News & Events
What's happening in the SFN...
News & Events:
PhD Student wanted for next steps from SFN Scoping Project
Dr Jake Bishop and Prof Seb Oliver are looking for a student to take on this exciting new project - 'SimFarm 2030: An empirical, data driven, model for wheat cultivars and optimisation for future climate scenarios' Deadline for applications is 31/03/20 - Find out more on our opportunities page
New PI for the Network!
Further to the great news that our Network has been extended for a new 4 year term we are delighted that this has now officially been handed over to be led by Sonal Choudhary from February 2020. In the first term of our Network Sonal started out as our Champion for Resilient Food Supply Chains and more recently became our Lead for Impact and Industry so comes with extensive first-hand knowledge of our Network as well as the wealth of experience she brings to the network from her position as Head of Operations Management and Decision Sciences Research Centre at the University of Sheffield, Sheffield have issued this press release discussing how our extended Network will continue our work bringing the STFC and AgriFood communities together along with a focus on new areas of research including smart farms, innovative production systems such as hydroponics, vertical farming, digital supply chains and diets for a healthy ageing population, among others. We'll soon be updating our people page to reflect our new management structure and we're looking forward to sharing dates for some upcoming events so keep your eyes peeled for more updates. If you're not already on our mailing list please do join-up
'A change-point analysis of food price shocks' - Publication
Following on from the success of Prof Aled Jones' Scoping Project 'Exploring novel techniques to assess food price shocks' Aled has now had this paper published in the 'Climate Risk Management' journal and you can access this here. The aim of the paper is to understand the variability of food prices utilising a statistical methodology relating to the detection of extreme values and change points in the decomposed time series of food price indices.
Paper Published for 'FacyNation'
One of our Scoping Projects 'FacyNation' led by SFN Champion for STFC Data Science Prof Seb Oliver has had "An empirical, Bayesian approach to modelling the impact of weather on crop yield: maize in the US” accepted to Environmental Research Communications. The paper shows how the team apply an empirical, data-driven approach for describing crop yield as a function of monthly temperature and precipitation by employing generative probabilistic models with parameters determined through Bayesian inference. You can view the paper here
SIM FARM 2030 PhD Project Success
Scoping Project SIM Farm 2030 led by Dr Jake Bishop at the University of Reading has been awarded £74,100 from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board for a PhD student project "Sim Farm 2030: An empirical, data-driven, model for wheat cultivars and optimisation for future climate scenarios"
Arsenic Detection and Distribution in Rice Plants Using High Resolution X-ray Imaging - Further Scoping Project Success
This project led by Dr Manoj Menon has been awarded a £40K sustainable partnership award from the University of Sheffield in order to achieve the following objectives:
(1) Generate baseline data through an extensive household survey and focus group discussions in West Bengal State.
(2) Carry out field trials to identify optimum irrigation levels to reduce arsenic uptake in rice
(3) Organise a workshop to discuss and disseminate the data and formulate future research priorities
(4) Design and develop a new ARRNet website for research activities and outreach
SFN Annual Meeting 2019
This year we will be holding this on Thursday 5th and Friday 6th December at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Manchester. Our meeting will consist of two days filled with talks from expert speakers, interactive sessions and a chance to hear about the projects we’ve been involved in over our three year term. You can find out more and register on our Annual Meetings page. Deadline for applications is Thursday 14th November
From planets to pig sties… applying technology from space missions could help us control one of the UK’s worst air pollutants
Visit our blog page to find out how this SFN Scoping Project has been looking into how to measure ammonia emissions originating from agriculture
SFN Scoping Project first to use STFC research greenhouse
Dr Manoj Menon and colleagues have been working with ISIS using neutrons to map the root structure of wheat plants in life-like soil conditions for the first time. The researchers also returned to study rice, with the help of a new research greenhouse on the IMAT beamline. Find out more here
New Blog Post - Getting the price right: how to keep food available in a changing world
Visit our blog page to find out how SFN Scoping Project PI Aled Jones and colleagues have been exploring the conditions that create that ‘perfect storm’ where food prices escalate wildly, leading to riots and unrest.
SFN extended for a further 4 years!
We are delighted to be able to confirm that we have been awarded a 4 year extension to our Network so will be able to continue our work right through until the end of 2023!
The extended network will be led by Dr Sonal Choudhary (Lecturer in Sustainable Management at Sheffield University Management School) who has been a committed member of the SFN team since taking on the role of Champion for Resilient Food Supply Chains and latterly becoming our Lead for Impact and Industry.
We’d like to thank all of the people that spent a lot of time and effort helping out with the application and also to all of you that had chance to provide us with individual letters of support and to sign the open letter of support that we were able to put forward with our application.
21st Century Abattoir Sandpit
9th - 10th October, The Hartree Centre, Cheshire
This sandpit aims to bring together STFC research capability, industry and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to conceptualise the ‘21st Century Abattoir’. The sandpit will have up to £250K available to enable new cross-disciplinary teams to frame a range of pilot projects and consortia activities that will contribute to the identification of future research activity and investment. Find out more on our opportunities page
New Blog Post - Forecasting Agricultural Crop Yields at National scales
Visit out blog page to find out how SFN Scoping Project PI and STFC Data Science Champion Seb Oliver and colleagues have been exploring the use of big data to help us adapt to rapidly-changing weather patterns in order to produce enough to feed the growing population.
