John’s interests are in the conceptual framing of food systems; the interactions among the many actors involved and their varied activities, and the outcomes of their activities for food security, livelihoods and environment; and food system resilience.
John has designed and led regional food system research projects in Europe, South Asia, southern Africa and the Caribbean and has conceived, developed and led a range of major international research initiatives. He has had substantial interaction with FAO, UNEP and CGIAR and many other international organisations, with national departments and agencies, with NGOs, and with businesses in the food sector. In these interactions, he has helped to establish research on the links between food security and environment through the analysis of food systems. In addition to leading the food system research group within ECI, he also leads the multi-university post-graduate food systems training programme (IFSTAL) and coordinated the 2016-2021 £14.5m UK Global Food Security programme ‘Resilience of the UK Food System’. He is an Associate Professor and Senior Research Fellow at Somerville College Oxford.