SFN Proof of Concept Projects 2022
Following the recent SFN sandpit 2022 and Proof of Concept call, we are delighted to announce that the following proposals were awarded funding of up to £25k. More details about these projects can be found here
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- Building a Food Waste Tracker for Responsible Consumption and Sustainability Enhancement PI - Dr Shuyang Li (University of Sheffield)
- Developing a new testing methodology for honey authentication PI - Dr Maria Anastasiadi (Cranfield University)
- AI-AMMS: AI coupled with Aerial iMaging and Mobile Sensing PI - Dr Po Yang (University of Sheffield)
- Future Farms: redesigning crop landscapes PI Dr Jorg Kaduk (University of Leicester)
- Evaluating influence of moisture in controlling release of nutrients in novel green fertiliser using neutron imaging and muonic x-rays PI - Dr Ruben Sakrabani (Cranfield University)
- Blockchain enabled Cloud Computing based integrated Carbon Calculator (Be4C) PI - Dr Sushma Kumari (University of Hull)
- Exploring the feasibility of Geographic Indication marketing to improve pastoral livestock marketing in Kenya - PI - Dr Aditya Parmar (NRI University of Greenwich)
- Spotting the Rust - Tracking disease progression by static and aerial imagery PI - Dr Melina Zempila (STFC RAL Space)
- Corn Yield prediction via integration of remote sensing, machine learning and crop modelling PI - Vivatvong Vichat-Vadakan (SkyVIV)
- AIK Platform - Preservation and visualisation of African Indigenous Knowledge for Resilient Food Systems 2.0 PI - Dr Steven Sam (Brunel University, London)
SFN Sandpit 2022 - Winners Announced!
After a fantastic couple of weeks at the SFN Sandpit exploring interdisciplinary collaborations, we were delighted to award three Proof-of-Concept projects. These were:
More details will follow soon about the above projects. We will also be funding further projects through our Proof-of Concept call. Details here.
- Building a Food Waste Tracker for Responsible Consumption and Sustainability Enhancement PI - Dr Shuyang Li (University of Sheffield)
- Developing a new testing methodology for honey authentication PI - Dr Maria Anastasiadi (Cranfield University)
- AI-AMMS: AI coupled with Aerial iMaging and Mobile Sensing PI - Dr Po Yang (University of Sheffield)
More details will follow soon about the above projects. We will also be funding further projects through our Proof-of Concept call. Details here.
Date: 30th June 2022; 11.30-12.30 UTC
We are teaming up with colleagues at the STFC Air Quality Network (SAQN) for an online networking session to share ideas around the theme of ‘Ammonia, Agriculture & Air Quality’. The session is aimed at anyone with an interest in air quality and agriculture who would like to make interdisciplinary connections with others in the community.
Dr Daniel Gerber (STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) will share an overview of their research into measurements of ammonia in agricultural chicken sheds. We will then hear a series of lightning presentations from other participants, which might highlight some research, present further questions or share some recent work.
We are teaming up with colleagues at the STFC Air Quality Network (SAQN) for an online networking session to share ideas around the theme of ‘Ammonia, Agriculture & Air Quality’. The session is aimed at anyone with an interest in air quality and agriculture who would like to make interdisciplinary connections with others in the community.
Dr Daniel Gerber (STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) will share an overview of their research into measurements of ammonia in agricultural chicken sheds. We will then hear a series of lightning presentations from other participants, which might highlight some research, present further questions or share some recent work.
Date: 26th April 2022; 14.00-15.00 UTC
Dr Hugh Dickinson from the Open University outlines how Citizen Science can make a meaningful contribution to our food systems by unlocking Big Data analysis
Dr Hugh Dickinson from the Open University outlines how Citizen Science can make a meaningful contribution to our food systems by unlocking Big Data analysis
Tell us about your project impacts and apply for our Impact Awards!
If you are interested in applying for the Impact Awards at the SFN+ 5th Annual Conference, which will be held in July 2023, please fill in the application form below and tell us about the impacts of your research by 15th June 2023. Winners of our Impact Awards will receive up to £500 worth of e-vouchers.
If you are interested in applying for the Impact Awards at the SFN+ 5th Annual Conference, which will be held in July 2023, please fill in the application form below and tell us about the impacts of your research by 15th June 2023. Winners of our Impact Awards will receive up to £500 worth of e-vouchers.