New Resilient Food Supply Chains Champion
With sincere thanks to Sonal Choudhary for doing an amazing job with this role to date, as she has taken on new responsibilities as our Lead for Industry and Impact, we have decided to take on a new Champion to cover this area and we are delighted to announce that Diogo M. Souza Monteiro has agreed to take on this position. Find out more about Diogo on our Champions page
Dr Jake Bishop and Prof Seb Oliver are looking for a student to take on this exciting new project - 'SimFarm 2030: An empirical, data driven, model for wheat cultivars and optimisation for future climate scenarios' Deadline for applications is 31/03/20 - Find out more on our opportunities page
New PI for the Network!
Further to the great news that our Network has been extended for a new 4 year term we are delighted that this has now officially been handed over to be led by Sonal Choudhary from February 2020. In the first term of our Network Sonal started out as our Champion for Resilient Food Supply Chains and more recently became our Lead for Impact and Industry so comes with extensive first-hand knowledge of our Network as well as the wealth of experience she brings to the network from her position as Head of Operations Management and Decision Sciences Research Centre at the University of Sheffield, Sheffield have issued this press release discussing how our extended Network will continue our work bringing the STFC and AgriFood communities together along with a focus on new areas of research including smart farms, innovative production systems such as hydroponics, vertical farming, digital supply chains and diets for a healthy ageing population, among others. We'll soon be updating our people page to reflect our new management structure and we're looking forward to sharing dates for some upcoming events so keep your eyes peeled for more updates. If you're not already on our mailing list please do join-up
'A change-point analysis of food price shocks' - Publication
Following on from the success of Prof Aled Jones' Scoping Project 'Exploring novel techniques to assess food price shocks' Aled has now had this paper published in the 'Climate Risk Management' journal and you can access this here. The aim of the paper is to understand the variability of food prices utilising a statistical methodology relating to the detection of extreme values and change points in the decomposed time series of food price indices.
Paper Published for 'FacyNation'
One of our Scoping Projects 'FacyNation' led by SFN Champion for STFC Data Science Prof Seb Oliver has had "An empirical, Bayesian approach to modelling the impact of weather on crop yield: maize in the US” accepted to Environmental Research Communications. The paper shows how the team apply an empirical, data-driven approach for describing crop yield as a function of monthly temperature and precipitation by employing generative probabilistic models with parameters determined through Bayesian inference. You can view the paper here
SIM FARM 2030 PhD Project Success
Scoping Project SIM Farm 2030 led by Dr Jake Bishop at the University of Reading has been awarded £74,100 from the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board for a PhD student project "Sim Farm 2030: An empirical, data-driven, model for wheat cultivars and optimisation for future climate scenarios"
Arsenic Detection and Distribution in Rice Plants Using High Resolution X-ray Imaging - Further Scoping Project Success
This project led by Dr Manoj Menon has been awarded a £40K sustainable partnership award from the University of Sheffield in order to achieve the following objectives:
(1) Generate baseline data through an extensive household survey and focus group discussions in West Bengal State.
(2) Carry out field trials to identify optimum irrigation levels to reduce arsenic uptake in rice
(3) Organise a workshop to discuss and disseminate the data and formulate future research priorities
(4) Design and develop a new ARRNet website for research activities and outreach
SFN Annual Meeting 2019
This year we will be holding this on Thursday 5th and Friday 6th December at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Manchester. Our meeting will consist of two days filled with talks from expert speakers, interactive sessions and a chance to hear about the projects we’ve been involved in over our three year term. You can find out more and register on our Annual Meetings page. Deadline for applications is Thursday 14th November
From planets to pig sties… applying technology from space missions could help us control one of the UK’s worst air pollutants
Visit our blog page to find out how this SFN Scoping Project has been looking into how to measure ammonia emissions originating from agriculture
SFN Scoping Project first to use STFC research greenhouse
Dr Manoj Menon and colleagues have been working with ISIS using neutrons to map the root structure of wheat plants in life-like soil conditions for the first time. The researchers also returned to study rice, with the help of a new research greenhouse on the IMAT beamline. Find out more here
New Blog Post - Getting the price right: how to keep food available in a changing world
Visit our blog page to find out how SFN Scoping Project PI Aled Jones and colleagues have been exploring the conditions that create that ‘perfect storm’ where food prices escalate wildly, leading to riots and unrest.
SFN extended for a further 4 years!
We are delighted to be able to confirm that we have been awarded a 4 year extension to our Network so will be able to continue our work right through until the end of 2023!
The extended network will be led by Dr Sonal Choudhary (Lecturer in Sustainable Management at Sheffield University Management School) who has been a committed member of the SFN team since taking on the role of Champion for Resilient Food Supply Chains and latterly becoming our Lead for Impact and Industry.
We’d like to thank all of the people that spent a lot of time and effort helping out with the application and also to all of you that had chance to provide us with individual letters of support and to sign the open letter of support that we were able to put forward with our application.
21st Century Abattoir Sandpit
9th - 10th October, The Hartree Centre, Cheshire
This sandpit aims to bring together STFC research capability, industry and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to conceptualise the ‘21st Century Abattoir’. The sandpit will have up to £250K available to enable new cross-disciplinary teams to frame a range of pilot projects and consortia activities that will contribute to the identification of future research activity and investment. Find out more on our opportunities page
New Blog Post - Forecasting Agricultural Crop Yields at National scales
Visit out blog page to find out how SFN Scoping Project PI and STFC Data Science Champion Seb Oliver and colleagues have been exploring the use of big data to help us adapt to rapidly-changing weather patterns in order to produce enough to feed the growing population.
