At ARU, researchers examine food security across the whole system, from sustainable agriculture, crop production and emerging food technologies to nutrition, livelihoods, climate resilience and inequalities in access to healthy food.
Working with communities, farmers, industry, policymakers and international partners, our research seeks practical ways to strengthen food systems, protect the natural resources on which food production depends and ensure that future food security can be achieved without leaving vulnerable communities behind.
Backcasting to Achieve Food Resilience in the UK
Professor Aled Jones at our Global Sustainability Institute is leading a £2 million UKRI-funded research project, Backcasting to Achieve Food Resilience in the UK, which will identify vulnerabilities in the UK’s national food system and develop strategies to prevent future food shortages. The research addresses the risk that disruptions to supply chains could result in reduced access to affordable food, malnutrition, and social instability. works closely with partners from the private sector, national level government bodies and civil society, and is poised to make a significant real-world impact on food policy in the UK. In 2026 for example, BAFR will fund six paid consultancy projects bringing early-career researchers to placement hosts including the Met Office, DEFRA and Sustain, to work on specific real-world challenges around food faced by these organisations.
Research on disruptions to the UK’s food supply
Professor Aled Jones co-led research funded an APEX Award from the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society to explore how shocks to the UK’s food system could ultimately lead to social unrest. The research highlights the unequal nature of food price shocks, impacting the poorest households the most and leading to social unrest. The research team identified a number of key interventions needed by policy makers to avert such scenarios, including, diversifying food chains and promoting more varied and resilient diets. The research team has produced a map of the food system which is already being used by policy makers.
Biodiversity loss, climate change and food system risk
A major report led by Professor Aled Jones (Global Sustainability Institute) in collaboration with the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) highlights how biodiversity loss, climate change and environmental degradation are undermining food production and availability worldwide. The research shows that soil degradation, water scarcity and the loss of pollinators are already reducing crop yields and increasing food prices, with severe implications for the world’s long term food security. The work provides evidence for policymakers and financial institutions to integrate environmental sustainability into decisions that affect food systems and long-term access to food.
Advancing sustainable agriculture and food systems at Writtle College
Writtle College was formally integrated into Anglia Ruskin University in 2020, bringing together a long-established specialist land-based college with ARU’s wider strengths in sustainability, natural sciences and social sciences research. Writtle has a 130-year history of work on land-based studies, including courses on agriculture and food production.
Research at the Writtle campus focuses on improving the productivity, resilience and sustainability of food systems, with expertise spanning crop science, horticulture, soil and resource management, and controlled environment agriculture. This work is supported by dedicated facilities including experimental farms, research glasshouses and post-harvest units, enabling close collaboration with industry partners and commercial growers. Through these partnerships, Writtle researchers work with agricultural businesses, supply chain actors and technology providers to develop and test new approaches to food production that enhance yields, improve resource efficiency and respond to the challenges of climate change and global food insecurity.
Nourishing our Future study shared with MP’s and UK’s Chief Medical Officer
ARU researchers collaborated Essex County Council Public Health to produce a report on healthy eating for children under 5 which has been presented to UK MPs and the Chief Medical Officer. The report highlighted the public health challenge of healthy eating amongst children, with school lunch boxes often containing unhealthy choices. Cost of food and children’s preferences were found to be the biggest obstacles to healthy and sustainable choices. The researchers then worked with local schools to help children try healthier options and to help parents to identify and afford better choices for lunchboxes. The research had great impact, and led to the creation of the Essex Early Years Nourishing our Future Award (NOF Award), which will celebrate and elevate food and nutrition practices across early years settings in Essex.
Last updated: October 2026
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