A whole-systems approach across value chain stages
Our research
Food systems interact with other sectors (energy, water, land, climate) in complicated ways, and their sustainable pathways are elusive due to their complexity, trade-offs, and uncertainties.
This research informs what it would take in terms of policies and actions, from local to national to global scale, to navigate trade-offs and transform our food systems towards a more sustainable future in a way that deliver human wellbeing and economic development while maintaining the stability and resilience of the Earth system.
Benefits of our research
We work with communities to understand what a system transformation means to them and what they believe they need to reach a sustainable future – looking at it from social, economic, and environmental perspectives. We also advance analytical methods for analysing policy interventions in the face of future deep uncertainties to help policymakers clarify trade-offs and synergies associated with various sustainability goals related to food and develop adaptive plans that can also survive and remain effective across all goals and given long-term uncertain futures.
Why are we doing this research?
We use a range of transition theories and decision/scenario tools from natural and social sciences to design and evaluate policy pathways for food system transformations in an uncertain future. We approach research questions with a holistic view of system interactions between food and societal (poverty, equity) and environmental (energy, climate, food and land) aspects, framed by the Sustainable Development Goals.
Want to learn more?
Read recent research:
- Moallemi et al. (2024) Shortcuts for accelerating food system transitions. One Earth.
- Moallemi et al. (2023) Knowledge co-production for decision-making in human-natural systems under uncertainty. Global Environmental Change 82, 102727.
- Moallemi et al. (2022) Early systems change necessary for catalyzing long-term sustainability in a post-2030 agenda. One Earth 5(7), 792-811.
Contact Dr Enayat Moallemi to learn more about this research.