New Resilient Food Supply Chains Champion
With sincere thanks to Sonal Choudhary for doing an amazing job with this role to date, as she has taken on new responsibilities as our Lead for Industry and Impact, we have decided to take on a new Champion to cover this area and we are delighted to announce that Diogo M. Souza Monteiro has agreed to take on this position. Find out more about Diogo on our Champions page
Take a bite out of climate change at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition
The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition is the UK’s annual display of its most cutting edge science and technology, Our exhibit focused on how primary food production, food processing and consumer food choices contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. We were highlighting some key examples of innovations to improve sustainability in these areas.
Visitors to our stand found out about different methods of sustainable farming and learned about the relationship between their dietary choices and greenhouse gases. They also had the chance to take the Climate Food Challenge; an interactive game testing knowledge of the varying levels of green house gas emissions produced by different foods. You can play the game yourself here.
Within our exhibit we were delighted to be able to showcase innovation in food production by N8 AgriFood, the University of Lincoln, Entocycle and LettUsGrow with underpinning research from the Universities of Lancaster, Sheffield, Manchester and others.
To coincide with the exhibition our team issued a press release, investigating the environmental impacts of a traditional bbq, and how you can reduce the green house gas emissions. This has since been picked up by the Telegraph, the sun and INews as well as generating an interview with Sarah on BBC Radio Wales and with our colleague Ximena Schmidt on ITN and a mention on BBC Breakfast!
Find out more about our exhibit on the Take A Bite website www.takeabite.info
The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition is the UK’s annual display of its most cutting edge science and technology, Our exhibit focused on how primary food production, food processing and consumer food choices contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. We were highlighting some key examples of innovations to improve sustainability in these areas.
Visitors to our stand found out about different methods of sustainable farming and learned about the relationship between their dietary choices and greenhouse gases. They also had the chance to take the Climate Food Challenge; an interactive game testing knowledge of the varying levels of green house gas emissions produced by different foods. You can play the game yourself here.
Within our exhibit we were delighted to be able to showcase innovation in food production by N8 AgriFood, the University of Lincoln, Entocycle and LettUsGrow with underpinning research from the Universities of Lancaster, Sheffield, Manchester and others.
To coincide with the exhibition our team issued a press release, investigating the environmental impacts of a traditional bbq, and how you can reduce the green house gas emissions. This has since been picked up by the Telegraph, the sun and INews as well as generating an interview with Sarah on BBC Radio Wales and with our colleague Ximena Schmidt on ITN and a mention on BBC Breakfast!
Find out more about our exhibit on the Take A Bite website www.takeabite.info
The Future of Agri-Tech - Parliamentary Briefing
We were delighted to jointly host this briefing with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology in May. Several of our colleagues spoke and MPs and Peers were there to discuss the challenge of developing safe, sustainable food systems and the contribution interdisciplinary research and innovation can make from farm to fork. Our PI Sarah Bridle spoke along with two of our Scoping Project PI's - Dr Niamh Forde (University of Leeds) and Dr Geraint (Taff) Morgan (Open University) together with our SFN Champion for Sustainable Food Production Professor Simon Pearson from the University of Lincoln and various other colleagues from Defra, STFC and the FSA. You can access a full write up of the event here
UKRI Delivery Plans
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI )have published their 2019 delivery plans outlining how they will work with their partners to ensure that world-leading research and innovation continues to flourish in the UK. The 2019-20 Delivery Plans highlight the areas of focus and key activities of UKRI’s nine constituent councils and its cross-cutting themes. The plans have been developed with input from across UKRI’s research and innovation communities and build upon the Strategic Prospectus, published in May 2018, which outlined UKRI’s vision, mission and values. Find out more here
Scientists sniff out rotten avocados
SFN Scoping Project PI Marcin Glowacz has been working with Taff Morgan and colleagues to invent a type of portable sniffing device that can detect whether avocados are rotten without breaking the skin and damaging the fruit – ensuring customers do not buy fruit that is already past its best. Find out more in this UKRI blog post
We were delighted to jointly host this briefing with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology in May. Several of our colleagues spoke and MPs and Peers were there to discuss the challenge of developing safe, sustainable food systems and the contribution interdisciplinary research and innovation can make from farm to fork. Our PI Sarah Bridle spoke along with two of our Scoping Project PI's - Dr Niamh Forde (University of Leeds) and Dr Geraint (Taff) Morgan (Open University) together with our SFN Champion for Sustainable Food Production Professor Simon Pearson from the University of Lincoln and various other colleagues from Defra, STFC and the FSA. You can access a full write up of the event here
UKRI Delivery Plans
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI )have published their 2019 delivery plans outlining how they will work with their partners to ensure that world-leading research and innovation continues to flourish in the UK. The 2019-20 Delivery Plans highlight the areas of focus and key activities of UKRI’s nine constituent councils and its cross-cutting themes. The plans have been developed with input from across UKRI’s research and innovation communities and build upon the Strategic Prospectus, published in May 2018, which outlined UKRI’s vision, mission and values. Find out more here
Scientists sniff out rotten avocados
SFN Scoping Project PI Marcin Glowacz has been working with Taff Morgan and colleagues to invent a type of portable sniffing device that can detect whether avocados are rotten without breaking the skin and damaging the fruit – ensuring customers do not buy fruit that is already past its best. Find out more in this UKRI blog post
SFN at the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition
The STFC Food Network+, N8 Agrifood and the University of Manchester are delighted to be taking our exhibit ‘Take a bite out of climate change’ to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 1-7th July 2019.
The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition is the UK's annual display of its most cutting edge science and technology, with the week-long event featuring 22 exhibits of hands on demonstrations, thought-provoking talks and jaw-dropping demonstrations.
