Tagged / FoodMAPP

Connecting Research with Practice: FoodMAPP Secondment in Austria and France

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Our Bournemouth University team visited Baden, Austria, for a secondment with Ronge & Partner — Austria’s leading large-scale kitchen consulting firm. This was part of the EU-funded FoodMAPP project and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Staff Exchange, which connects research with industry.

In Austria,  Professor Melanie Klinkner (International Law), Professor Jeff Bray (Consumer Behaviour), Dr Quyhn Nguyen (Hospitality Management), and myself, Dr Guljira Manimont (Food Marketing and Advertising) discussed with Ronge & Partner to explore how food service practices can better support local sourcing. These discussions are shaping FoodMAPP’s interactive platform, which connects consumers with local producers to reduce waste and enhance traceability.

After this visit, Dr Quynh Nguyen and myself, Dr Guljira Manimont continued to Lyon, France, where we visited Institut Lyfe — a leading centre for hospitality, food service, and culinary arts education. Welcomed by Dr Maxime Michaud, Head of the Social Sciences team, and Calixte Engelberg, we toured the campus and explored how research can be integrated into hospitality training and industry practice.

FoodMAPP is developing an interactive, map-based platform designed to connect consumers with locally produced food. This tool aims to reduce food waste, promote regional food economies, and improve food traceability. The secondment with Ronge & Partner, for example, provided us with valuable insights into the operational realities of the food service and kitchen design sector — a critical link between food producers and consumers.

The MSCA Staff Exchange programme has played a vital role in making this kind of exchange possible. It allows researchers to step outside the academic environment, test ideas in real-world settings, and build partnerships that help ensure our work delivers real, tangible impact.

As food marketing researchers (doing what we arguably do best), we took the chance to experience Austria’s food culture firsthand by visiting traditional Heurigen — small, family-run wine taverns known for their local wines, breads, cured meats, and fresh produce.

In Lyon, we focused on the city’s bakeries, sampling artisan breads that showcase the region’s strong food heritage. These moments brought home the real value of local and transparent food systems, which lie at the heart of FoodMAPP’s mission.

PS: Having spent four weeks based in these foodie spots, I compiled a list of favourite spots to eat and drink. If you’re ever in Vienna or Lyon, feel free to get in touch—I’d be happy to share it! 🙂

BU FoodMAPP reseachers host partner secondment from Institut Lyfe, Lyon

Awarded & submitted bids

As part of the ongoing EU-funded research project FoodMAPP, in July 2023, BU researchers hosted its second partner exchange, welcoming Dr Maxime Michaud from Institut Lyfe, Lyon, France.

At the beginning of his secondment, Dr Michaud delivered a presentation to members of the FoodMAPP research team, Centre for Sustainable & Socially Responsible Consumption members, and the Consumer Insights Research Theme in BUBS, outlining his current research projects in the field of food sustainability at the Institut Lyfe.

         

Dr Michaud has a background in social anthropology, and his current research interests focus on the socio-cultural dimensions of food transitions, including the acceptability of dietary changes (individual behaviours and collective cultures) and food social links (commensality, shared kitchen, and collective action). He is currently coordinating several French-based and EU-based research projects on promoting plant-based diets by understanding socio-cultural barriers and levers.

The Institut Lyfe (previously Institut Paul Bocuse) is a management school for the culinary arts, hotels and restaurants, created in 1990 in Ecully (Lyon, France). Its key research themes encompass social sciences, cognitive sciences, and nutrition sciences approaches to studying food, focusing on ‘culture and food transitions’, ‘food perception and cognition, and ‘food nutrition and health’.

This collaboration is part of FoodMAPP, an MSCA Staff Exchange project based on international, inter-sectoral, and interdisciplinary collaboration between academic and non-academic partners. FoodMAPP is developing a searchable map-based platform to enable consumers to find and buy local food supplies, reduce food waste and support sustainable food choices.

FoodMAPP in the UK is 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, Dr Suellen Carls and Dr Vegard Engen.

 

BU Hosts First Secondee for EU funded Project FoodMAPP

Awarded & submitted bids

For the past month BU researchers from the EU funded research project FoodMAPP have been hosting their first secondee Andreas Purin from Ronge & Partner, Austria. FoodMAPP – an MSCA Staff Exchange project – involves organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors working together through international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility (secondments) on the implementation of a specific project. FoodMAPP is developing a searchable map-based platform to enable consumers to find and buy local food supplies, so reducing food waste and supporting sustainable purchases.

Andreas Purin started his secondment with a presentation to members of the research team, Centre for Sustainable & Socially Responsible Consumption members, and the Consumer Insights Research Theme in BUBS that introduced both himself and Ronge & Partner where he is currently a Senior Consultant. Highlights of this included discussion of his bachelor’s thesis which focused on the product development and production of fresh convenience meals, within the context of sustainability, from both the consumer’s perspective, and the perspective of experts. The relevance of this was shown through Andreas’ career as he went on to establish a food production line for convenience meals in a large food retail company and served as its managing director for almost twenty years. Additionally, Andreas talked through his career path that included being a trained chef and working in top gastronomy roles.

During his secondment Andreas not only worked on FoodMAPP developing project communications and providing the industry perspective, but networked and shared knowledge with many members of BUBS. In his downtime he enjoyed exploring the Dorset coastline and the New Forest, taking part in activities such as paddle-boarding, tennis and pedal car racing, as well as sampling the local food and drink.

BU will host its second secondee from the FoodMAPP project – Dr Maxime Michaud, Institut Paul Bocuse, France – in early July 2023.

FoodMAPP in the UK is 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, Dr Suellen Carls and Dr Vegard Engen.

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).