Tell us about your research project through photos!
(Deadline extended to 15th February!)
SFN+ is now hosting a photo competition and encourages project PIs and team members to submit photos taken during or related to their research projects. Through photos, project teams can visualize the methods, approach, and impacts of their research projects and let a wider audience learn about their projects through the power of images.
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Event
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Date: 30th June 2022; 11.30-12.30 UTC We are teaming up with colleagues at the STFC Air Quality Network (SAQN) for an online networking session to share ideas around the theme of ‘Ammonia, Agriculture & Air Quality’. The session is aimed at anyone with an interest in air quality and agriculture who would like to make interdisciplinary connections with others in the community. Dr Daniel Gerber (STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory) will share an overview of their research into measurements of ammonia in agricultural chicken sheds. We will then hear a series of lightning presentations from other participants, which might highlight some research, present further questions or share some recent work. Date: 26th April 2022; 14.00-15.00 UTC Dr Hugh Dickinson from the Open University outlines how Citizen Science can make a meaningful contribution to our food systems by unlocking Big Data analysis Date: 3rd March 2022; 14.00-15.00 UTC
This SFN Agri-food Innovations webinar focuses on applications of a hyperspectral camera system that meets the demands of static sampling and remote sensing when mounted on an Unmanned Aerial System (UAS). It will provide details on the system’s set up – both in lab and on field, the calibration procedures and the image analysis will be given with focus on applications on plant/crop health and food sustainability. Furthermore, the advantages and the challenges that hyperspectral systems face will be discussed and potential use of this technology on the food sector will be further analysed. |
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News
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SFN Funding Plans for 2022As we're now into the 3rd year of our current term (& the 6th year of the overall SFN programme) we've decided to focus on ways to help existing collaborations that the SFN has facilitated. Within this there will still be many opportunities for new members to be a part of these activities and to contribute to existing partnerships but we think it's import to try and help the people that we've already brought together to take their ideas to the next level. We intend going about this in a variety of ways - through specifically focused sandpits & workshops and through a further round of Proof-of-Concept funding. We will of course distribute further information about each event/opportunity through our newsletters and this website so keep your eyes peeled! SFN ECR Internship AwardedWe're delighted to announce Rajneesh Dwevedi, PhD student at Amity University in Utter Pradesh, as our first SFN ECR Intern. Rajneesh will be working with Dr Melina Zempila at RAL Space on 'Species identification using sRGB image technology for field based biomonitoring of agricultural ecosystem' . We're also extremely pleased that Dr Zempila has agreed to lead a webinar focusing on how these types of technologies can help the food system - We'll update here shortly with further details and how to register to attend. Proof of Concept Project AwardsWe've recently completed the reviews for applications to our Proof of Concept awards scheme. We're delighted to be able to award 4 projects as follows:
COP26 Hackathon ResultsWe ran the STFC Food Network+ COP26 Hackathon between the 2nd and 5th November on the topic ‘Designing an analytics platform for supporting sustainable livelihoods and climate resilient small scale farming’.
We are pleased to announce our joint winners from the UK and India. Please join us in congratulating: Mr Samuel Bancroft from the University of Leeds, UK and Team Revive led by Ms Shamia Aftab (SAP Labs India) along with her team members Mohiuddin Amanulla Chishty (Infosys) and Venkat Reddy P S (SAP Labs India) Samuel is part of the Climate Impacts research group at the University of Leeds and he’s also part of the CDT SENSE. You can find out more about Samuels work here. Shamia is a Senior Support Engineer with a bachelor's degree focused in Medical Electronics from Visvesvaraya Technological University. Shamia is currently pursuing a Master's in Data Science And Machine Learning at PES University. Find out more here We are now looking forward to working with the winning teams for developing an open source platform for small scale farmers through Project TRANSSITioN and CSA providing us access to more than 200,000 farmers. Exciting times! Get in touch with us through [email protected] if you want to contribute or would like to be involved.
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You can go to our dedicated COP26 Webpage to see:
And we are extremely pleased to have been represented by SFN Liaison for Knowledge Exchange Dr Ifeyinwa Kanu of IntelliDigest in the green zone @COP26 - Where Dr Kanu had the opportunity to talk to attendees about sharing the importance of empowering global food sustainability.
