Transforming urban food systems for planetary and population health

The Mandala Consortium, will focus on transforming urban food systems for planetary and population health.

Centred on the city of Birmingham, the Mandala consortium is led by Prof Martin White, Professor of Population Health Research in the MRC Epidemiology Unit. The consortium brings together internationally renowned teams from the Universities of Cambridge, Birmingham, Warwick, Exeter, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The research is being funded through the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Strategic Priorities Fund (SPF), and is part of the £47.5M Transforming the UK Food System for Healthy People and a Healthy Environment SPF programme.

Project aims

The Mandala Consortium aims to transform the urban food system and its relationship with its regional economy in the West Midlands. Mapping of the local food system will determine the most powerful levers for system change. These are likely to include new ways of procuring healthier and more sustainable foods in the public sector, and developing online systems to help businesses find and use more locally grown food. Interventions will be evaluated to demonstrate how food can be made healthier, more affordable and less harmful to the environment, but still profitable.

• Find out more at www.mandala-consortium.org
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• Follow a Twitter list of Mandala members.

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Data sharing

The MRC Epidemiology Unit is committed to sharing data to maximise the value of our work for the public good. Please see our Data Sharing pages for more information.