Assessing local authority policy interventions to reduce food-related GHG emissions

这个ESRC博士后奖学金旨在帮助我们了解地方当局如何应用政策来减少与食物有关的碳排放。该奖学金包括五个目标，这将促进我们在这一领域的理解，并提供技能，经验和专业网络，以帮助我发展我的研究事业。这个奖学金的第一个目标是通过在学术期刊上发表两篇论文来传播我博士研究的主要发现。我的博士研究重点是采用在线食品中心（也称为“在线农贸市场”），以及使用它们可以在多大程度上减少碳排放。实证数据是通过与开放食品网络合作收集的，开放食品网络是一个在20个国家运营的开源直接营销平台。我将在这些论文中提出两个关键发现，并为本奖学金的第二个目标提供信息。首先，使用在线食品中心鼓励人们吃更健康、更季节性的饮食，减少食物浪费，而不管他们加入该中心的动机是什么。其次，在不确定的范围内，利用食品中心可以通过六种机制减少碳排放。我将把这些发现发表在两本相关的高影响力期刊上（农业与人类价值；清洁生产期刊），以便与那些在工作中关注类似主题的学术读者分享我的研究。第二个目标是举办一系列利益攸关方讲习班，审议地方当局减少粮食排放的创新政策干预措施，并提供诸如改善饮食健康等共同利益。第一个研讨会将调查地方当局如何优先考虑对环境负责的供应链，如在线食品中心，用于学校、医院和公共餐饮网点的采购。这种供应方干预可以与消费者信息或公共食堂的“轻推”相结合，以鼓励原地选择健康、低碳的食物。第二个讲习班将探讨将社会处方模式应用于食品的潜力，以改善特定社会群体的饮食健康。国家食品战略（2021年）的一项关键建议是“试行社区Eatwell计划”，目标是低收入家庭的个人，他们将从获得新鲜农产品和食品技能培训中受益。本次研讨会将考虑如何在实践中发挥作用：哪些组织应该参与，需要哪些资源，以及如何确定和衡量成功的结果。第三个是横向思考研讨会，将考虑地方当局干预粮食系统或影响粮食行为以实现政策目标的任何其他方式。研讨会参与者将决定探索哪些想法，但选项包括“理事会支持农业”（采用“社区支持农业”模式）或利用食品身份（应用“风土”概念）支持当地企业。这些讲习班的影响最终将取决于有能力和知识在公共粮食供应和饮食健康方面实现战略变革的多个利益攸关方的参与。因此，这个奖学金的第三个目标是建立我的专业网络，这样我就可以邀请关键的利益相关者参与这些讨论。这些讲习班的知识生产和建立网络的成果将构成未来供资建议的基础，这是研究金的第四个目标。我的最终目标是发展我的教学经验，以推进我的学术事业。

This ESRC postdoctoral fellowship aims to contribute to our knowledge of how local authorities can apply policies to reduce food-related carbon emissions. The fellowship encompasses five objectives which will advance our understanding in this area, as well as provide the skills, experience, and professional networks to help me develop my research career.The first objective of this fellowship is to disseminate the key findings of my PhD research by publishing two papers in academic journals. My PhD focused on the adoption of online food hubs (also called 'online farmers' markets') and to what extent using them could reduce carbon emissions. Empirical data was collected through a collaboration with Open Food Network, an open-source direct marketing platform which operates in 20 countries. There are two key findings that I will present in these papers, and which inform the second objective of this fellowship. First, using an online food hub encourages people to eat a healthier, more seasonal diet and waste less food, irrespective of their motivation for joining the hub. Second, using food hubs reduces carbon emissions, within uncertainty ranges, through six mechanisms. I will publish these findings in two relevant high impact journals (Agriculture & Human Values; Journal of Cleaner Production) in order to share my research with academic audiences who focus on similar themes in their work.The second objective is to run a series of stakeholder workshops that will consider innovative policy interventions for local authorities to reduce food emissions, as well as providing co-benefits such as improved dietary health. The first workshop will investigate how local authorities could prioritise environmentally responsible supply chains, such as online food hubs, for procurement for schools, hospitals, and public catering outlets. This supply-side intervention could be combined with consumer messaging or 'nudges' in public canteens to encourage healthy, low carbon food choices in situ. The second workshop will explore the potential of applying the social prescribing model to food to improve the dietary health of particular social groups. One key recommendation of the National Food Strategy (2021) was 'trial a Community Eatwell programme' targeted at individuals from low-income households who would benefit from access to fresh produce and food skills training. This workshop will consider how this would work in practice: which organisations should be involved, what resources are required, and how successful outcomes would be determined and measured. The third is a lateral-thinking workshop which will consider any other ways that local authorities could intervene in the food system or influence food behaviours to achieve policy goals. The workshop participants will decide which ideas to explore, but options include 'council-supported agriculture' (adapting the 'community-supported agriculture' model) or local business support using food identity (applying the 'terroir' concept).The impact of these workshops will ultimately depend on the participation of multiple stakeholders who have the capacity and knowledge to bring about strategic change in public food provision and dietary health. Thus, a third objective of this fellowship is to build my professional network so that I can invite key stakeholders to be involved in these discussions. The knowledge production and networking outcomes of these workshops will form the basis for a future funding proposal, which is a fourth objective of the fellowship. A final objective is to develop my teaching experience to progress my career as an academic.