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Webinar
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Escape Citizen Science Workshop - Follow links below to register
15th-17th July 2021
Summary This summer ESCAPE Citizen Science will be running our second online ESCAPE and EOSC Future Citizen Science workshop over three days. If you have a big dataset that could be usefully mined by human volunteers, then we’re keen to hear from you. At the workshop, you will learn from domain experts how to build a citizen science project from scratch using your data and the Zooniverse citizen science platform. Two hands-on hackdays will allow you to apply the skills you have learned with experienced project builders in attendance to help you get up and running quickly and easily. Our first workshop focussed primarily on the scientific interests of the ESCAPE collaboration partners and provided a pedagogical introduction to deploying citizen science projects on the Zooniverse platform. We would like the second workshop to have a much broader scientific and social-scientific remit, so we are inviting expressions of interest from members of the STFC Food Network. Do you have a Big data analysis that is particularly difficult to automate? Perhaps citizen science can help. Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to register via an INDICO page that we have created for the event. https://indico.in2p3.fr/event/24676/ Delegates who simply wish to attend and those who would like to build new citizen science projects using datasets that they already have in hand can register at: https://indico.in2p3.fr/event/24676/registrations/2899/ Any delegate who would like to deliver a short (approx. 15 minute) presentation about a successful citizen science project they have run in the past can register as a speaker here: https://indico.in2p3.fr/event/24676/registrations/2900/ |
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Webinar
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SFN AgriFood Innovations Webinar 4
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Thursday 29th June 2021
Speaker: Dr Raymond Obayi (Alliance Manchester Business School and STFC Food Network+ Liaison for Food Policy) Summary Well-designed data analytics solutions allow food chain actors to utilize data intelligently to address emerging business and policy challenges (traceability, visibility and smart analytics). Given the global scope of most food chains, it is crucial to explore policy and business innovations for linking up food chain information to enable efficient and responsive supply chain operations that use real-time insights to drive performance, meet customer needs and improve operational efficiency. To consolidate valuable data from multiple sources into smart and interactive dashboards for intelligent decision-making, policy innovations for food chain data management are required to overcome the challenges of data silos, interoperability and traceability. This seminar explores data trusts as a core innovation for harnessing the power of food chain data. |
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Webinar
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IntelliDigest/SFN
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Date: 18 June 2021; 13.00-16.00 BST
To coincide with World Gastronomy Day, this webinar looks at how consumer behaviour affects food sustainability and how the industry acts upon the rise in more healthy diets and the rise of vegetarianism and veganism.
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Webinar
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SFN 2.0 AgriFood Innovations Webinar 3
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Date: 27 May 2021; 14.00-15.00 BST
Speaker: Dr Ifeyinwa Kanu Find out how an innovative SFN Scoping Project - led by IntelliDigest CEO, Ifeyinwa Kanu - is using STFC capabilities to reduce food waste
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Watch now!
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Webinar
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Winning Projects
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Webinar
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SFN 2.0 AgriFood Innovations Webinar 2
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Date: 22 April 2021; 14.00-15.00 BST
Speaker: Jens Jensen STFC Hartree Centre Find out how STFC Data Science capabilities are helping to build more resilient food systems
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Now available on the SFN Youtube Channel
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Webinar
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SFN 2.0 AgriFood Innovations Webinar 1
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Date: 23 March 2021; 15.00-16.00 GMT
Speaker: Claire Pizzey - Diamond Light Source The first webinar in the SFN AgriFood Innovations Series provides an overview of the UK central research facilities at the Harwell Campus in South Oxfordshire and their relevance to the food and agri-tech sectors. You will find out how food and agri-tech companies benefit from the UK investment in these large scale infrastructure for advanced analytical characterisation: what can it do and how can it benefit your business?
