Global Food Matters: an appetite for engaging with research

Wellcome Trust International Engagement Workshop

Gaborone, Botswana

Tuesday 24 - Thursday 26 February 2015

Content

• Summary
• Background Reading
• Presentations and Resources
• Agenda

Summary

As the global population rises, humanity faces profound questions over how our planet can sustain and feed 9 billion people by 2050. There is a global nutrition crisis, with a dual problem of hunger and obesity. Undernutrition threatens the health of millions of the world's poor, while obesity rates are soaring across the globe. To add to this, climate change has major implications for global health and nutrition - with impacts on food security, access to clean water and sanitation, population migration and the threat of an increased number of natural disasters.

The Wellcome Trust is committed to fostering multidisciplinary research to address these problems and inform the global response. As part of this commitment we are also focussed on exploring the integral ethical, social and cultural issues and to promoting activities to inform and engage the public.

This workshop explored public and community engagement with health research using the Wellcome Trust's fifth challenge area of ‘Connecting the environment, nutrition and health' as a starting point for discussion. 

Food matters to us all on a personal level but wider engagement with the research on a global scale requires some careful thought. We will explored what engagement with this complex, uncertain and sometimes controversial topic tells us about engagement with science and health more broadly, and how we can use reflections to develop our own work. 

The workshop had a practical aspect and utilised and shared participatory engagement methods as part of the exploration and discussion process. There were approximately 50 delegates including biomedical researchers, public and community engagement practitioners and others from community organisations and NGOs.

Background Reading

Wellcome Trust

Wellcome Trust Strategic Plan: 2010 – 2020. The Trust’s fifth challenge area is “Connecting the environment, nutrition and health”.

Sustaining Health. This research programme explores what role the Trust can play in exploring the links between the environment, nutrition and health, and how we could relieve the strain that the planet is under.

Food & Drink Initiative. This large scale engagement initiative, called The Crunch, is aimed at increasing conversation about food issues at every stage of the system, from farming to transport to cooking to waste. More information on the initiative can be found here and the projects website is available here.

Introductions to food

Geoff Tansey (2014) The Food System – An Overview on YouTube, 14 May 2014. Available here. 

The five sections of this half hour talk cover the basics of the food system, the various actors operating in it, the changing world and key trends, the varying tools for control used, food policy and practice. 

Krebs, J. R. Food: A Very Short Introduction. 2013. Available here.  

Food security in Botswana

Short UNDP introduction to issues of food security and the environment in Botswana. Available here.

Gender and food security

Rekha Mahra and Mary Hill Rojas (2008) Women, Food Security and Agriculture in a Global Marketplace.Washington, DC: ICRW. Available here. 

This paper reviews current thinking and practice on increasing agricultural productivity, both subsistence and commercial agriculture, and examines what is known about women’s roles in both sectors.

Presentations and Resources

Keynote speech - Food, Environment and Health: Global links; local consequences

Presentation: Emeritus Professor Johan Pottier

Brief thought provoking presentations on food, health and environment from a range of international perspectives:

Presentation: Jose Jackson-Malete and Rosemary Lekalake – BITRI and BCA, Botswana

Presentation: Chris Busang – University of Botswana

Presentation: Saskia Heijnen – Sustaining Health, Wellcome Trust

Presentation: Lynn Huynh and Nora Maddock – Food and Drink initiative, Wellcome Trust

Small projects exploring engagement and food:

Presentation: Cheryl Douglas, AGEI – My plate of food: a photo food story in Cape Town, South Africa

Presentation: Noni Mumba, KEMRI - Perceptions of local food

Presentation: Maureen Khasira, KEMRI Wellcome- Assessment of Dietary Intake in Kilifi District

Video summary: Phaikyeong Cheah, MORU – Food as a vehicle for engagement. 

Reflections on using audio-visuals (films, pictures, narratives) in engagement

Presentation: Amy Hill, Centre for Digital Storytelling - Tensions and trade-offs between participatory methods and digital stories and 'professional' films and broadcast media

Handout: Audiovisual and engagement - video examples and resources

Presentation on looking forward and linking with Wellcome Trust initiatives

Saskia Heijnen - Sustaining Health: research programme connecting environment, nutrition and health

Rich Pictures workshop activity

Handout: For use in Rich Pictures activity

Evaluation of Engagement – what are we aiming for in engagement?

Handout: Links to evaluation resources

Workshop report

The full workshop report is available here.

Agenda

The links included in the agenda are all featured in the presentations and resources section but are duplicated here to give context to the materials.

Monday 23 February 2015 – Day 1 

Tuesday 24 February 2015 - Day 2
 

Wednesday 25 February 2015 – Day 2 

 Thursday 26 February 2015 – Day 3