This case study outlines a Cabot day seminar titled "Security of household food access in Bristol and beyond" which took place with funding from the Cabot Open Call Awards 2013. Patricia Lucas, from the School for Policy Studies describes the concept for the seminar and what impact this has had on Cabot Institute research and on the wider community.
Seminar aims
The principle aim of the seminar was to build new, and further existing, relationships between groups of academics and practitioners with shared interests and concerns in the field of household food security, and to stimulate a sharing of research (existing and potential), ideas, skills and experience of policy intervention.
Our approach
The day seminar was held on 10 April 2014, inviting researchers (including post graduate research students) from across the UK and the public. Eleven speakers made short presentations, followed by discussion in tables. Thirty-one people registered attendance on the day. Two keynotes addresses were given.
Kevin Morgan, Professor of Governance and Development, Cardiff University spoke at lunch time under the title “Securing a healthy diet: the personal, the political and the planning challenges.”
The day closed with a talk from Gus Hoyt, Green Party Councillor, Bristol City Council (and now Assistant Mayor with responsibility for health), Mark Goodway, Founder & Charity Director of The Matthew Tree Project and Angela Raffle, Consultant in Public Health Bristol City Council about “Supermarkets and Food Security: A new food model for Bristol.”
We set out questions for the morning and afternoon, asking participants to consider what actions should be taken, by whom and when in response.
The questions for the day were:
- What are the key question(s) that should be addressed by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Inquiry into food banks and food poverty currently underway?
- How can we pursue social justice (in food) in sustainable ways?
Impact
Using notes from the day, we submitted a collective response to the APPG which we expect to be published soon.
The key aim of the day was to establish new connections successfully demonstrated by:
- Patricia Lucas speaking at the Cabot food systems and security research forum in June 2014
- Patricia Lucas speaking in the take up of "Food" as a key theme in the GW4 Alternative Urbanisms project.
- Kevin Morgan and Patricia Lucas will speak in October 2014 where participants from the GW4 institutions will be meeting to develop a research agenda. The notes from the Cabot event will be used to begin these discussions.
Our aim for 2014/15 is to use the materials and discussions from the GW4 event to produce a briefing for health professionals in the city on the scale and impact of household food poverty and food insecurity in Bristol. These will be delivered to Specialist Community Public Health Nurses, Trainee Midwives and their practice supervisors in Spring 2015. Through Patricia Lucas’s close working connections with Public Health at Bristol City Council we will also produce a briefing of the Public Health Team.
Find out more
Presentations: Presentations from the Cabot seminar day
Blog: A summary of discussions written by Richard Sheldon available on the SPS blog