Fixing the food system is central to tackling the world's climate, biodiversity, water and human health crisis
The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 – The journey so far and our pathway forward
The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 - The journey so far and our pathway forward
Professor Mary Brennan
Date: Wednesday 7 May 2025, 16:00
Location: Oxford Martin School, seminar room 1 or online
Join us for a talk by Professor Mary Brennan, from the University of Edinburgh, on the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022.
Title: The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022 - The journey so far and our pathway forward
Abstract: Building on growing global and local calls for food system transformation, years of policy and legislative consultation (2009-2022), stubbornly poor Scottish public health and environmental outcomes, and a very vocal civil society community, the Scottish Parliament unanimously passed transformational food systems legislation in June 2022. The Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act is a legislative framework designed to foster a healthier, fairer and more sustainable Scottish food system for all. It places, for the first time, statutory responsibilities on the Scottish Government and specified relevant authorities (32 local authorities and 14 territorial Health Boards) to develop, consult on, and implement a National and set of 46 Local Good Food Nation Plans. Each plan will then be reviewed, and revised, on a 2- and 5-year schedule respectively, with provision made for the establishment of a new independent statutory Scottish Food Commission to oversee, monitor and make formal recommendations relevant to the Good Food Nation Plans (and the wider Good Food Nation journey). With Wellcome Trust funding through their 'Advancing climate mitigation solutions with health co-benefits in G7 countries' programme, we have set up a Living Good Food Nation Lab to foster and empower the strong, critically informed community of practice for food systems transformation in Scotland, provide essential analytical support to Scottish Local Authorities and Health Boards with their 1st Local Good Food Nation Plans, and undertake research into the enablers and ways of working needed to bring the Good Food Nation vision to life. In this seminar, I critique the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act, outline the current state of play, bring to life the emerging analytical, policy and engagement insights from our lab and flesh out unresolved concerns and tensions which may impact the transformational potential of this innovative legislative framework.
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Professor Mary Brennan completed her Bachelor of (Agricultural and Food) Engineering (BE) degree at University College Dublin (Ireland) in 1998, her MSc. in International Agricultural and Food Marketing from Newcastle University (UK) in 1999, and her PhD (by published work) from Newcastle University (UK) in 2011. Since September 1999, Mary has worked at Newcastle University (1999-2013) and the University of Edinburgh (2013-current) where she is currently Dean of Education for the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and PI on the Wellcome Trust funded "Living Good Food Nation Lab" project.
Mary adopts an interdisciplinary, systems-based approach in her research drawing on, and working with, different disciplines to investigate complex food policy challenges in order to explore the complex, dynamic, unpredictable and often unstable relationships people have with food, how these shape everyday food practices, underpin contemporary food policy challenges and which are considered by many to be very resistant to change. She also explores the concept of food systems transformation with specific focus on public food. She has worked on multiple projects funded by external bodies including the European Union, the UK Economic and Social Research Council, UK Food Standards Agency, and the Wellcome Trust.
Mary co-covenes FRIED, the Food Researchers in Edinburgh Network, and chairs the Scottish Food Coalition (SFC) - a coalition of over 50 civil society organisations who have come together over the last decade to advocate for a fairer, healthier, more sustainable Scottish food system. She led the coalitions recent work campaigning for new legislation in Scotland entitled the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act. Building on this work, and the close partnerships developed, Mary is now leading a new Wellcome Trust-funded "Living Good Food Nation Lab", a project designed to support, pump prime and critique the implementation of the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act.
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