Dr Medland's research project, titled 'Working for ‘five a day’: risk and resilience in the changing food system, a multi-sited ethnography of the labour that feeds one city', explores food security and who bears the costs and risks to our food system as the UK moves towards exiting the European Union.
The British Academy announced 36 new Postdoctoral Fellowships to outstanding early career researchers in the United Kingdom, supporting new research in the humanities and social sciences.
Funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Postdoctoral Fellowships Scheme is the British Academy’s flagship programme of awards for early career academics based at universities throughout the UK. The three-year awards enable outstanding early career scholars to strengthen their experience of research and teaching in a university environment. The primary emphasis is on completing a significant piece of publishable research, giving award holders a base on which to build a successful academic career.
This year’s round of awards supports research projects in areas ranging from the transition to farming in the Mesolithic period to adolescence in Medieval Europe and from the impact of violent conflict on youth in Sudan to law and regulation in the emerging ‘femtech’ industry.
Hetan Shah, Chief Executive of the British Academy, said: “I congratulate each of our new postdoctoral fellows for their hard-earned success in this competitive scheme. The British Academy champions the humanities and social sciences and supporting the next generation of academics is crucial to ensuring these disciplines’ future health and vitality. These awards provide talented scholars with the independence to pursue new areas of research and the confidence and skills to advance their careers on solid foundations.”
Dr Medland's research focuses on the global political economy of food and work. Prior to re-entering academia seven years ago, Dr Medland worked for international NGO Access Info Europe, focusing on transparency and access to information, and coordinated the Freedom of Information Advocates Network, a network of experts on the issue of Freedom of Information for five years.