Partnership is at the heart of IGFS and ranges from KTPs and DTPs with industry partners to participation in EIT Food – an EU knowledge innovation centre which groups together academics, entrepreneurs and business to accelerate the research-to-market pipeline. Academically, our researchers collaborate locally with AFBI under a Strategic Alliance and with leading centres around the world including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and WUR (Netherlands). Pictured: IGFS staff with agrifood business leaders Find out more

Early-career researchers play a central role in IGFS with 10 out of 70.8 FTE academic staff now ECRs. IGFS is also home to a thriving post-graduate and post-doctoral community. PhD numbers have tripled in the past seven years and PG students can access the Queen's Graduate School while Post-Docs are encouraged to participate in a lively MHLS Faculty Post-Doc Society. Read more about our research culture and environment.

We host a wide range of events, from PGR seminars to large, public lectures with headlining speakers such as Sir Tim Smit of the Eden Project (pictured). We have partnered on high-level stakeholder events with the UK House of Lords; the Oxford Farming Conference; the Coalition of Aid Agencies in NI and regularly participate in outreach activities such as the Balmoral Royal Agricultural Show; Soapbox Science; and the NI Science Festival. Find out more

The School of Biological Sciences, in which IGFS is anchored, has renewed its Athena Swan Gold Award - a third, consecutive Gold. The School holds one of only two departmental Gold awards at Queen's – and one of only 12 in the UK. This puts it in the Top 1.5% for gender equality in UK universities. The Swan team regularly hosts activities to encourage inclusion, including a recent address by Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell from Oxford University (pictured, r-l, with IGFS & SBS Swan champion, Dr Edel Hyland). Find out more

IGFS is integral to a number of aspects of the Belfast Region City Deal including a planned Global Innovation Institute (£60M investment, 2021-36), providing an unparalled opportunity to apply digital technologies across health, food security and environmental sustainability. We are also involved in a number of public-private initiatives including the ‘NI Diamond’ and the creation of an all-Ireland agrifood-research hub. Find out more

We run and partner on a number of symposia but are best-known for the ASSET Summit on Global Food Integrity, the most recent of which attracted over 600 delegates and thought leaders from 47 countries including keynote speaker Dr John Bell, Head of Bioeconomy at the European Commission (pictured). We recently hosted the first International Endocrine Disruptor Conference on the island of Ireland.