A rapidly growing global population means we must produce more food than ever. Yet climate-caused shortages, little availability of agricultural land and rising sea levels pose significant challenges.
The Birmingham Food Network is an interdisciplinary team of academics working across supply, access, health, policy, sustainability and security to address the future of food. Bringing together experts in chemical engineering, public health, economics, biology, policy, sociology, gender and development studies, business management and other fields, the Network takes a holistic approach to tackling our global food challenge.
Our Members and Expertise
Chemical Engineering | Public Health | Business and Economics | Biology | Sociology | Policy
Teaching Fellow in Food Safety
Amir Anvarian is a food scientist with expertise in food microbiology and particular interests in microbial stress response in food systems, novel detection methods of foodborne microorganisms and minimal processing. He delivers a wide range of food safety-related lectures, mainly on food microbiology and chemical safety of foods, both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
In recent years, ...
- Telephone
- 0121 414 5291
- Email
- a.h.p.anvarian@bham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor (Lecturer)
Dr Taghi Miri is a Chemical Engineer with over 20 years of research experience. Dr Miri's has been involved with a number of different industries , including Marlow Food, CSM Bakery, Mondelez, P&G, Smithers Rapra. His research covers a range of topics, including:
- Plant-based food processing and safety
- Future food: process and safety challenges of food reformulation
- Novel Food ...
- Telephone
- +44 (0) 121 414 9175
- Email
- t.miri@bham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
Dr Helen Onyeaka is an industrial microbiologist with over 25 years of experience. Her career in microbiology to date has been varied with experience gained in industry as well as academia (both teaching and research).
Dr Onyeaka lectures and leads modules on various postgraduate and undergraduate courses in Food Microbiology, Food Safety and Chemical Engineering. She supervises PhD and MSc ...
- Telephone
- +44 (0) 121 414 5292
- Email
- h.onyeaka@bham.ac.uk
Associate Professor
Dr Xinfang Wang is Member of The Senate, and Group Leader of Resilient Systems for Energy and Cooling (ReSet Cool) in Birmingham Energy Institute. She is also the UK Energy Research Centre’s (UKERC) EDI champion and sits on the UKERC Research Committee, advising on its strategy and priorities of flexible fund.
Xinfang has published in top scientific journals and parliamentary POSTNotes in ...
- Email
- x.wang.10@bham.ac.uk
Professor of Chronic Disease Epidemiology & Public Health
Peymané is a public health physician and Professor of Chronic Disease Epidemiology & Public Health in the Institute of Applied Health, University of Birmingham. She is also Lead of the PHRESH consortium, part of the NIHR School for Public Health Research.
Her research interests are in chronic disease epidemiology and behavioural medicine. This includes a portfolio of work ...
- Telephone
- +44 (0)121 414 3777
- Email
- p.adab@bham.ac.uk
NIHR Research Professor
Professor of Health Economics
Emma’s research interests are in the Economics of Obesity and the use of health economics methods to generate evidence to support public health decision making. The application of these methods includes economic evaluation, econometric and decision-analytic modelling methods.
Emma leads The Centre for Economics of Obesity, a new Centre for using health economics to support ...
- Telephone
- +44 (0)7748141677
- Email
- e.frew@bham.ac.uk
Research Fellow
Lin’s research interests are in the economics of obesity; migration, vulnerability, and wellbeing; and the determinants of health-compromising behaviours.
Lin joined the Centre for Economics of Obesity led by Professor Emma Frew in December 2021. Her research focuses on transforming urban food systems funded by the UK Research and Innovation Mandala consortium programme.
- Email
- l.fu@bham.ac.uk
Research Fellow
Dr. Marie Murphy is Research Fellow and Research Coordinator for the PHRESH Public Health Intervention Rapid Studies Team (PHIRST). Marie’s research interests are centred around improving child and adolescent nutrition and addressing dietary inequalities and food insecurity through public health policy and intervention. Marie has led on studies evaluating school food policy in secondary ...