Our exhibit will focus on how primary food production, food processing and consumer food choices contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. We will highlight some key examples of innovations to improve sustainability in these areas. The content will be pitched for science enthusiasts with an interest in food and climate change.
Within our exhibit we’re delighted to be able to showcase innovation in food production by the National Centre of Food Manufacturing at the University of Lincoln, Entocycle, LettUs Grow and Hodmedod’s with underpinning research from the Universities of Lancaster, Sheffield, Manchester and others.
We are supported in this by an Advisory Board comprised of key stakeholders from this research area and we have engaged a fantastic group of Expert Communicators who will bring to life our key messages for visitors to the exhibit over the week. You will soon be able to find out more about all of our collaborators on our upcoming website.
STFC Food Network+ Call for Scoping Projects 2019
Deadline for Applications - 4pm on 2nd April 2019
Our second call for collaborative scoping projects for £500 - £8,000 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 e.g. 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 by the end of April. Please send your application forms to alison.fletcher@manchester.ac.uk
Using drones to save coffee plants from disease
Oliver Windram has been leading this SFN scoping project looking into how drone technology and, specifically, multispectral imaging could help protect coffee plants from coffee rust, a fungal disease that can wipe out entire plantations, and testing it out in the coffee growing areas of Thailand. You can find out more in this post from the STFC media team and it was featured on the BBC World Service on the 29th March (at 11:23am in case you want to listen again) with comments from our SFN Co-Investigator and Co-I on the project Katherine Denby.
Using space know-how to 'sniff' out salad quality
SFN Scoping Project PI Hilary Rogers is working with colleagues to develop new technology which will be able to ‘smell’ when fruit or vegetables are going off – potentially saving tonnes of waste. Find out more in this update post from the STFC media team.
New Blog Post - Turning up the heat: an interdisciplinary solution to improve pregnancy success in cattle
Visit out blog page to find out how SFN Scoping Project PI Niamh Forde and colleagues are working on this novel project combining drone technology, space science and reproductive biology to detect when cows are ready to be inseminated.
New Blog Post - Digitising agri-food supply chains in China
Visit out blog page to find out how SFN Scoping Project PI Wantao Yu and colleagues are working to address a critical knowledge gap challenge in the agricultural sector so that data-driven approaches can be used to enhance agricultural sustainability and productivity in China.
SFN Showcase 2019
In January we had an excellent two days at STFC Harwell finding out about the fascinating progress our Scoping Projects have been making and discussing what their next steps might be - You can now access a full write-up of the event (with thanks to our blog writer Caroline Wood) through our blog page and you can also see the presentations made by our PI’s and our fantastic invited speakers including Grahame Blair (STFC Executive Director, Programmes Directorate), Tim Benton (University of Leeds and Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House) and Guy Poppy (Chief Scientific Advisor to the FSA) here
New SFN Lead for Impact and Industry
We’re delighted to announce that our SFN Champion for Resilient Food Supply Chains Sonal Choudhary has now taken on a new role for us within the Network as ‘lead for Impact and Industry’. Sonal’s new responsibilities will include creating and maintaining connections between the SFN and industry, helping to maximise the impacts of our funded projects and deputising for the SFN PI at relevant events. You can find out more about Sonal on our SFN People Page
Media attention for ammonia monitoring scoping project
We're really pleased to have seen some well deserved media attention for the 'Continued Ammonia Monitoring for Agriculture' scoping project lead by STFC's Brian Ellison. You can hear Brian on the BBC Farming Today programme here and find out more about the project success here
UK scientists and engineers working to reduce food waste in developing countries
The Scoping Project lead by SFN Champion Sonal Choudhary using cryogenics to help improve the food supply chain is receiving widespread attention thanks to this update post from the STFC media team
STFC Food Network+ Showcase
16th and 17th January 2019
Earlier this year we awarded funding for >20 collaborative scoping projects involving direct partnerships between researchers in the STFC Physics and AgriFood communities. One of the main reasons we funded these projects is because we believe they have great potential to use the innovative new connections to make an impact. We are holding a 2 day meeting at the STFC Harwell Campus with expert speakers and potential funders to showcase these projects and provide space to brainstorm potential new project ideas using STFC capabilities. This meeting will take place on the 16th and 17th January 2019 at the Harwell Visitors Centre - you can see our agenda here. Registration for this event has now closed.
Shocks in Food Products - Review
One of our scoping award projects has completed a review of the work they have undertaken exploring novel techniques to assess food price shocks. Aled Jones from Anglia Ruskin University and Valeria Shumaylova from the University of Cambridge discuss how food systems represent a significant risk to financial and political
stability in a number of regions around the world in this paper which has also been written up as a blog for the Global Food Security website here
The STFC Food Network+, N8 Agrifood and the University of Manchester are delighted to be taking our exhibit ‘Take a bite out of climate change’ to the Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition 1-7th July 2019.
The Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition is the UK's annual display of its most cutting edge science and technology, with the week-long event featuring 22 exhibits of hands on demonstrations, thought-provoking talks and jaw-dropping demonstrations.
Our exhibit will focus on how primary food production, food processing and consumer food choices contribute to greenhouse gas emissions. We will highlight some key examples of innovations to improve sustainability in these areas. The content will be pitched for science enthusiasts with an interest in food and climate change.
Within our exhibit we’re delighted to be able to showcase innovation in food production by the National Centre of Food Manufacturing at the University of Lincoln, Entocycle, LettUs Grow and Hodmedod’s with underpinning research from the Universities of Lancaster, Sheffield, Manchester and others.
