BU Research Blog

On 16-17 September 2024, FoodMapp members met for the project mid-term meeting at the Institut Lyfe, Château du Vivier, Ecully, France. From Bournemouth University, Prof. Jeff Bray, Prof. Juliet Memery, Prof. Katherine Appleton, and Dr. Roberta Discetti attended the meeting.

Representatives of all project partners were present, including: Universiteit Gent (UGent) Ghent, Belgium; Centre de Recherche de L’Institut Paul Bocuse (IPBR), Écully , France; Ronge & P artner G mb H (RP), Baden, Austria; Centre de Recerca en Economia i Desenvolupament Agroalimentari-UPC-IRTA (CREDA), Barcelona, Spain; Eötvös Loránd Tudományegyetem (ELTE), Budapest , Hungary; and University of Zagreb Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (UZ), Zagreb, Croatia.

The Marie-Curie Staff Exchanges project representative at the European Commission, Dr Gianluca Colucci, attended the meeting online. Dr Colucci chaired the afternoon session, where project secondees had the opportunity to share their secondment experiences. All participants highlighted the positive impact Foodmapp secondments had on their personal and professional lives.

Foodmapp is currently in its month 19th, at 40% of completion, with further 29 months to go (60%). Project members have conducted 37 research secondments so far, equalling over 30% of the total of intersectoral and interdisciplinary exchanges among project partners. The project has already produced 8 research outputs between research papers and conference presentations.

Work Package 1 on stakeholder requirements and consumer preferences for the development of the application has been completed. Activites on Work Package 2 (Information Engineering and Architecture Design) and Work package 3 (User Interface Development) are underway.

FoodMAPP is a European research project that will enable consumers to find and buy local food supplies, reducing waste and supporting sustainable purchases. It will develop a searchable map-based platform that will enable consumers to search and buy food products directly from local suppliers.

The four-year project has been awarded €584,200 from Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, alongside additional funding from UKRI to support BU’s continued inclusion.