Vice-Chancellor joins expert panel examining ways to zero hunger

Posted 17 October 2024

Harper Adams University Vice-Chancellor Professor Ken Sloan has joined a panel of experts invited by the Lord Mayor of London to discuss ways to zero hunger.

Professor Sloan was among the invitees to the Lord Mayor’s Coffee Colloquy on Zero Hunger – one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals – which was held at Mansion House in the capital on World Food Day yesterday.

The panel was put together by City Harvest, and included Judith Batchelar, an Honorary Degree recipient from Harper Adams, among its other panellists.

Further speakers included CEO of the Food and Drink Federation, Professor Karen Betts; Chief Executive of United Against Malnutrition and Hunger Jonny Oates; the MD of Rabobank, Renee Marias, and CEO of the Food Foundation, Anna Taylor.

In sort presentations, each speaker explored the challenge of how the world can work to end hunger and ensure access by all people - in particular, the poor and people in vulnerable situations - to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.

Speaking afterwards, Professor Sloan said: “Working towards a world in which no-one goes hungry benefits us all – imagine what inventions we may have never had if their inventor was too hungry to think.

“As a globally-connected University, working at the intersection of both our food and farming sectors, zero hunger is something which is at the heart of our mission as an institution.

“There is a keen focus on the UN’s Strategic Development Goals at the heart of the Harper Adams 2030 strategy, Together, We Make the Difference, and what I suggested at today’s event was that, across the globe, a basic nutritional entitlement is developed for everyone – and that this is underpinned by a food sustainability standard.

“Just as farmers are drawing upon increasingly endorsed approaches to sustainable and regenerative agriculture, we should see the same approach for food and for nutrition.

“I am aware, however, that no single answer can tackle the scourge of world hunger alone – indeed, there are too many in our own country who go hungry each night.

“A multiplicity of ideas is needed if we are to make progress – and that is why events like today’s, which draw on experiences and knowledge from across a range of different organisations, are so useful.

“I am very grateful to the Lord Mayor for inviting me to take part in today’s discussions.”