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All-staff briefing: video available for 'Research on a platter'

13 April 2021

A video recording of Vice-Chancellor Robert Van de Noort's all-staff briefing on food research is now available.

The session, ‘Research on a platter', took place on Monday 12 April and featured Professor Carol Wagstaff, Head of the School of Chemistry Food & Pharmacy, Matt White, Director of Campus Commerce and Matt Tebbit, Head of Residential Catering and Bars. It focused on our food and health research, its impact on wider society and the environment and how it is influencing the food offered on campus to our colleagues and students.

In his opening remarks, the Vice-Chancellor drew attention to the reopening of several services on campus following the government's easing of lockdown restrictions in England - for the University, this includes the opening of catering outlets, gyms and retailers, which are explained in this recent staff portal story.  

Robert explained that the theme of the session was chosen as our research on food is closely aligned with our strategic principles, namely Excellence and Sustainability. While work continues to address the ongoing implications of COVID-19, it is important not to lose sight of other significant areas of work taking place within the University.

Moving on to presentations, Carol spoke about our food and health research and its impact on the environment and wider society. Among the interesting work covered, she highlighted some particularly innovative research examining how the nutritional and sensory quality of dairy products could be improved by altering a cow's diet (in our case, by using seaweed), as well as wider research on improving the overall nutritional quality of meat and produce.

She then handed over to Matthew and Matt, who explained how our food research is influencing the food we serve our colleagues and students through our campus outlets. They explained our commitment to the Menus of Change programme, which places nutrition at the heart of every meal, as well as plans for moving forward in terms of both everyday catering operations and academic research.  

You can also access the video directly on Microsoft Streams

 

The next all-staff briefing will take place on Tuesday 20 April at 15:00. All colleagues will be sent an Outlook Calendar invite ahead of the session. If you have any queries, please contact communications@reading.ac.uk.

Videos of recent all-staff sessions

Here are links to some of our other recent all-staff briefing sessions:

 

 

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