Reader/Professor of Sustainable Food And Nutrition Systems

Research Strategy

Location: Guildford

Salary:   £62,727 to £66,536

Post Type: Full Time

Reference: 025121

The Centre for Environment & Sustainability and the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Surrey seek to make a joint appointment for a Reader/Professor of Sustainable Food and Nutrition Systems. We are actively seeking a top academic who takes a holistic, systems approach to the challenge of developing sustainable food systems that meet human nutrient requirements and provide dietary patterns for good health that are socially and ethically acceptable to consumers and society. The new role has been created as part of the University’s ambition to create an Institute for Sustainability and to establish formal collaboration between the Department of Nutritional Sciences and the Centre for Environment & Sustainability (CES), with key collaborations across the many departments at the University with expertise and interest in food systems. 

The University of Surrey was awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2017/18 in recognition of its excellence in the field of food and nutrition. Academics within the Department of Nutritional Sciences lead internationally renowned research spanning metabolic health, diabetes, bone health, micronutrients, public health, genetics and molecular nutrition.  CES is an internationally-acclaimed interdisciplinary centre of excellence on sustainable development, which enjoys an outstanding reputation for the quality of its research, teaching and student employability.  Established in 1992, CES advises and influences policy-makers and civil society in striving to meet the challenges of living sustainably, responsibly and well.

The University of Surrey recognises the importance of multi-disciplinary research and is looking for someone who is interested in combining the areas of food sustainability with food and nutrition security. The University is keen to invite applications from all possible disciplinary backgrounds, including natural, physical and social sciences. Whichever discipline the successful candidate is drawn from, a key attribute will be an ability to evidence inter-disciplinarity across a range of approaches to promoting sustainability within food systems.

This appointment will complement and strengthen Surrey’s expertise in human nutrition research and environmental and social sustainability, employing systems analysis techniques such as environmental and social life cycle assessment, multi-criteria decision analysis, stochastic optimisation, global supply chain analysis, and/or general equilibrium simulation to define new strategies to develop sustainable and nutritious food production, supply, purchase and consumption. It will also build on the multi-disciplinary approach of the University of Surrey which gives due prominence to social sciences as well as technology, and multi-sectoral approaches and sectoral crossovers, such as the energy-water-food nexus.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate an outstanding track record of research and publication at national and international level which has made a significant contribution to advancing knowledge, and strong evidence of leading successful research proposals and securing significant funding. The appointee will contribute to teaching at all levels in nutritional sciences and sustainability, including the development of a new undergraduate degree in sustainability.

 For informal enquiries, please contact Professor Angela Druckman, Director of the Centre for Environment & Sustainability, a.druckman@surrey.ac.uk and/or Professor Susan Lanham-New, Head of the Department of Nutritional Sciences, s.lanham-new@surrey.ac.uk

Closing Date: Sunday 13 June 2021