Food for Thought: Food insecurity in Northern Ireland and the development of a novel risk index

Dr Sinéad Furey provided context on the food insecurity crisis within Northern Ireland and what steps are being taken to monitor food insecurity across the country. Aimee Russell exhibited the processes and progress of her PhD project which spatially analyses food insecurity across Northern Ireland whilst creating a novel tool to aid the analyses.

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Aimee Russell is a second-year multi-disciplinary PhD researcher at Ulster University working across food and biomedical sciences at the NI Centre for Food and Health (NICHE) and Geography Environmental Sciences. Her work is focused on creating a food insecurity risk index using geographical information systems. Aimee studied Geography with Psychology at Ulster University also before undertaking her doctorate. Her research interests align with investigating deprivation in Northern Ireland and the impacts it may have on mental and physical wellbeing and health.

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Dr Sinéad Furey is a Senior lecturer on the Food Business and Innovation undergraduate degree programme in Ulster University Business School, lecturing on food and consumer policy and legislation including active citizenship and sustainability. Her research interests are food insecurity and food policy. She worked previously on food and water policy at the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland (NI). At the Education and Training Inspectorate she was a Nutritional Associate, encouraging healthy eating policies and practices via a whole-school approach. At the Food Standards Agency in Northern Ireland, she worked on food poverty, nutrition surveillance and developing the dietary health evidence base in NI.

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#foodsecurity #northernireland