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Now available on the SFN Youtube Channel
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News
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Funding Success: Developing novel powder products for the nutraceutical sector
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Funding Success: Healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people
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Funding Success: Transformations to Regenerative Food Systems |
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Partner
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Satallite Applications Catapult - UK-Turkey building strong partnerships within agriculture, food and drink
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Farming for Change Report Published by FFCC
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Partner
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Food Industry Innovation 2021 – Food, Nutrition & Health
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Sweet success – a new technology to help honey producers
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Precision Livestock Farming and Sensing Technology in Extensive Grassland Systems Webinars17th and 19th November 2020
These two 90 minute webinars will focus on the use of Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) approaches in extensive systems. PLF techniques and novel sensing technologies are having a major impact on the management of intensive systems to improve efficiency, reduce disease and improve welfare. |
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Explore How Farmers Produce Food Responsibly
Online/Anytime
On this course, you’ll gain a better understanding of where our food comes from, how it’s produced, and the associated environmental, social and sustainability challenges for EU farmers. As well as horticulture and arable farming, you’ll explore meat, dairy, and egg production, as you examine different farming systems. You’ll also learn about the innovative technologies available to farmers to boost sustainability so that you can better understand farming challenges, and how farming relates to your food purchases. |
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Photonics for AgriFood - Webinar
24th November 2020
Photonics is an underpinning technology with application in a wide range of end-use sectors. Photonics is a key enabler across industrial challenges from the digital economy to autonomous transport, provides innovative healthcare technologies for rapid disease detection, and is essential for Industry 4.0. Speakers from industry and academia will highlight the latest developments and KTN will provide an overview of the landscape and funding opportunities for each area. |
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Innovation in Arable Farming: Technologies for Sustainable Farming Systems19th October 2020
This is a FREE, three-week online programme exploring evidence-based information that outlines the benefits and challenges of adopting new technologies within the EU. You will learn from farmers who have adopted agri-tech on their farms to enhance production, while meeting environmental and social responsibilities, and hear how they overcame any barriers to adoption. |
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Food2030 Conference - Transforming Food Systems through Research and Innovation16th October 2020
Researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, food system stakeholders and citizens are invited to exchange and debate ideas on how Research and Innovation can accelerate the transformation of food systems, and contribute more to the evidence-base for strengthening their governance. The event is co-organised by the European Commission’s FOOD2030 team, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the German EU Presidency. |
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Escape Citizen Science Workshop
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News
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SFN Newsletter - Sept
September 2020
The newsletter includes an update on SFN activities, links to recorded and forthcoming events, and a list of active funding opportunities. Click the link below to download the September edition. |
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SFN Blog - 2020 Sandpit Winners: Adapting food systems to work with uncertainty
In our last blog post, we told the story of how the STFC Food Network+ (SFN) didn’t let a global pandemic stop the most recent Sandpit from going ahead by transitioning the whole event online for the first time. Although this gave a very different experience to the usual, in-person format, this clearly didn’t impact the quality of the proposals which resulted from the discussions. Here we feature the winning projects for each theme, which were decided by democratic vote to receive £10K each in funding.
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SFN Call for Scoping Projects 2020 - Now closed
UPDATE: UK-based scoping projects can now be funded at 100% FEC up to a maximum of £8k. Projects led by partners in ODA-listed countries in Africa and Asia can be funded up to a maximum of £10k (100% FEC)
Our call for collaborative scoping projects for £500 - £10,000 is now open. This call is open to all projects that bring together STFC capabilities and food research and industry. You can download a copy of our application form here [if you don’t use google docs then just go to ‘File’ and select ‘Download as’ ‘Microsoft word(.docx)’]. To help you think of new ideas and prepare, we would like to remind you that you can access the SFN handbook here. If you have part of an idea and aren’t sure how to link up with the relevant food or STFC-side people, please contact the relevant SFN Champion. We hope you will consider applying to this call so we can fund a diverse range of exciting new projects. Please send your application forms to [email protected]
Our call for collaborative scoping projects for £500 - £10,000 is now open. This call is open to all projects that bring together STFC capabilities and food research and industry. You can download a copy of our application form here [if you don’t use google docs then just go to ‘File’ and select ‘Download as’ ‘Microsoft word(.docx)’]. To help you think of new ideas and prepare, we would like to remind you that you can access the SFN handbook here. If you have part of an idea and aren’t sure how to link up with the relevant food or STFC-side people, please contact the relevant SFN Champion. We hope you will consider applying to this call so we can fund a diverse range of exciting new projects. Please send your application forms to [email protected]
Future Funding Opportunities - Webinar
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Friday July 10th, 3.00-4.15pm
UKRI contacts presented future grant opportunities & SFN released call for scoping projects. Presenters slides are available via this link. |
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Virtual Sandpit 2020 - Webinar
Thursday July 9th, 3.00-4.30pm
Webinar 1 - We ran a webinar in preparation for the Virtual Sandpit. Please note that this webinar is for shortlisted sandpit participants only. SFN Champions/ Liaisons presenting challenges/ STFC capabilities.
