The Importance of Citizen Scientists in the Move Towards Sustainable Diets and a Sustainable Food System
To enhance sustainability, the food system requires significant shifts in the production, processing and supply of food. Ideally, a sustainable food system should operate, not only to protect the biosphere, but also to provide nutritious, high-quality food, and to support social values, an equitable...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.596594/full |
| _version_ | 1818908214223175680 |
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| author | Libby Oakden Gemma Bridge Beth Armstrong Christian Reynolds Christian Reynolds Changqiong Wang Luca Panzone Ximena Schmidt Rivera Astrid Kause Charles Ffoulkes Coleman Krawczyk Grant Miller Stephen Serjeant Stephen Serjeant |
| author_facet | Libby Oakden Gemma Bridge Beth Armstrong Christian Reynolds Christian Reynolds Changqiong Wang Luca Panzone Ximena Schmidt Rivera Astrid Kause Charles Ffoulkes Coleman Krawczyk Grant Miller Stephen Serjeant Stephen Serjeant |
| author_sort | Libby Oakden |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To enhance sustainability, the food system requires significant shifts in the production, processing and supply of food. Ideally, a sustainable food system should operate, not only to protect the biosphere, but also to provide nutritious, high-quality food, and to support social values, an equitable economy, and human and animal health. It should also be governed responsibly within a supportive policy environment. Implementing these shifts is a task of immense scale; but citizen participation/engagement has the potential to help make sustainability a reality through distributed learning, dynamic sensing, and knowledge generation. Technological advancements in sensing and data processing have enabled new forms of citizen participation in research. When food system research is embedded within society it can help us to understand which changes towards sustainability work and which do not. Indeed, citizen engagement in food systems research has the potential to help bring citizens on side, supporting the growth of a food culture of resilience and of sustainable practises (including dietary change). This commentary provides examples of how existing research and alternative food production systems and agroecological practises may provide possible frameworks for citizen participation in food system studies. We highlight potential future food and citizen science approaches. Widening citizen participation and encouraging the involvement of other food system actors, including those in local, national and international governance, is essential to capture the full potential of citizen science in enabling transition to a sustainable food system. For the research community citizen science offers engagement and empowerment of wider communities with science; collecting and analysing data; and creating viable solutions to food system and diet issues. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T22:07:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7defc290d03b48d58e9fdfe0057a4333 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2571-581X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T22:07:27Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems |
| spelling | doaj.art-7defc290d03b48d58e9fdfe0057a43332022-12-21T20:04:00ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems2571-581X2021-09-01510.3389/fsufs.2021.596594596594The Importance of Citizen Scientists in the Move Towards Sustainable Diets and a Sustainable Food SystemLibby Oakden0Gemma Bridge1Beth Armstrong2Christian Reynolds3Christian Reynolds4Changqiong Wang5Luca Panzone6Ximena Schmidt Rivera7Astrid Kause8Charles Ffoulkes9Coleman Krawczyk10Grant Miller11Stephen Serjeant12Stephen Serjeant13Independent Researcher, London, United KingdomLeeds Business School, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United KingdomDepartment of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United KingdomDepartment of Geography, Faculty of Social Sciences, The University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United KingdomCenter for Food Policy, University of London, London, United KingdomWolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and The London School of Medicine & Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United KingdomApplied Economics and Social Science, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Agriculture Building, King's Road, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United KingdomEquitable Development and Resilience Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Energy Futures, College of Engineering, Design and Physical Sciences, Brunel University London, Uxbridge, United KingdomCentre for Decision Research & Priestley International Centre for Climate, University of Leeds, Leeds, United KingdomRSK ADAS Ltd, Abingdon, United Kingdom0Institute of Cosmology & Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, United Kingdom1Zooniverse, Oxford, United Kingdom2School of Physical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom3Department of Physics, Oxford University, Oxford, United KingdomTo enhance sustainability, the food system requires significant shifts in the production, processing and supply of food. Ideally, a sustainable food system should operate, not only to protect the biosphere, but also to provide nutritious, high-quality food, and to support social values, an equitable economy, and human and animal health. It should also be governed responsibly within a supportive policy environment. Implementing these shifts is a task of immense scale; but citizen participation/engagement has the potential to help make sustainability a reality through distributed learning, dynamic sensing, and knowledge generation. Technological advancements in sensing and data processing have enabled new forms of citizen participation in research. When food system research is embedded within society it can help us to understand which changes towards sustainability work and which do not. Indeed, citizen engagement in food systems research has the potential to help bring citizens on side, supporting the growth of a food culture of resilience and of sustainable practises (including dietary change). This commentary provides examples of how existing research and alternative food production systems and agroecological practises may provide possible frameworks for citizen participation in food system studies. We highlight potential future food and citizen science approaches. Widening citizen participation and encouraging the involvement of other food system actors, including those in local, national and international governance, is essential to capture the full potential of citizen science in enabling transition to a sustainable food system. For the research community citizen science offers engagement and empowerment of wider communities with science; collecting and analysing data; and creating viable solutions to food system and diet issues.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.596594/fullcitizen scienceparticipatory researchfood systemssustainable dietsco-developmentwidening participation |
| spellingShingle | Libby Oakden Gemma Bridge Beth Armstrong Christian Reynolds Christian Reynolds Changqiong Wang Luca Panzone Ximena Schmidt Rivera Astrid Kause Charles Ffoulkes Coleman Krawczyk Grant Miller Stephen Serjeant Stephen Serjeant The Importance of Citizen Scientists in the Move Towards Sustainable Diets and a Sustainable Food System Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems citizen science participatory research food systems sustainable diets co-development widening participation |
| title | The Importance of Citizen Scientists in the Move Towards Sustainable Diets and a Sustainable Food System |
| title_full | The Importance of Citizen Scientists in the Move Towards Sustainable Diets and a Sustainable Food System |
| title_fullStr | The Importance of Citizen Scientists in the Move Towards Sustainable Diets and a Sustainable Food System |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Importance of Citizen Scientists in the Move Towards Sustainable Diets and a Sustainable Food System |
| title_short | The Importance of Citizen Scientists in the Move Towards Sustainable Diets and a Sustainable Food System |
| title_sort | importance of citizen scientists in the move towards sustainable diets and a sustainable food system |
| topic | citizen science participatory research food systems sustainable diets co-development widening participation |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.596594/full |
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