Sustainable Food Production: From the Local to the Global

 2-day Workshop, School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast

 Thursday 29th November 2018 at 10.30 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Friday 30th November at 9.00 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Join us for this two-day workshop to discuss the future of food production, with keynote speeches from Thomas Cottier, Professor Emeritus of European and International Economic Law at the University of Bern and former Managing Director of the World Trade Institute, and Vicki Hird, Sustainable Farming Campaign Coordinator, Sustain.

This interdisciplinary workshop comes at a time where food crises are ever-present, the impacts of climate change are being seen world-wide, and political upheavals are occurring locally and globally. Central to food production, attempts are being made to re-formulate agricultural policy across the levels, e.g. in the EU's CAP reforms and across the UK, including England's Agricultural Bill and NI's agricultural policy 'engagement'. However, there is a need to take a deeper look at food policies and consider what we are truly trying to achieve and whether this is possible at the local and national levels in a global context, and vice versa. In order to achieve this, collaboration and cooperation across disciplines and levels is necessary.

Consequently, the workshop will focus on three main themes: 1) Conflicting rights and policies; 2) Interconnected supply chains; and 3) Trade and environmental protection.

Confirmed speakers:

• Megan Blake, School of Geography, Sheffield University;
• Katrina Campbell, School of Biological Sciences & Institute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast;
• Thomas Cottier, Professor Emeritus of European and International Economic Law at the University of Bern and former Managing Director of the World Trade Institute (keynote);
• Honor Eldridge, Sustainable Food Trust;
• Tomaso Ferrando, School of Law, University of Bristol;
• Wayne Foord, School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work, Queen’s University Belfast;
• Miranda Geelhoed, Centre for Environmental Law and Governance, University of Strathclyde;
• Vicki Hird, Sustain (keynote);
• Ian Marshall, Institute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast; and ex-President of the Ulster Farmers Union;
• David Thomson, CEO Food and Drink Federation Scotland; and
  
• Marc Welsh, Departement of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University.
  

Registration is free but places are limited, so be sure to book early.

Please click here for the event flyer and full programme.

Queries can be sent to the workshop organisers, Dr Mary Dobbs (M.Dobbs@qub.ac.uk) or Dr Ludivine Petetin (PetetinL@cardiff.ac.uk). We (@mdobbs26; @aglawfoodie; @qubschooloflaw) will be tweeting with the hashtag #SustainableFoodQUB. Feel free to tweet/follow us on Twitter.

If you have any dietary requirements or need wheelchair access, please let us know when booking.

This workshop is generously supported by the AHSS Faculty Research Initiative Fund, QUB; School of Law, QUB; and the Centre for European and Transnational Studies, QUB.