RACHEL HEADINGS

Rachel Headings joined TABLE in September 2024 as a postdoctoral researcher and writer. She has worked around food systems for almost a decade, with experience spanning local policy, civil society, non-profit, farming, retail, communications and campaigning. She completed her BA in public relations and sustainability at Northern Michigan University; MSc in food policy through the Centre for Food Policy at City University of London; and PhD in politics and environment at University of York. Her research has explored: school food policy, UK food system change, sustainable diet shift, policy paradigm shift, media narratives for food taxes, the ‘stories told’ by politicians about food, and how to effectively communicate food system evidence. Food systems, to her, are all about the connections and relationships they create between individuals, communities and the planet itself, so her research interests include: what are the ‘stories’ told about the food system by different actor groups and how do they compare; what are the levers to facilitate strategic and transformative system change, who decides whether or not change happens and who is served (or not served) by the outcomes of those changes.