STFC Food Security Network+

The STFC Food security Network+ brings together food researchers with STFC researchers and facilities to tackle food security challenges.

The SFN activities are divided into three Themes:
Theme 1: Sustainable Food Production. Developing food production systems that maintain healthy soils, reduce impact on the natural environment and provide reliable yield in the face of changing climate.
Theme 2: Resilient Food Supply Chains. Monitoring, modelling and design of food supply chains to enhance resilience, environmental and social benefits, and public health.
Theme 3: Improved Nutrition and Consumer Behaviours. Investigating how best to change consumer behavior to enhance nutrition and health whilst reducing waste and demands on land, energy and water.
Running across each of these themes is existing STFC expertise that can address important research questions within and between the food themes, and catalyse new research activity:
Expertise A: STFC Data Science. Astronomers and particle physicists routinely analyse Tbs of data in large international collaborations which share code and frameworks. This necessitates the use of novel algorithms to sift and/or extract the key information about the Universe.
Expertise B: STFC Technology. STFC researchers routinely push the boundaries of cutting edge technology for building space, CERN and STFC instrumentation e.g. precision engineering of lens systems to a fraction of the thickness of a human hair and hyper-fast and/or sensitive detectors.
Expertise C: STFC Facilities. STFC hosts world-leading beamlines including Diamond synchrotron and ISIS neutron and muon beams, used to determine molecular to subatomic structures. Furthermore, Hartree and UKATC play leading roles in data science and technology.

Network+ Factsheets provide more detail on each of the above topics: more information on the food themes aimed at STFC researchers; more information on STFC capabilities aimed at food researchers. There is a kick-off survey to raise awareness of the network, publicise the factsheets, increase the Membership and identify areas of greatest interest for meetings. The Network+ has a wide and inclusive Membership which is brought together by Annual Network+ Meetings. At these meetings the topics for smaller Sandpits are decided at which STFC and food researchers are brought together to brainstorm ideas for Small Scale Scoping studies. 8 Small Scale Scoping studies will be funded (<8k each) followed by 3 Proof of Concept studies (<40k each) and an Impact Sandpit at which ideas are pitched to a panel including Industry members and stakeholders in a Dragon's Den format.

The main pathway to impact of the STFC Food Security Network+ (SFN) is to create a network to stimulate collaboration between STFC researchers and food researchers including those in industry, to tackle problems in global food security: (1) Increasing production, (2) Developing the supply chain, and (3) Changing consumer behavior.
There are structures and mechanisms already in place at the Investigator Universities to facilitate impact, including both public and business engagements, and commercialisation. The University of Manchester has a Business Engagement team to assist with industry links and UMIP to support commercialisation. The School of Physics and Astronomy has Dr. Alick Deacon, an STFC IPS Fellow who maintains industrial links and manages impact, Emma Nichols (funded through the Ogden Trust) to support public engagement activities, Dr. Mark Dickinson is the School's Academic Impact Champion, Dr. David Binks as the Schools liaison. There are also the Associate Deans at Faculty level (Lin Li for Business Engagement and Innovation). Sheffield and Liverpool also have IPS Fellows (Aldous Everard and Marco Palumbo, respectively).
Since the main goal of the SFN is to generate new ideas, we cannot be specific in how the impact is demonstrated in each of the three themes, however, we will stipulate that all funded Small Scale Scoping studies and Proof of Concept grants must contain a Pathways to Impact plan and adhere the general policy that all project findings will be made freely available for academic research, and publications should be written up in pertinent high-impact peer reviewed journals and presented at associated conferences.
We will seek to create impact through public engagement via the website, Factsheets, media and social media such as Twitter (three of the Investigators already have a significant following: @sarahbridle and @Katherine_Denby each have >500 followers and @profmarkreed has >3000). We will seek to present at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition.
We seek to collaborate with industry on the Small Scale Scoping and Proof of Concept studies. So far we have a number of Industrial contacts who have signed the community letter of support including ADAS, Delta-T Devices Ltd and Environment Systems Ltd. Furthermore we are working with people at a number of Industry gateway organisations, with STN Steering Committee members currently at Farming Futures, the Jamie Oliver Foundation, Hartree Center and the Agrimetrics center and with supporters from NIAB, NFU (National Farmers Union), N8 and IAgrE. As well as advertising the Annual Meetings through our website and Factsheets, we will work with N8 partners and the STFC to raise awareness of the annual meetings through the partners' institutions.
We will encourage the ideas arising from the SFN to reach industry through the contacts made at our meetings and also through the final "Impact Sandpit" which will culminate in a Dragon's Den style pitch to Industry and Industry gateway representatives. Successful projects will also seek match funding from industry partners. We will highlight successful examples of STFC food research with Impact as the network continues, encouraging spin-offs and patents where relevant. To ensure maximum impact, seminars from Mark Reed will help researchers understand how to accelerate their impact.
We hope outcomes from the network may also contribute to Policy and Public Debate, through sharing our Factsheets. Where our research can contribute to select committee enquiry, the most appropriate investigator will attend the meeting and we will look to submit written evidence. The University of Manchester has a general programme for aiding academics in engaging with policy (policy@manchester).