We deliver multidisciplinary research at the interface of science, society and business. Food and agriculture are embedded in broader social, environmental and economic systems and innovative solutions for our agrifood systems must align with the aspirations of society and business more broadly to succeed.
We bring a social scientific lens to the complex systems of agriculture, food, economy, environment and society, researching food security, waste, governance, and technologies and processes for sustainable food systems.
Leadership team
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Professor Carol Richards
Deputy Program Leader (Sustainable Agrifood Systems) and Professor, Faculty of Business & Law
Our people
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Professor Carol Richards
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Professor Paul Corry
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Associate Professor Bree Hurst
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Associate Professor Hope Johnson
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Chris Lehnert
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Dr Ayesha Tulloch
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Dr Rudolf Messner
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Zahrasadat Mirsafi
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Adjunct Associate Professor Marguerite Renouf
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Dr Johannes Friedl
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Dr Shoufeng Cao
Real-world innovation
Through the collaborative expertise of social and natural sciences, we deliver robust research across the entire agrifood system, tackling environmental sustainability, food waste and food insecurity in the following key areas:
- Sustainable and resilient food systems
- Food waste
- Food insecurity
- Food system governance
- New and emerging food paradigms
- Community engagement
- Social licence to operate
Systems approach
By taking a broad systems approach, we acknowledge that the relationship between problems and their causes is not always direct or obvious, and that we need to understand the interplay between various elements of the system to facilitate success. A systems approach also allows us to consider unintended outcomes, feedback loops, and leverage points, and importantly, take a multidisciplinary approach to solving problems:
- Why are farmers not adopting new technologies?
- How can regulation be improved to reduce food waste?
- Why and how are trading practices contributing to food waste?
- How can farmers be more resilient in the face of food shocks?
- How can regulation hinder or support the development of a new initiative?
- How can we ensure we have community or business support?
- How can we best engage with stakeholders across the various ‘parts’ of the economy?
- What are the social impacts (positive, negative, unintended, or intended) and how do we foster/mitigate these?
With an increasing expectation from funders around demonstrating impact, there are ample opportunities to partner with researchers from the Agrifood Systems Program on large scale projects to provide value-added, multidisciplinary perspectives.