Webinar 1 - We ran a webinar in preparation for the Virtual Sandpit. Please note that this webinar is for shortlisted sandpit participants only. SFN Champions/ Liaisons presenting challenges/ STFC capabilities.
Call Open for Virtual Sandpit 2020
Dates: 15, 16, 17, & 21 July 2020
Deadline for Applications – 30 June 2020
The first call under SFN 2.0 seeking expression of interests for virtual sandpit to fund projects up to £10,000 is now open. This year’s sandpit is focussed on “Food Systems in the UK and Beyond: Navigating Through Uncertainties.” The details about the schedule, various themes and application form can be found here. This call is open to all participants from STFC capabilities, food systems research, industry and policy makers across the UK, Asia and Africa to come together for collaborative projects. To help you think of new ideas and prepare, we would like to remind you that you can access the SFN handbook here. If you have part of an idea and aren’t sure how to link up with the relevant food or STFC-side people, please contact the relevant SFN Champion. We hope you will consider applying to this call so we can fund a diverse range of exciting new projects. We will aim to confirm all those successful in securing a place for the sandpit by 06 July 2020.
Deadline for Applications – 30 June 2020
The first call under SFN 2.0 seeking expression of interests for virtual sandpit to fund projects up to £10,000 is now open. This year’s sandpit is focussed on “Food Systems in the UK and Beyond: Navigating Through Uncertainties.” The details about the schedule, various themes and application form can be found here. This call is open to all participants from STFC capabilities, food systems research, industry and policy makers across the UK, Asia and Africa to come together for collaborative projects. To help you think of new ideas and prepare, we would like to remind you that you can access the SFN handbook here. If you have part of an idea and aren’t sure how to link up with the relevant food or STFC-side people, please contact the relevant SFN Champion. We hope you will consider applying to this call so we can fund a diverse range of exciting new projects. We will aim to confirm all those successful in securing a place for the sandpit by 06 July 2020.
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News
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EFRA-commissioned report on the Impact of Covid19 on UK food supply chains
May 2020
SFN was invited by EFRA to provide a written evidence on Covid 19 impact on the UK food supply chains. SFN conducted a quick response research on the Impact of C19 on Beef and Dairy Supply Chains and produced a report for EFRA. This research was led by Dr Sonal Choudhary and co-led by other SFN liaisons: Dr Raymond Obayi (SFN Liaison for Food Policy Analysis), Rakesh Nayak (SFN Liaison for Manufacturing Industries), Dr Seyed Ebrahimi (SFN Liaison for Resilient Supply Chains), Dr Panayiota J Alevizou (SFN Member), Dr Graeme Heron (SFN Member). This report was reviewed by Mr Geoff McBride - Theme Leader for Global Food Security, Agri-Tech & Water at STFC. |
New Champions Needed
As part of the vision for our new extended Network (SFN 2.0) and with sincere thanks to all of our SFN 1.0 Champions for the fantastic job they did (Stephen, Simon, Christian, Sonal, Diogo, Seb and Sarah) we’d like to invite ‘Expressions of Interest’ (EoIs) from you, our members, to join us as Champions for our new term. Find our more and apply through our champions page
New SFN CoInvestigators and Steering Committee
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Following our initial kick-off meeting with our new Steering Committee and CoInvestigators we’d like to introduce this new team to you - You can find out all about the people that will be helping us to achieve our network aims, advising and mentoring us for the next four years here
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News
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SFN Review on 21st Century Abattoirs for FSA
Oct 2019
SFN led a Review on 21st Century Abattoirs which resulted in a £250K MoU between STFC & FSA for running sandpit in Oct 2019 and funding projects worth £20K-£70K. The review was led by Dr Sonal Choudhary and co-led by other SFN liaisons: Dr Raymond Obayi (SFN Liaison for Food Policy Analysis), Rakesh Nayak (SFN Liaison for Manufacturing Industries), Dr Seyed Ebrahimi (SFN Liaison for Resilient Supply Chains), and Dr Panayiota J Alevizou (SFN Member) |
