Goal 2: Zero hunger

Our research

A University of Bristol-led study, published in March 2023, has demonstrated the impact of providing free school meals to all pupils aged 11-16 after a trial in two schools in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. Over a quarter of the pupils at the schools were shown to be experiencing food insecurity. The evaluation showed that providing universal free school meals was feasible, easier to deliver than the current system, and had an overall positive impact on pupils’ behaviour, concentration, food insecurity, healthier diet choices, and the mental health of both students and their families.

A new University interdisciplinary research network was established in 2023 to explore social and environmental justice and food sustainability on a local, regional, and global scale. The Food Justice Network brings together expertise from across the University to collaborate with partners across Bristol’s communities on research projects and local action-orientated events. Publications have so far looked at food waste interventions in low- and middle-income countries, and the effects of extreme weather and climate change on the UK food system.

Our students

Units related to food and sustainable agriculture are available for students across a number of disciplines, including sociology, politics, geography and biology. These include Power, Politics and Food, which explores issues relating to food as a site of power and inequality, and the ecological, political, social, cultural and economic elements of the theory and practice of food. The Geographies of Food unit considers the historical and contemporary production of foods, food networks, eating patterns, landscapes, and images of foods and consumers. Plants and Sustainable Food Production looks at how responsible biological innovation can be integrated with existing agricultural practices to produce sustainable food production systems of the future.

The student-run Hungry Caterpillar food cooperative was relaunched in March 2023, after being on hold during the pandemic. The cooperative buys from a local wholesaler and resells each week on campus at the same price. Members bring along their own containers and buy produce by weight, minimising food waste and plastic packaging. They can also enjoy a cheap and sustainable lunch made with ingredients from the co-op and vegetables donated by a local grocer's shop.

Our communities

Staff from the Bristol Poverty Institute were joined by colleagues from across the University when they volunteered at the Bristol North West Foodbank in the run up to Christmas 2022. They packed festive hampers, Christmas bags for Ukrainian refugees, and helped staff a cafe area. In December 2023, they again teamed up with colleagues, this time organising a bake sale as part of an initiative with North Bristol and South Gloucestershire foodbank. The money raised was supplemented with additional donations of food items and toiletries, and staff used their University volunteering days to prepare boxes of items for distribution through the foodbank for those in need.

In collaboration with the Royal Agricultural University, in 2023 we signed a long-term partnership agreement with the University of Al Dhaid to deliver new education and research programmes in sustainable agriculture and veterinary medicine. The aims of the programmes are to make a tangible difference to the lives of those in the region by helping to address the key issues of food security, climate change, and animal welfare through the creation of more sustainable crop and livestock systems, and the building of critical veterinary and agriculture capacity.

Ourselves

We are proud members of the Menus of Change University Research Collaborative, working with researchers and students worldwide to encourage plant-based food choices. Our Marketplace campus restaurant now has a menu that is 83% plant-based, with food cooked from scratch using fresh local produce. Using the Menus of Change principles, we have also reimagined the menus in our catered halls of residence so that meat and fish dishes represent just 28% of the offering.

Our Sustainable Food and Beverage Policy 2022-2024 sets out the steps we are taking to engage in procurement and service delivery practices that are environmentally and socially sustainable, whilst encouraging healthy and sustainable eating. Our in-house catering team has maintained its accreditations from Red Tractor and the Marine Stewardship Council, and received the Good Egg Award and a Soil Association Bronze award.