- Telephone
- +44 (0)121 415 8018
- Email
- m.murphy.3@bham.ac.uk
Professor of Child and Adolescent Public Health
Miranda’s research mainly focuses on the health of children and adolescents. She undertakes research in the areas of the epidemiology, prevention and management of overweight and obesity in children, school food provision and environments, and adolescent nutrition, mental wellbeing and physical activity. Her research seeks to improve health at an early stage of the life course to reduce ...
- Telephone
- +44 (0) 121 414 7990
- Email
- m.j.pallan@bham.ac.uk
Research Fellow
Irina joined the Health Economics Unit and the Centre for Economics of Obesity led by Professor Emma Frew in 2021. Irina’s research interests are in the field of economics of mental health and obesity, and the use of health economics methods to capture the complexity of public health interventions.
- Email
- i.pokhilenko@bham.ac.uk
Lecturer in Nutritional Sciences
Dr Catarina Rendeiro is a nutritional scientist with an interest in linking molecular, physiological, and cognitive outcomes in response to nutritional interventions. Her research interests include understanding the mechanisms by which plant-derived compounds (particularly flavonoids) and physical exercise can improve both peripheral vascular function and cerebrovascular brain health.
- Telephone
- +44(0)121 414 7242
- Email
- c.rendeiro@bham.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Business Economics
Liza joined the Business School in 2010. Previously she worked as a lecturer at the Manchester Business School and as a research fellow at the University of Nottingham. She is an external research fellow of the GEP centre and of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. Liza gained her PhD at the University of Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne. Her main research interest is applied international ...
- Telephone
- +44 (0) 121 414 8302
- Email
- l.jabbour@bham.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Political Economy
Paul is a Political Economist interested in examining and understanding key features of contemporary capitalism. He has an undergraduate background in the natural sciences and the philosophy of science, a post-graduate training in political science and international relations, and professional experience as a management consultant.
- Telephone
- 0121 414 8786
- Email
- lewispc@bham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor in Marketing and Innovation Management
Eric Shiu is an Asssistant Professor in in Marketing, particularly in innovation management within the Department of Marketing. He is involved in disciplines closely related to innovation management, including new product development, creativity theory and practice, technology management as well as knowledge management. He has also occasionally conducted research in other ...
- Telephone
- +44 (0)121 414 6529
- Email
- e.c.shiu@bham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor in Genetics and Bioinformatics
Associate Professor
Deputy Director of Research (Impact), School of Social Policy and Society
Birmingham Fellow
Dr Kayleigh Garthwaite is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology. She is also the Deputy Director of Research (Impact), School of Social Policy and Society.
Kayleigh’s research interests focus on poverty and inequality, social security, and stigma, specifically investigating charitable food provision and food insecurity. Her work is strongly ...
- Telephone
- +44 (0)121 414 5717
- Email
- k.garthwaite@bham.ac.uk
Research Fellow
Research Lead (Poverty, Precarity, Saving and Debt)
Özlem Ögtem-Young is a Research Fellow and Research Theme Lead (Poverty, Precarity, Savings and Debt) for the Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM) within the Department of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology, developing and undertaking research into issues of poverty, precarity and financial insecurity amongst socially and economically ...
- Email
- o.young@bham.ac.uk
Associate Professor in Technology and Society
Neil (he/him) is a sociologist and Science and Technology Studies scholar. A key focus has been innovation in biotechnology, and he has conducted research about the politics of stem cell science, mitochondrial donation, and cultured meat, among others.
Neil has conducted a diversity of public and policy engagement activities. This includes multiple appearances in newspapers and broadcasts across ...
- Email
- n.stephens@bham.ac.uk
Reader in Human Rights Law
Head of Planning and Strategy
Dr Ben Warwick’s research explores how economic factors affect human rights (and especially socio-economic rights). He is interested in the ways that laws and the institutions that enforce them change under such pressures. He is a specialist in international human rights, the United Nations human rights bodies, and human rights in various crisis contexts.
Ben is a lead quality assessor on ...
- Telephone
- 0121 414 6233
- Email
- b.t.warwick@bham.ac.uk
Food Security
At the Universtiy of Birmingham we believe that the policies and investments can effect significant change to our resilience, and provide meaningful contributions to our global collaborative effort on tackling climate change. Ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 28) our experts set out steps to address major global challenges in a series of policy briefs, you can read our national and global recommendations on Food Security here.