We are supported in this by an Advisory Board comprised of key stakeholders from this research area and we have engaged a fantastic group of Expert Communicators who will bring to life our key messages for visitors to the exhibit over the week. You will soon be able to find out more about all of our collaborators on our upcoming website.
STFC Food Network+ Call for Scoping Projects 2019
Deadline for Applications - 4pm on 2nd April 2019
Our second call for collaborative scoping projects for £500 - £8,000 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 e.g. 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 by the end of April. Please send your application forms to alison.fletcher@manchester.ac.uk
Using drones to save coffee plants from disease
Oliver Windram has been leading this SFN scoping project looking into how drone technology and, specifically, multispectral imaging could help protect coffee plants from coffee rust, a fungal disease that can wipe out entire plantations, and testing it out in the coffee growing areas of Thailand. You can find out more in this post from the STFC media team and it was featured on the BBC World Service on the 29th March (at 11:23am in case you want to listen again) with comments from our SFN Co-Investigator and Co-I on the project Katherine Denby.
Using space know-how to 'sniff' out salad quality
SFN Scoping Project PI Hilary Rogers is working with colleagues to develop new technology which will be able to ‘smell’ when fruit or vegetables are going off – potentially saving tonnes of waste. Find out more in this update post from the STFC media team.
New Blog Post - Turning up the heat: an interdisciplinary solution to improve pregnancy success in cattle
Visit out blog page to find out how SFN Scoping Project PI Niamh Forde and colleagues are working on this novel project combining drone technology, space science and reproductive biology to detect when cows are ready to be inseminated.
New Blog Post - Digitising agri-food supply chains in China
Visit out blog page to find out how SFN Scoping Project PI Wantao Yu and colleagues are working to address a critical knowledge gap challenge in the agricultural sector so that data-driven approaches can be used to enhance agricultural sustainability and productivity in China.
SFN Showcase 2019
In January we had an excellent two days at STFC Harwell finding out about the fascinating progress our Scoping Projects have been making and discussing what their next steps might be - You can now access a full write-up of the event (with thanks to our blog writer Caroline Wood) through our blog page and you can also see the presentations made by our PI’s and our fantastic invited speakers including Grahame Blair (STFC Executive Director, Programmes Directorate), Tim Benton (University of Leeds and Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House) and Guy Poppy (Chief Scientific Advisor to the FSA) here
New SFN Lead for Impact and Industry
We’re delighted to announce that our SFN Champion for Resilient Food Supply Chains Sonal Choudhary has now taken on a new role for us within the Network as ‘lead for Impact and Industry’. Sonal’s new responsibilities will include creating and maintaining connections between the SFN and industry, helping to maximise the impacts of our funded projects and deputising for the SFN PI at relevant events. You can find out more about Sonal on our SFN People Page
Media attention for ammonia monitoring scoping project
We're really pleased to have seen some well deserved media attention for the 'Continued Ammonia Monitoring for Agriculture' scoping project lead by STFC's Brian Ellison. You can hear Brian on the BBC Farming Today programme here and find out more about the project success here
UK scientists and engineers working to reduce food waste in developing countries
The Scoping Project lead by SFN Champion Sonal Choudhary using cryogenics to help improve the food supply chain is receiving widespread attention thanks to this update post from the STFC media team
STFC Food Network+ Showcase
16th and 17th January 2019
Earlier this year we awarded funding for >20 collaborative scoping projects involving direct partnerships between researchers in the STFC Physics and AgriFood communities. One of the main reasons we funded these projects is because we believe they have great potential to use the innovative new connections to make an impact. We are holding a 2 day meeting at the STFC Harwell Campus with expert speakers and potential funders to showcase these projects and provide space to brainstorm potential new project ideas using STFC capabilities. This meeting will take place on the 16th and 17th January 2019 at the Harwell Visitors Centre - you can see our agenda here. Registration for this event has now closed.
Shocks in Food Products - Review
One of our scoping award projects has completed a review of the work they have undertaken exploring novel techniques to assess food price shocks. Aled Jones from Anglia Ruskin University and Valeria Shumaylova from the University of Cambridge discuss how food systems represent a significant risk to financial and political
stability in a number of regions around the world in this paper which has also been written up as a blog for the Global Food Security website here
STFC B4I Roadshow for Agri/Food/Drink Sector
STFC are holding this event to target people interested in these themes at Harper Adams University on the 14th November. The event offers companies who need to overcome problems that restrict their productivity and competitiveness, an opportunity to discuss their issues with world leading experts and learn how to access some of the £8M in funding available to this programme. STFC funds and operates a number of large science facilities offering research and development access to commercial users and can provide access to advanced experimental and computational tools to address challenges in all aspects of the food production and packaging supply chain.
If you work for or with industry then please come along to:
Find out more and register to attend here
STFC are holding this event to target people interested in these themes at Harper Adams University on the 14th November. The event offers companies who need to overcome problems that restrict their productivity and competitiveness, an opportunity to discuss their issues with world leading experts and learn how to access some of the £8M in funding available to this programme. STFC funds and operates a number of large science facilities offering research and development access to commercial users and can provide access to advanced experimental and computational tools to address challenges in all aspects of the food production and packaging supply chain.
If you work for or with industry then please come along to:
- Learn about funding opportunities
- Talk to the coordinators of the B4I funding scheme
- Discus your challenge with world leading scientists
- Identify potential projects with STFC experts
- Understand how to access leading edge research infrastructure
- Partake in the facility tour at Harper Adams University, including the Dairy Crest Innovation Centre, Poultry and crop and environment research centres.
