Dr Hannah Pitt presents seminars at KU Leuven

Dr Hannah Pitt, Research Associate at the Sustainable Places Research Institute, has delivered two seminars at KU Leuven.

Hannah presented ‘Who will be able to grow food in the UK?’ which discussed ‘Knowing to Grow’, a project investigating knowledge and skills dimensions which might hamper horticultural production, and how Government support could help. Early findings demonstrate huge divergence in growers’ ability to thrive and invest in their skills base.

Whilst a persistently negative image seems to limit the number of young people seeking careers in the sector, the appeal of growing in value-driven, ecological enterprises has a strong pull. The seminar explored these issues, share the approach being used to investigate them, and highlight implications which speak to other parts of the food system.

Hannah also presented ‘But are we making a difference?: Lessons from evaluating civil society-led action on food’. This seminar focused on her research to evaluate the impact and activity of several large programmes focused on food, led by civil society groups, including ‘Food for Life’ which works with schools and other public institutions to introduce a sustainable model for catering and food cultures.

Hannah currently leads evaluation of Food Power, a UK-wide programme supporting local alliances which collaborate to tackle the causes of food poverty. This type of research presents challenges and opportunities for both the academic and non-academic sides of the partnership. The seminar explored these, together with insight to some of the approaches which have proved successful in supporting civic groups to demonstrate and understand their impact.

Slides from Hannah’s seminar can be viewed on the Biosphere website.