The Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology (LIAT) is pleased to announce that Professor Louise Manning will soon be joining the University of Lincoln as Professor of Sustainable Agri-Food Systems.

Louise joins us from the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester and has more than 35 years’ experience of working within the Food Industry.

Prior to being an academic she ran her own consultancy, offering professional advice and guidance to regulators, food and farming businesses. Louise is also involved in the family farming business, a livestock farm in Herefordshire.

Although Louise is interested in all things related to food, her passion is food sustainability. Looking at all parts of the food supply chain, from field to fork, seeing where changes can be made such as how waste can be reduced, food safety can be assured, and actions can be taken that results in affordable food are all essential aspects of a secure, safe and resilient food supply chain.

Louise believes that effective communications should be at the heart of all aspects of the food industry, enabling both producers and consumers to make informed choices as they seek to meet the range of challenges from providing healthy food options for the family through to how to playing their part in improving sustainability in food supply chains. Smart-technology has a greater role to play within the food industry, in supporting safe food, waste reduction and informed choice with innovations such as phone applications and QR codes providing a way for customers to find out everything they need to know about food products in shops, or when they buy online.

Professor Louise Manning said:

“I’m passionate about all things food and will bring that passion along with a lifetime of experience to my new role at the University of Lincoln.

“I want to encourage businesses and students to visualise the social side of the food supply chain as well as the production and the technical. The culture in which we produce, manufacture and sell food is so important.  I want to see how we can look at opportunities with technology, and how we can share information ethically and more effectively so we can use it to reduce the inequalities around food and address food insecurity and food waste.

“Riseholme Campus looks like a fantastic place to work, and I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Louise is very active on social media and has more than 4,000 people in her social media networks from Twitter, through blogs to LinkedIn.  You can follow her on Twitter @foodsafetyljm and @thefoodconverse

She starts her role with LIAT in April and will be based at the University of Lincoln’s Riseholme Campus.