in my career. Having completed my PhD, and concurrently worked alongside leading academics in the field of charitable food aid, I am now in a strong position to make the transition from doctoral researcher to an early career researcher. The fellowship will be held at the Department of Politics and International Relations at Sheffield University. The work of this fellowship compliments the sociological research agendas in the department and the university that include political economy, health inequalities, neoliberalism and social policy.