First held in 2016, the Conference showcases evidence on how law, regulation and policy addresses food system challenges such as food security, safety, and sustainability, equity and social justice in global food systems, malnutrition in all its forms, and diet-related disease. 

The Conference takes a broad, interdisciplinary approach, with the goal of highlighting the interrelationships between the main population and environmental health challenges facing the global food system in the 21st century, and to create new opportunities for collaboration between researchers, policymakers, and practitioners working in all aspects of food governance.

The theme for this year’s conference highlights the importance of evidence-informed policy making and regulatory reform, while also bringing attention to the challenges of translating research into solutions and implementation, generating political momentum for change, and evolving food governance to address critical economic, climate, health, and social justice crises.

The organisers welcome abstract submissions on the following topics, with an emphasis on their relevance to food governance:

• Climate change, planetary health, and food system sustainability
• Food security, malnutrition in all its forms, and diet-related health
• Shifting the political economy of food systems and critiquing existing solutions
• International and domestic human rights law, and the right to food
• The impact of new technologies and digitisation on food systems
• Indigenous food sovereignty and power and inclusion in food systems governance
• The commercial determinants of health
• Multisectoral and participatory approaches to food governance
• Food safety, agriculture, and supply chain governance
• Embedding evidence in policy tools and government decision cycles

Opening public lecture

Professor Jennifer Clapp, Canada Research Chair, University of Waterloo

Corporate power in food systems: Is their party over or is it just getting started?

In this talk, Jennifer Clapp asks whether recent disruptions to the liberal international economic order will finally give governments a chance to rein in excessive corporate influence in agrifood governance or whether it opens the door to even more corporate sway in food system decision-making. She provides an overview of creeping corporate influence in global food system governance in recent decades, maps out potential future scenarios, and makes the case for the kinds of policy measures needed to rebalance food systems governance to prioritise the public good rather than private profits.  

Conference fees

• Early bird: $345
• Full fee: $380
• Full single day: $220
• Discounted full conference fee for students, civil society members, unwaged, and academics/researchers based in low- and middle-income countries: $200
• Fee for remote presenters: $50