The SCAF bi-annual steering board meeting reflected on key achievements and landmark activities so far, including our panel discussion at Queen Margaret University’s ‘Being Innovative about Food Innovation’ Conference and the networking session with early career professionals. Thank you to everyone on the advisory board and our external chair, Debbie.  

The ‘Being Innovative about Food Innovation’ conference in June, led by Dr Ana Tominc (Reader in the Media, Communication and Performing Arts division at Queen Margaret University) celebrated innovation and collaboration in food. The event featured a keynote lecture from SCAF Theme 2 lead Prof Steve Euston on the Reformulation of foods for protein and fat replacement, and a panel discussion on developing transdisciplinary research, chaired by Prof Emilie Combet with Prof Stephen Euston, Dr Dave McBey, Dr Ben McCormick, Dr Isabel Fletcher, and Dr Ana Tominc. The exchange between the panel and audience generated discussions on the education and engagement of children and adults in food matters and the challenges of democratising the research process.  

On June 25th, SCAF hosted a hybrid event, focusing on how SCAF can support the ambitions and career development of academic and non-academic early career professionals in the food system landscape. Led by Dr Gemma Ryde, Dr Ben McCormick, Dr Ben Jackson, Dr Dave McBey and Dr Lindsay Middleton, the Early Career Network Meeting brought together 20 people in person and 19 online around:  

  • a networking lunch,  
  • a keynote presentation by Rebecca Ricketts on circular economies and the value of SCAF to those outside of academia,  
  • a workshop focusing on the food futures initiative underpinning a planned publication in that space, led by the ECR focus group 
  • a flash overview of upcoming funding opportunities in SCAF (“How to get the cash!”), including the Mentorship Travel Bursaries and the Pump Priming Awards. 

The event was rounded off with networking drinks.   

Two days later, the Engaging Members of the Public event gathered 11 attendees online, facilitated by AOC leads Cindy Gray and Michael Johnson. The event looked at best practices in engaging members of the public with participants sharing examples that explored different approaches to public engagement in research from art exhibitions, community-based participatory workshops, patient public involvement, and awareness campaigns. The briefing notes from this session are available here.  

Rounding up the month of June, we also announced our annual event (in August) and two new funding opportunities:  

The “Expanding Horizons in Food – Collaborating Across Disciplines & Sectors” annual event will be held on August 19th (formal conference) with an unconference on August 20th. We are calling for registrations and abstract submissions. Find out more here about how to submit an abstract (deadline 19/07/24).  

SCAF members across all sectors, disciplines, and career stages are also invited to apply for the second round of SCAF Pump Priming awards. Projects should last up to 6 months for a value of up to £5,000. More information is available here. Members seeking to form new collaborations are encouraged to pitch their ideas on our members' Slack platform via channel #pump-priming. 

We are also excited to announce our mentorship travel bursary to support establishing new connections.  The next deadline for these bursaries is October 1st, with bi-annual deadlines after that. The bursaries are designed to support members in the earliest stages in their careers. 

Finally, congratulations to our Alliance Manager, Laura Haag, who has moved to working full-time with SCAF following the end of her postdoctoral research contract. 

First published: 3 July 2024

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