- Network with other agri-food companies
Find out more and register to attend here
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Commercial UAV Conference - 14th and 15th November 2018
The SFN will be attending this event investigating new applications and opportunities for UAVs at the Excel in London from 14-15 November 2018. We are pleased to announce that we have two of our scoping award winners speaking at the conference:
Come and visit STFC and the STFC Food Network+ at the Commercial UAV Conference – Stand No. 100. You can find out more and register to attend here |
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SFN Scoping award winner Dr Niamh Forde to speak at the Department for International Trade - Game Changing Technologies in Agriculture event 2018
We are delighted to confirm that SFN Scoping Award winner Niamh Forde has been selected to speak about her scoping project 'Combining IR and pattern recognition to enhance pregnancy success in cattle: Sensing well done steak' at this event on the 11th October . The SFN will also have a stand at this event focusing on innovative technologies being developed and applied in agriculture.
We are delighted to confirm that SFN Scoping Award winner Niamh Forde has been selected to speak about her scoping project 'Combining IR and pattern recognition to enhance pregnancy success in cattle: Sensing well done steak' at this event on the 11th October . The SFN will also have a stand at this event focusing on innovative technologies being developed and applied in agriculture.
Internet of Food Things Network+
Professor Simon Pearson (SFN Champion for Sustainable Food Production) has recently been awarded a £1.14 million grant from EPSRC to lead The Internet of Food Things (IoFT) Network Plus in order to help nurture and grow the UK’s food manufacturing digital economy. The project will run from May 2018 until May 2021 and will be led by Simon at the University of Lincoln.
The Network brings together data and computer scientists, chemists, and economists to investigate how artificial intelligence, data analytics and emerging technologies can enhance the digitalisation of the UK food supply chain. The network is examining the application of the IoT in connected homes of the future, the traceability of food, and how machine learning and artificial intelligence can be utilised to extract value from the vast amounts of data available across the whole food supply chain, improving efficiency and reducing food waste. The overarching perspective of the multi-disciplinary Network is on the societal impact of all of these transformational technologies.
They will host one main conference per year and in addition 3 facilitated workshops each year to deep dive key questions within the digital food domain. Pilot studies and detailed reviews will be commissioned to underpin horizon scanning perspectives. The launch event on the 21st September in London will kick-start the activities of the Network by bringing the founding academic and partners together, with many others from across academia, business and various policy-making bodies including Government departments, all with a common shared awareness of the pressing challenges surrounding the food manufacturing chain and the role that new technologies can play in addressing them. You can register to attend the launch meeting here and find out more details about the network here
We anticipate many cross-overs in the interests of the members of this network with those of the SFN and would like to encourage you to sign up to their mailing list to find out their latest updates and opportunities
Professor Simon Pearson (SFN Champion for Sustainable Food Production) has recently been awarded a £1.14 million grant from EPSRC to lead The Internet of Food Things (IoFT) Network Plus in order to help nurture and grow the UK’s food manufacturing digital economy. The project will run from May 2018 until May 2021 and will be led by Simon at the University of Lincoln.
The Network brings together data and computer scientists, chemists, and economists to investigate how artificial intelligence, data analytics and emerging technologies can enhance the digitalisation of the UK food supply chain. The network is examining the application of the IoT in connected homes of the future, the traceability of food, and how machine learning and artificial intelligence can be utilised to extract value from the vast amounts of data available across the whole food supply chain, improving efficiency and reducing food waste. The overarching perspective of the multi-disciplinary Network is on the societal impact of all of these transformational technologies.
They will host one main conference per year and in addition 3 facilitated workshops each year to deep dive key questions within the digital food domain. Pilot studies and detailed reviews will be commissioned to underpin horizon scanning perspectives. The launch event on the 21st September in London will kick-start the activities of the Network by bringing the founding academic and partners together, with many others from across academia, business and various policy-making bodies including Government departments, all with a common shared awareness of the pressing challenges surrounding the food manufacturing chain and the role that new technologies can play in addressing them. You can register to attend the launch meeting here and find out more details about the network here
We anticipate many cross-overs in the interests of the members of this network with those of the SFN and would like to encourage you to sign up to their mailing list to find out their latest updates and opportunities
Annual Meeting - June 2018
We recently held our second annual meeting at Inox in the Students Union Building at the University of Sheffield. As well as keynote talks and breakouts, we heard updates from the 20+ projects funded by the SFN, and provided space for free-form discussion time to progress new collaboration ideas, hold hackevents, and to allow time for working on existing projects. You can find out more on our Annual Meetings page
We recently held our second annual meeting at Inox in the Students Union Building at the University of Sheffield. As well as keynote talks and breakouts, we heard updates from the 20+ projects funded by the SFN, and provided space for free-form discussion time to progress new collaboration ideas, hold hackevents, and to allow time for working on existing projects. You can find out more on our Annual Meetings page
Additional £100k Awarded to SFN from STFC
We are delighted to announce that the STFC have awarded our Network an additional £100k to be used to help us fund more Scoping Funding projects from our latest call. We received an impressive 34 applications to this call and will soon be able to announce details of all those that we have awarded.
