Exeter researchers visit the Chinese University of Hong Kong to discuss food security

At the end of June 2018, Dr Catherine Caine and Josh Martin from the Law School and Dr Annalisa Marini from the Business School at the University of Exeter visited a team of academics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) to discuss how changing dietary habits in China and the UK can impact on food security and climate change in the two countries.

The research trip was funded by an initiator grant from the recently founded research centre, the CUHK-University of Exeter Joint Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Resilience (ENSURE). As the first joint centre of its kind in Hong Kong, ENSURE was founded with the aim of embarking on large, impactful interdisciplinary collaborations to tackle emerging issues related to a changing environment and human health and wellbeing.

The recent visit from Exeter researchers to CUHK provided a positive first step towards collaborative research on the way in which changing dietary habits can impact upon sustainable agriculture and climate change.

The interdisciplinary research team consisted of academics with a range of specialisms including biology, biostatistics, engineering sciences, occupational and environmental health, policy, economics, and law.

Regarding the visit, Dr Catherine Caine, Lecturer in Law from the University of Exeter said, “the Initiator Grant awarded by ENSURE has provided an excellent opportunity for collaboration between the University of Exeter and CUHK in the highly significant global topic of food security. It’s fantastic to be part of an interdisciplinary team who are all so passionate about this research, and I’m looking forward to working with the group going forward”.