Towards Resilient Industrial Socio-Metabolic relations (TRI SOME CHICKEN)
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Southampton
Department Name: School of Geography and Environmental Science
Abstract
The project brings together two human geographers, a physical geographer, a zoologist, a food policy nutritionist and a cultural humanities scholar, with poultry industry project partners, poultry R&D subcontractors, policymakers and consumers. It does this through the following work-streams:
WS1: Socio-Metabolic Consumption: Feeding and Eating Chicken. We will undertake qualitative research interviews with UK chicken consumers (foodbank users, middle-income), chicken retailers, and poultry feed manufacturers, integrators, food production operatives, and nutrition biochemists, to discover experiences of nutritional insecurity, metabolic vulnerability, and tactics of nutritional and metabolic resilience.
WS2: Socio-Metabolic Environments: Chicken Production in Time and Place.? We will use farmer interviews and ethnographies alongside existing data to study the drivers of recent historic variability in chicken production and trade (weather, input costs, regulatory changes, etc.) to assess the goods and harms for chickens, land and water environments, biodiversity, poultry producers and integrators, consumers and retailers.?We will produce a model of resilient industrial socio-metabolics in order to identify risks and potential interventions under current and future climate and policy scenarios.
WS3: Socio-Metabolic Politics: Risks and Ethical Principles of Chicken. We will convene stakeholder workshops, publish a series of policy briefs and podcast interviews, to co-develop a novel policy instrument of ethical principles for resilient food system thinking that is relevant and has buy-in from stakeholders across the sector.
The project will create
increased interdisciplinary research capacity between academics and non-academic partners.
valuable insights and policy interventions to strengthen a resilient UK food system that is ethical, sustainable and equitable, supporting improved human and chicken health and wellbeing.
a unique socio-metabolic dynamic foodsystems framework for understanding how the poultry sector has, and could, approach resilience to extreme weather and trade disruptions.
a socio-metabolic resilience modelling blue-print for other food industries to follow.
WS1: Socio-Metabolic Consumption: Feeding and Eating Chicken. We will undertake qualitative research interviews with UK chicken consumers (foodbank users, middle-income), chicken retailers, and poultry feed manufacturers, integrators, food production operatives, and nutrition biochemists, to discover experiences of nutritional insecurity, metabolic vulnerability, and tactics of nutritional and metabolic resilience.
WS2: Socio-Metabolic Environments: Chicken Production in Time and Place.? We will use farmer interviews and ethnographies alongside existing data to study the drivers of recent historic variability in chicken production and trade (weather, input costs, regulatory changes, etc.) to assess the goods and harms for chickens, land and water environments, biodiversity, poultry producers and integrators, consumers and retailers.?We will produce a model of resilient industrial socio-metabolics in order to identify risks and potential interventions under current and future climate and policy scenarios.
WS3: Socio-Metabolic Politics: Risks and Ethical Principles of Chicken. We will convene stakeholder workshops, publish a series of policy briefs and podcast interviews, to co-develop a novel policy instrument of ethical principles for resilient food system thinking that is relevant and has buy-in from stakeholders across the sector.
The project will create
increased interdisciplinary research capacity between academics and non-academic partners.
valuable insights and policy interventions to strengthen a resilient UK food system that is ethical, sustainable and equitable, supporting improved human and chicken health and wellbeing.
a unique socio-metabolic dynamic foodsystems framework for understanding how the poultry sector has, and could, approach resilience to extreme weather and trade disruptions.
a socio-metabolic resilience modelling blue-print for other food industries to follow.
Organisations
Publications
| Description | Defra roundtable: 'Food Security Discussion - Food Systems Roundtable, food security' |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
| Description | FAI |
| Organisation | FAI Farms Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Project partners on TRI SoMe Chicken. Attending fortnightly meetings and shaping our knowledge about the commercial poultry sector. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Sharing expert knowledge about how the commercial poultry sector is addressing resilient challenges. |
| Impact | Farm visits. |
| Start Year | 2024 |
| Description | 'TRI SoMe Chiken' at Southampton Arts and Humanities day |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The event brought people together to make felt chicks as a starting point for exploratory and convivial conversations about the lives of chickens raised for food. Rather than serving as a science communication exercise focused on sharing what we know, the activity created space to listen to how people think and feel about how chicken is grown, managed, and consumed. Participants engaged with the craft activity while discussing their perspectives, experiences, and questions about food chickens. The informal setting helped open up thoughtful and sometimes surprising reflections, highlighting the diversity of views people hold about poultry production and consumption |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024,2025 |
| Description | Green Man Festival - 2026 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The workshop was led by the TRI-SoMe Chicken team, who are part of a UKRI-funded research project investigating the resilience of the UK food system through the case study of meat chicken production. The team brings together researchers from the Universities of Southampton, Gloucestershire, Bristol, and City St George, alongside industry partners at FAI Farms and Applied Group, and artists Dr Kathryn Ashill and Sam Church. Drawing on their experience of running innovative, curiosity-led public engagement activities, the team designed the session to learn from participants' perspectives and insights. As participants stitched and assembled their felt chicks, discussions emerged around how chickens are cared for, where the feed that sustains them comes from, and how different parts of a meat chicken are consumed by different segments of the population. The craft activity provided an accessible entry point into complex topics such as farming practices, supply chains, and food culture. No prior crafting experience was required, and the light-hearted format helped foster open, curious dialogue. The event offered an opportunity to hear how people think about chicken production, consumption, and care, while beginning broader conversations about how food systems might be strengthened for the benefit of communities, animals, and the environment. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://www.greenman.net/ |
| Description | Southampton University - Science and Engineering Day/2025 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The event brought people together to make felt chicks and nuggets as a starting point for exploratory and convivial conversations about the lives of chickens raised for food. Rather than serving as a science communication exercise focused on sharing what we know, the activity created space to listen to how people think and feel about how chicken is grown, managed, and consumed. Participants engaged with the craft activity while discussing their perspectives, experiences, and questions about food chickens. The informal setting helped open up thoughtful and sometimes surprising reflections, highlighting the diversity of views people hold about poultry production and consumption. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| Description | TRI-SoMe Chicken Stakeholder Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In December 2024 TRI-SoME Chicken was launched at a stakeholder workshop in central London. It brought together 25 delegates including researchers, project partners, and representatives from the poultry industry, food business, and from food, animal welfare and environmental NGOs. The workshop included presentations and sessions led by team members and stakeholder representatives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/498780/ |
| Description | Trade-offs for a resilient broiler sector: TRI-SoMe Chicken Stakeholder Workshop, Birmingham, October 2025 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | In October 2025 TRI-SoMe Chicken held a hybrid stakeholder workshop in Birmingham and online. It brought together 40 delegates that included stakeholders from the broiler sector, industry bodies, agri-tech, environmental NGOs, government agencies and academia. The workshop included presentations by industry representatives and members of the project team. These presentations were documented by a live scribe Sam Church in the form of illustrations. There were also a number of small group discussions and a system dynamics modelling workshop that explored the relationships between different elements of the broiler system and how they might change over time |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2025 |
| URL | https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/507779/1/TRI_SoMe_CHICKEN_Stakeholder_Workshop_October_2025_Report_1_.pd... |