LEAP conference 2026

Date posted: 17 September 2025

We are excited to announce that the LEAP conference will be taking place on Wednesday 22 April 2026 at Worcester College, Oxford.

Coming back for it's 8th year, LEAP will once again welcome researchers working on aspects of meat and dairy production and consumption to consider its effects on population health, the economy, society and the environment. The LEAP conference aims to build a community of researchers in this field to share evidence and tools to inform action.

Current worldwide food consumption practices are unsustainable. In particular, the food system is responsible for more than a quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions. This food system is also having adverse effects on both planetary and human health.

The LEAP conference is an interdisciplinary event and we welcome researchers from multiple disciplines and approaches, as well as those at different career stages.

The LEAP conference is sponsored by the Oxford Martin programme on the Future of Food.

Keynote speakers

The keynote speakers for 2026 will be Sue Pritchard, from the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission, and Professor Martin White MD FFPH, Professor of Population Health Research, MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge.

A white woman leans over a farm gate. She has bobbed blonde hair and wears a dark blue v-neck jersey. Behind her is a green field and blue sky with clouds.

Sue Pritchard is the Chief Executive of the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. She leads the organisation in its mission to bring people together to act on the climate, nature and health crises, through fairer and more sustainable food systems, and a just transition for rural communities and the countryside.

Sue's background is in combined research and practice in leadership and organisation development for systems change, working with leaders across public, private and not for profit organisations, especially on complex partnership projects.

She is a Trustee of CoFarm Foundation, is an independent Governor at Royal Agricultural University, a Trustee of St George's House Trust, Windsor, and a member of the government's Net Zero Council.

Living on an organic farm in Wales, Sue and her family raise livestock and farm for conservation.

The call for papers will open in early 2026.

A white man is looking beyond the camera to an audience, his mouth open in speech. He has very short dark hair and wears glasses. He is dressed in a blue shirt and darker blue blazer.

Martin White is an interdisciplinary scientist who leads research on food systems and public health, and has a particular interest in evaluation of population health interventions to improve diet and health. He led the NIHR funded evaluation of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy and currently leads two UKRI interdisciplinary consortia on food system transformation: Mandala Consortium and SALIENT.

Martin trained in medicine at the University of Birmingham, from which he was also awarded an MD for research on the population impact of the food retail environment. He undertook public health specialist training, gaining his MSc from Newcastle University, and Membership and Fellowship of the Faculty of Public Health. Martin was a lecturer, senior lecturer and professor of Public Health at Newcastle University from 1990 to 2014. He is presently co-lead of the Population Health Interventions programme and Professor of Population Health Research in the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge.

From 2012-2014, Martin was President of the UK Society for Social Medicine and from 2017-2018, President of the UK Society for Behavioural Medicine. He was Director of NIHR's Public Health Research Programme from 2014 to 2020. In 2019-2020 he was a specialist advisor to the House of Lords Committee on Food, Poverty, Health and Environment and in 2024 the House of Lords Committee on Food, Diet and Obesity. He advised the DEFRA-led National Food Strategy team in 2021-2022, providing expert advice on fiscal policy. He has been an expert advisor at the Food Foundation since 2016.