Sandpit Winners Announced
Congratulations to the two winning projects awarded at our Sandpit events in February:
Agri-Food UK Landscape
Find out more about the Agri-Food UK Landscape and see how the SFN fits in as a nationwide network here
SFN Handbook now available for viewing
We have been working hard with our Champions and CoIs to put together our 'Newcomer's Guide to the STFC Food Network+'. We'll be officially launching this later on in the year but you can see our current version here:
We are delighted to announce that the STFC have awarded our Network an additional £100k to be used to help us fund more Scoping Funding projects from our latest call. We received an impressive 34 applications to this call and will soon be able to announce details of all those that we have awarded.
Sandpit Winners Announced
Congratulations to the two winning projects awarded at our Sandpit events in February:
- Project APROV - Augmented Procurement Visibility - Developing the self organising capability of agricultural procurement systems
- Continuous Ammonia Monitoring for AGriculture - CAMAG
Agri-Food UK Landscape
Find out more about the Agri-Food UK Landscape and see how the SFN fits in as a nationwide network here
SFN Handbook now available for viewing
We have been working hard with our Champions and CoIs to put together our 'Newcomer's Guide to the STFC Food Network+'. We'll be officially launching this later on in the year but you can see our current version here:
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Collaborative Scoping Projects
We are pleased to announce that we will opening a call for collaborative scoping projects for <8k early in 2018, to close on 6th March. This call is open to all projects that bring together STFC capabilities and food research and industry, including topics that aren’t covered by the sandpits. A full application form will be supplied when we announce the call but, to help you start preparing, you can see the information we'll be looking for on our funding page.
Article on SFN in latest edition of The journal of the Institute of Food Science and Technology
Professor Sarah Bridle, describes the launch of the Network and its ambitions to apply the skills and facilities of the Science and Technology Facilities Council to tackling the challenges facing food supply. You can read the article here
SFN Sandpits scheduled for early 2018
After a fantastic response to our survey we've decided to go ahead with 2 sandpits as follows:
The deadline for applications has now passed and we will be announcing the successful applicants soon. Please see our funding page for more details.
SFN Visit to Harwell
On 28th September we ran an STFC Food Network+ (SFN) visit to the STFC Harwell Campus. About 45 people attended, including more than 10 from industry (Pepsico, Mondelez, Unilever). In the morning we had talks introducing food challenges to STFC researchers (Tim Williams, Ian Noble, Jason Halford) and talks about STFC Facilities aimed at food research and industry (Sarah Rogers on ISIS, Tony Parker on CLF, Claire Pizzey on Diamond and Brian Matthews on the Scientific Computing Department). We had excellent feedback from the multiway speed meeting after lunch. Katharine Hollinshead (from STFC) and Harriet Trewin (from BBSRC) gave talks on funding opportunities after lunch, including a new announcement that STFC will contribute to the new BBSRC funding call on precision agriculture technology for the field. We had a brainstorming session on how the STFC Facilities could contribute to food challenges. We are working through the many ideas that came out of that - example highlights for sustainable production include detailed imaging of the root soil interface, imaging reactions to understand the effect of activars/ inhibitors and functional genomics. The food supply chain could benefit from STFC facilities in assessing food safety and adulteration, developing new resilient materials and packaging, developing tools for quality assurance in manufacturing and fundamental study of food solvent interactions. Finally consumer nutrition could benefit from STFC facilities via understanding the bioavailability of nutrients and study of digestion and absorption and point of use testing devices for nutrition. In addition most areas could benefit from using STFC data science and computing capabilities to collate and analyse large quantities of data. Due to popular demand we will organise a future larger visit offering a tour.
You can see the slides from the days excellent presentations here:
We are pleased to announce that we will opening a call for collaborative scoping projects for <8k early in 2018, to close on 6th March. This call is open to all projects that bring together STFC capabilities and food research and industry, including topics that aren’t covered by the sandpits. A full application form will be supplied when we announce the call but, to help you start preparing, you can see the information we'll be looking for on our funding page.
Article on SFN in latest edition of The journal of the Institute of Food Science and Technology
Professor Sarah Bridle, describes the launch of the Network and its ambitions to apply the skills and facilities of the Science and Technology Facilities Council to tackling the challenges facing food supply. You can read the article here
SFN Sandpits scheduled for early 2018
After a fantastic response to our survey we've decided to go ahead with 2 sandpits as follows:
- Transforming food supply chains for a sustainable future
- Measuring the ground truth
The deadline for applications has now passed and we will be announcing the successful applicants soon. Please see our funding page for more details.
SFN Visit to Harwell
On 28th September we ran an STFC Food Network+ (SFN) visit to the STFC Harwell Campus. About 45 people attended, including more than 10 from industry (Pepsico, Mondelez, Unilever). In the morning we had talks introducing food challenges to STFC researchers (Tim Williams, Ian Noble, Jason Halford) and talks about STFC Facilities aimed at food research and industry (Sarah Rogers on ISIS, Tony Parker on CLF, Claire Pizzey on Diamond and Brian Matthews on the Scientific Computing Department). We had excellent feedback from the multiway speed meeting after lunch. Katharine Hollinshead (from STFC) and Harriet Trewin (from BBSRC) gave talks on funding opportunities after lunch, including a new announcement that STFC will contribute to the new BBSRC funding call on precision agriculture technology for the field. We had a brainstorming session on how the STFC Facilities could contribute to food challenges. We are working through the many ideas that came out of that - example highlights for sustainable production include detailed imaging of the root soil interface, imaging reactions to understand the effect of activars/ inhibitors and functional genomics. The food supply chain could benefit from STFC facilities in assessing food safety and adulteration, developing new resilient materials and packaging, developing tools for quality assurance in manufacturing and fundamental study of food solvent interactions. Finally consumer nutrition could benefit from STFC facilities via understanding the bioavailability of nutrients and study of digestion and absorption and point of use testing devices for nutrition. In addition most areas could benefit from using STFC data science and computing capabilities to collate and analyse large quantities of data. Due to popular demand we will organise a future larger visit offering a tour.
