Tagged / food waste

BU Marketing Researcher Awarded COMFOCUS Research Fellowship: Embarking on Food Neuroscience Marketing Research Journey in Slovakia

Awarded & submitted bids

Greetings, Wonderful Readers!

I am absolutely thrilled to share some fantastic news about my upcoming career journey. I have been awarded the opportunity to become a COMFOCUS fellow, a part of the Communities on Food Consumer Science program funded by Horizon EU 2020. This is a huge milestone for me as an ECR and an exciting step into the world of food consumer science.

The exciting research visit:
Between January and June 2024, I will be jetting off to the Laboratory of Consumer Studies (LCS) at the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra, Slovakia, for a three-week research adventure. I will be collaborating with brilliant minds in Slovakia, diving into cutting-edge academic pursuits, and researching the fascinating world of consumer behaviour and unconventional food products. It is going to be a transformative experience, and I can hardly wait!

What’s the new project about?
I am bubbling with excitement about my project! While I cannot reveal all the details just yet, I can tell you It is a delightful blend of my background in design and marketing communication, focusing on food visuals. What makes this journey even more thrilling is the integration of cutting-edge technologies, particularly Electroencephalogram (EEG) technology, into my research. This innovative approach opens doors to understanding the emotional and cognitive aspects of consumer decisions, offering invaluable insights into the world of unconventional food products.

About COMFOCUS:
Let me introduce you to COMFOCUS! It is all about building a community of future food consumer scientists. One empty box that I always wanted to tick off was the opportunity to work with international collaborators, but the chance never seemed to come my way. I kept my radar searching for such an opportunity. It finally happened when I attended the International Food Marketing Conference in Prague earlier in June, as mentioned in my previous blog post. During the conference, I learned that COMFOCUS was about to launch a visiting research fellowship call. Inspired, I developed my research proposal right there, outlining the emerging technologies and  psychophysiological measures I wanted to use. And now, I got it 🙂

So, with COMFOCUS, there are 60 of us (ECRs) from 28 countries (with 2 from the UK) gearing up for a thrilling journey across 9 different institutes in Europe. We are utilising emerging technologies to decode the mysteries of consumer behaviour and understand the stories behind our food choices. I am incredibly honoured to represent Bournemouth University in this solo venture, and I cannot wait to share my discoveries with you!

 

The adventure is just beginning, and I am grateful for your support that got me here and excited to have you join my discovery journey 🙂 

 

European research project to promote local food purchasing and reduce food waste

A new European research project will enable consumers to find and buy local food supplies, reducing waste and supporting sustainable purchases.

FoodMAPP logoThe FoodMAPP project – being led in the UK by Bournemouth University (BU) – will develop a searchable map-based platform that will enable consumers to search and buy food products directly from local suppliers.

Currently within Europe food is transported, on average, 171km from farm to fork. 26 per cent of global carbon emissions come from food and large volumes of food are wasted.

The FoodMAPP project aims to address these challenges by enabling consumers to identify and purchase local sources of food in real time to shorten supply chains and reduce food waste, while also providing additional sustainable income to food producers and providers.

A consortium of European partners, comprising academic partners in Croatia, Hungary, Spain and Belgium and industry partners in France & Austria will support the project.

BU’s involvement in FoodMAPP will be led by Associate Professor Jeff Bray and supported by an interdisciplinary research team from across the university including Professor Katherine Appleton, Professor Juliet Memery, Dr Roberta Discetti and Dr Vegard Engen.

Dr Bray said: “Our current food supply system is not sustainable both in terms of its ability to reliably provide the right nutrition for a growing world population and in terms of the environmental footprint of current practices.”

“The project aims to transform local food supply reducing food miles, reducing food waste and increasing localised food supply resilience.”

The FoodMAPP project team gathered outside a building

The FoodMAPP project team

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

The European coordinator is Associate Professor Vinko Lešić from Zagreb University (Croatia) and partners include Ghent University (Belgium), Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary) and CREDA (Centre for agro-food economics and development, Spain) alongside partners from the food industry – Institute Paul Bocuse (France) and Ronge & Partner (Austria).