First four FoodSHINES researchers publish Food System Challenge reports

Four PhD work placement students have published UK Food Systems Challenge reports, funded by the FoodSHINES programme, part of the Backcasting to Achieve Food Resilience in the UK project (BAFR-UK).

Empty supermarket shelves

The working papers, each exploring different areas of the complex Food System puzzle, are written by PhD researchers undertaking work placements with BAFR advisory board members. Download the reports here.

The BAFR-UK project is led by experts from ARU's Global Sustainability Institute (GSI) and has received £2,048,461 in funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The funding is from the UKRI Strategic Theme on Building a Secure and Resilient World (BSRW).

The broad-ranging project involves five partner universities and seven NGO and industry partners. It has amongst its research outputs Barefood, a serious game about the food system, and an open-source computer model for simulating food supply disruptions alongside resilience-building interventions.

The FoodSHINES programme – which was open to PhD students across the UK – included a conference which took place at ARU Cambridge in February, and six funded work placements open to UK-based doctoral students of any discipline.

The work placements involved desk-based and field research culminating in a report addressing the assigned challenge. The first four candidates have now published their reports. Download the reports.

Understanding and strengthening UK food-system resilience requires expertise from many different disciplines and perspectives. The FoodSHINES programme allowed our advisory board members (Better Food Traders, Sustain, WWF and the MET Office) to identify and explore important challenges they may not have otherwise had the resources to investigate. The students channelled their academic expertise, writing a series of short, accessible, action-oriented reports designed to inform policy, practice and future research. A win-win for all involved.

Following a competitive selection process, Finlay Craig (from City St George's, University of London), Josephine Heger (from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen), Nikhil Ghosh (from University of York) and Muhammad Umar (from University of Greenwhich) all secured FoodSHINES placements. In addition to carrying out research projects, they facilitated discussions at the FoodSHINES conference, gained experience working with leading organisations, and received mentoring from professional and academic experts.

Two additional FoodSHINES reports (in partnership with Defra and WRAP) and a summary report will be published in the coming months, so watch this space! There are plans for a webinar, featuring all six FoodSHINES authors, in early 2027.

Reports and authors

Download the four reports.

  • Finlay Craig, 2026. Local Authority Powers for Supporting Sustainable Food Retail. BAFR-UK and Better Food Traders
    Report on how planning powers can help create the physical conditions for sustainable food retailers to operate, while discretionary business‑rates relief can directly incentivise and support them to deliver social and environmental value. Used together and strengthened through targeted reforms, these tools can help local authorities build healthier, more resilient, and sustainable local food systems.
  • Josephine Heger, 2026. Could a national protein strategy promote pulses for human consumption in the UK’s food system? Lessons from EU countries. BAFR-UK and Sustain
    Report exploring how a national protein strategy could strengthen the role of pulses for human consumption in the UK’s food system, including agricultural production, supply chains, and consumption. It draws on observations and learnings from three case studies in the European Union – Denmark, Flanders and Sweden – to formulate lessons learned and recommendations for UK policy.
  • Nikhil Ghosh. 2026, Responding to Climate and Nature Related Food System Crisis: A Review of UK National Policy. BAFR-UK and WWF
    This report contributes to the agenda by offering a typology through which policy for food system transformation can be conceptualised and assessed. It examines the risks to UK agriculture under current policy in the context of a changing climate and future biodiversity risk.
  • Muhammad Umar, 2026. Overseas Climate Risks to the UK Food System: Tools, Gaps, and Recommendations for Integrated Risk Assessment. BAFR-UK and Met Office
    This report critically reviews the existing tools, models, datasets, and analytical approaches used to assess overseas climate risks to the UK food system. It identifies strengths and limitations in existing approaches and proposes recommendations for improving future decision-support architecture.

Find out more about BAFR-UK



The FoodSHINES call drew 46 applications from researchers across the UK. Six researchers were selected, each supervised by academics on the BAFR-UK project together with individuals from the host organisations. Over five weeks (equivalent) between March and October 2026 they researched and produced a report for their host organisation.