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€35m Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems officially launched in Dublin

30 May, 2024

The new €35m research collaboration will aim to drive societal and political change in food systems to help the industry's transition to climate neutrality by 2050.

Professor Aedín Cassidy, Co-Director of the Co-Centre and Director for Interdisciplinary Research at the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast; Professor Louise Dye, lead of the integrated UKRI research programme, and Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainable Food at the University of Sheffield; Dr Siobhán Roche, Director of Science for the Economy at SFI; Professor Eileen Gibney, Co-Director of the Co-Centre and Director of UCD Institute of Food and Health

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Patrick O’Donovan TD and Northern Ireland’s Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Andrew Muir today welcomed the launch of a transformative new joint research centre at University College Dublin (UCD).

The centre will be run jointly by Queen’s University Belfast, University College Dublin and the University of Sheffield in the first-of-a-kind collaboration across Ireland, Northern Ireland and Britain.

Speaking today, Minister O’Donovan said:

“Congratulations to all the academic, industry and funding partners involved in the Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems. You are each playing an integral role in creating what promises to be an impactful research relationship  between Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain over the next six years. There is an urgency to provide food system transformation, with local, national and international food solutions that are underpinned by science, safety and governance. This Co-Centre will lead the charge in collaboratively generating those solutions.” 

Minister Muir said:

“I want to wholeheartedly congratulate the team on reaching this significant milestone. At DAERA, we are extremely pleased to be co-funders in this major programme of research and innovation into Sustainable Food Systems. I firmly believe that this collaboration will contribute to achieving the best science to tackle challenges together on these islands.

The Co-Centre launch comes at a very relevant time for Northern Ireland, as my department leads on the development of a new Northern Ireland Food Strategy Framework, which places food at the heart of our society. The Co-Centre provides an opportunity, on a scale not funded by DAERA before, to have very real impact on the transformation we need to see in our food systems.”

It will bring together world-leading researchers from across Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain with research expertise in specific shared areas of common interest, including food safety, food production, nutrition, plant and animal science, behavioural change, data science, food system governance, and the political process of food system transformation.

It will be jointly funded for six years by the Government of Ireland’s Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Shared Island Fund, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Northern Ireland's Department of Agriculture (DAERA) and industry.

Commenting on the launch, SFI’s Director of Science for the Economy, Dr Siobhán Roche, said:

“The launch of the Co-Centre for Sustainable Food Systems represents an important development in collaboratively delivering environmentally and economically sustainable transformation of our food system. Together with our co-funders, we look forward to seeing the co-centre becoming a global leader in food system transformation through innovative research and technology development.”

Professor Eileen Gibney, Co-Director of the Co-Centre and Director of UCD Institute of Food and Health at University College Dublin, said:

“This Co-Centre will play an important role in transforming our food system to be more healthy and sustainable across these islands. The Co-Centre will drive change in the way we produce and consume food, addressing economic, social, and environmental problems to ensure safe nutritious food for all. We need to consider the challenges we face now and in the future, and provide solutions that will work for us all.”

Professor Aedín Cassidy, Co-Director of the Co-Centre and Director for Interdisciplinary Research at the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast, said it had come at a "crucial time" with existing food systems facing a wide range of challenges. 

"This is an exciting programme and has come at a crucial time with our existing food systems facing a wide range of challenges. In today’s society, a tenth of our population is undernourished while 25% are overweight, with over a third of the world’s population unable afford to eat a healthy diet. Add to this, our food supplies are disrupted by heatwaves, floods, drought and conflict. This funding announcement and the new Co-Centre it creates, will allow us to do the research needed to address these issues and to develop and test strategies to ensure a safe, transparent, sustainable, resilient food system and enhance the evidence base to realise the transition to healthy diets from sustainable sources".

Professor Louise Dye, lead of the integrated UKRI research programme and Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainable Food at the University of Sheffield, said, added:

“We need to act now to ensure that we develop a robust, resilient and sustainable food system that provides access to healthy, affordable, nutritious food for all. The co-centre will accelerate the transition towards a more environmentally and economically sustainable, transparent agri-food sector which provides healthy food for all. The co-centre will also provide training, education and experiential events to inform the public, academics, industry, policy makers and others about food systems transformation.” 

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