University of Hertfordshire: €6m International Research Partnership to Improve Food Security in Europe

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University of Hertfordshire

05 Oct, 2017, 11:54 GMT

HATFIELD, England, October 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The University of Hertfordshire is part of an international research team that has secured €6m funding to help policy makers improve the resilience of the European food system. The funding, from the EU Horizon 2020: Sustainable food security theme, will help to improve food security for Europe and beyond, and also help to protect the livelihoods of the millions of Europeans who work in the food system. 

The new research project, VALUMICS, will map and model the complex flows of raw materials and finished goods as they move through food supply chains, with value added at each stage - hence the 'value' component in the project name.

David Barling PhD, Professor of Food Policy and Security at the University of Hertfordshire and principal investigator for the University of Hertfordshire on the VALUMICS project, said:

"Food security and the resilience of the food supply are of increasingly urgent concern to governments, business and the public. Resilience means being able to withstand the challenges of climate change, resource depletion and population growth, but it also means protecting food producers - the vital basis of our food supply. To build resilience we need to understand how and why decisions are made, and how value is distributed along food supply chains to reward certain practices. Valumics will be looking for policies and actions that make food value chains greener and fairer."

Over the next four years this multidisciplinary research project, involving 21 partners from Europe and Asia, will review key food sectors including beef and dairy, farmed fish, cereals and oils. The key input of researchers at the Centre for Food and Environmental Management (CAFEM) at the University of Hertfordshire is to identify relevant policies and analyse their impacts.

The results will be relevant to policy makers at all levels, as well as the myriad food businesses throughout Europe which are regulated by their decisions.

For more information visit the valumics website.

Notes to Editors 

  • The project partners are:
    University of Hertfordshire, UK; Haskoli Islands, Iceland; Sintef Fisheries and Aquaculture, Norway; Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production, Germany; Alma Mater Studiorum Universita Di Bologna, Italy; Czech University of Agriculture Prague, Czech Republic; University College Dublin, Ireland; Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies, Germany; Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations, France; University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK; European Aquaculture Society, Belgium; MarkMar ehf, Iceland; Chalmers Technical University, Sweden; Federacion Espanola de Industrias de la Alimentacion Y Bebidas, Spain; Regional Development Agency of Emilia-Romagna, Italy; Lappeenranta University of Technology, Finland; Assist Software SRL, Romainia; University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; China Agricultural University, China; REWE International Dienstleistung GmbH, Austria;

About the University of Hertfordshire: 

  • The University's vision is to be internationally renowned as the UK's leading business-facing university.  It is innovative and enterprising and challenges individuals and organisations to excel.   
  • The University of Hertfordshire is one of the region's largest employers with over 2,900 staff and a turnover of over £256 million. 
  • With a student community of over 24,600 including more than 3,800 overseas students, the University has a global network of over 210,000 alumni.  
  • It is also one of the top 150 universities in the world under 50 years old, according to the Times Higher Education 150 under 50 rankings 2017.