You can see the slides from the days excellent presentations here:
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SFN Champions
We are delighted to announce that we have now appointed our SFN Champions who will focus in on the intersecting topics of the SFN - to reach out to those of you in their area - and to interface their areas with the other Champions to ensure a lively cross-fertilisation of ideas. Have a look at our latest blog post to find out more. A big thankyou to the following for taking on these important roles for the Network:
Simon Pearson - SFN Champion for Sustainable Food Production
Sonal Choudhary - SFN Champion for Resilient Food Supply Chains
Christian Reynolds - SFN Champion for Improved Nutrition and Consumer Behaviours
Seb Oliver - SFN Champion for STFC Data Science
Stephen Serjeant - SFN Champion for STFC Technology
Sarah Rogers - SFN Champion for STFC Facilities
In the next couple of weeks will set up mailing lists for each of the above areas and populate them with the information we have based on the boxes you ticked in the survey and/or launch meeting session selection, but this information is likely to be incomplete, so if you don't hear anything in the next month from the Champion for your area then please contact Alison to be added to the relevant mailing list(s).
We are delighted to announce that we have now appointed our SFN Champions who will focus in on the intersecting topics of the SFN - to reach out to those of you in their area - and to interface their areas with the other Champions to ensure a lively cross-fertilisation of ideas. Have a look at our latest blog post to find out more. A big thankyou to the following for taking on these important roles for the Network:
Simon Pearson - SFN Champion for Sustainable Food Production
Sonal Choudhary - SFN Champion for Resilient Food Supply Chains
Christian Reynolds - SFN Champion for Improved Nutrition and Consumer Behaviours
Seb Oliver - SFN Champion for STFC Data Science
Stephen Serjeant - SFN Champion for STFC Technology
Sarah Rogers - SFN Champion for STFC Facilities
In the next couple of weeks will set up mailing lists for each of the above areas and populate them with the information we have based on the boxes you ticked in the survey and/or launch meeting session selection, but this information is likely to be incomplete, so if you don't hear anything in the next month from the Champion for your area then please contact Alison to be added to the relevant mailing list(s).
Digital Innovation in Livestock
Along with N8 Agrifood and CIEL the SFN are co- hosting this event in September to explore the latest in precision farming for enhanced performance, health and welfare of livestock. Unfortunately all of the academic places for this have now been taken up but if you have an industry background and would like to attend please contact Malou Lindholm for more information.
A full report will be available after the event.
Along with N8 Agrifood and CIEL the SFN are co- hosting this event in September to explore the latest in precision farming for enhanced performance, health and welfare of livestock. Unfortunately all of the academic places for this have now been taken up but if you have an industry background and would like to attend please contact Malou Lindholm for more information.
A full report will be available after the event.
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SFN News Release
The SFN officially launched on the 28th June 2017 and, along with our launch meeting (details below), we celebrated with a news release that you can see on our blog page.
SFN Launch Meeting
We’re delighted to announce that we had an extremely successful Launch Meeting on Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th June in Manchester. Thanks to all of you that attended and participated and particular thanks to all of our speakers and session chairs.
You can find full details of the event on our dedicated webpage together with copies of the presentations given across the two days.
We’re delighted to announce that we had an extremely successful Launch Meeting on Wednesday 28th and Thursday 29th June in Manchester. Thanks to all of you that attended and participated and particular thanks to all of our speakers and session chairs.
You can find full details of the event on our dedicated webpage together with copies of the presentations given across the two days.
SFN Logo Competition
The SFN has a new logo! Congratulations and thanks to Anna Louise Sutherland for her winning entry
The SFN has a new logo! Congratulations and thanks to Anna Louise Sutherland for her winning entry
Seminars
SFN PI Sarah Bridle recently gave a Schuster Colloquium in Manchester to promote the work of the SFN and to encourage interactions between the STFC and Agri-Food Communities - this went out to a packed house with over 50 people attending and lots of new sign-ups to the SFN mailing list .
We are also taking this seminar on the road, speaking at institutions across the country over the coming months - see if your University is already hosting an event and if not, and you'd like to host a SFN seminar please contact us
Survey Results
The SFN recently ran a launch survey in order to find out how much STFC and agri-food researchers know about each other’s work and skills, and to gauge interest in the SFN.
Some of the headline results from this:
The SFN recently ran a launch survey in order to find out how much STFC and agri-food researchers know about each other’s work and skills, and to gauge interest in the SFN.
Some of the headline results from this:
- We had over 640 responses
- 75% of respondents were from STFC research or facilities
- 285 people said ‘I would like to join the SFN mailing list to receive updates every few weeks’
- 82 people said ‘I am considering attending the SFN launch meeting on 28/29 June in Manchester
Digital Innovation in Livestock
The SFN are supporting a Digital Innovation in Livestock Meeting that is being organised by N8 AgriFood in conjunction with the Centre of Digital Innovation Applied to Livestock (CIEL) - If you are interested in attending this event please contact us
The SFN are supporting a Digital Innovation in Livestock Meeting that is being organised by N8 AgriFood in conjunction with the Centre of Digital Innovation Applied to Livestock (CIEL) - If you are interested in attending this event please contact us
Sandpits
Our first Sandpit is planned for early in 2018 - Updates coming soon.
Our first Sandpit is planned for early in 2018 - Updates coming soon.
