Thursday 17 July 2025

Join us for the 'AI for sustainable agri-food supply chains‘ Symposium.

The Centre for Sustainable Organisations, together with AI for the Biosciences in the UK Network and the Food Safety Research Network invite you to a free full day cross-disciplinary symposium to:

• Explore the latest applications of AI for food sustainability through real-world case studies
• Network and collaborate with leading experts from both AI and food industries
• Gain insights into the challenges and opportunities of using AI in the food supply chain
• Develop strategies for implementing AI solutions in your own organisation.

Venue: University of Leicester School of Business, Brookfield, London Road, Leicester, LE2 1RQ.

Registration details.

Programme
09.00am – 09.30am: Arrival Refreshments
09.30am – 09.35am: Introduction to morning session “State of the Art” 
09.35am – 10.00am: Keynote no. 1 Professor Simon Pearson, Founder and Director of Lincoln Institute of Agri-Food Technology (LIAT) (University of Lincoln)
AI at the agricultural end of food supply chains.
10.00am – 10.30am: Icebreaker: AI for Food Quality, Food Safety and Food Security 
Brief introduction to the UK Food Safety Research Network (FSRN) by Dr Melissa Antoniou-Kourounioti, Network & Partnerships Manager (Quadram Institute)
10.30am – 11.15am: Morning Refreshments and networking
11.15am – 12.15pm: Workshop: AI solutions for food waste prevention and reduction at the manufacturing and retail stages of the supply chain (Lund University, Sweden)
12.15pm - 1.30pm: Lunch
1.30pm – 1.35pm: Introduction to afternoon session “Proposing Solutions” 
1.35pm – 2pm: Keynote no. 2 Murray Dare, Founder & CEO of Boone, an AI-driven nutrition platform transforming food data into actionable health insights. 
Transparency at Scale - How AI can shift our food system for the better. 
2pm – 3pm: Case-based workshop: Fairness in the fresh fruit and vegetable supply chain (University of Leicester)
3pm – 3.30pm: Afternoon Refreshments and networking
3pm – 4.15pm: Workshop: AI in Supply Chains for Household Food Waste Reduction (Loughborough University)
4.15pm – 4.30pm: Closing remarks

14 February 2025, 12.00pm - 2.00pm

The Centre will host Dr Guillermo Garcia-Garcia from the University of Granada, Spain for a guest lecture in LT2 Peter Jackson Lecture Theatre, Brookfield, School of Business.

He will talk about some of his research on industrial sustainability, circular economy and the use of LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) and MFA (material flow analysis).

Everyone welcome.

The away day event, held on September 25 2024, with discussions centered on key research themes critical to sustainable development, including responsible business practices, sustainable work and employment, green human resource management (HRM) and well-being, sustainable production and consumption, marketing and activism, as well as sustainable investment and green finance.

The event highlighted three main research inquiries:

• methods of creating systemic value across networks and organizations
• strategies to promote sustainable production and consumption
• approaches to redefining work and employment to enhance sustainable viability.

Participants reviewed current funding applications, outlined prospective research activities, and identified strategic goals for securing both local and international funding.

Further objectives included planning for academic publications, conferences (considering funding and collaboration models), workshops and short courses (especially for 2025), and expanding executive training opportunities. Additionally, there was a focus on developing an internal mentoring scheme to support engagement in high-quality research, underscoring the commitment to continuous improvement and scholarly advancement.

The discussions culminated in a productive virtual meeting with Poltava State Agrarian University, establishing a foundation for future research collaborations and joint initiatives. This meeting reinforced both institutions' commitment to advancing sustainability-focused research and securing collaborative funding opportunities, setting a promising trajectory for ongoing and future academic partnerships.

Greenwashing happens when an organisation gives the public the impression that the environmental impact of its products or operations more positive than it actually is. But how can you know whether a statement is greenwashing?

The Integrated Framework to Assess Greenwashing (IFTAG) was developed by a team of natural scientists, social scientists, and communication researchers. It collects every form of greenwashing identified (so far) and pairs them with notes, examples, and yes/no indicator questions - if the answer is yes, the claim is greenwashing. It’s a proven tool that supports the Centre for Sustainable Organisations’ goals to enable sustainable organisations through research and education.

The IFTAG framework has been used by investigative journalists in Turkey and in Germany via Flip as a foundation for their research into green claims. It was also adopted into the 'Greenwash Prevention Toolkit' of the Institute for Advertising Ethics, which provides a curriculum for training advertising professionals, as well as circulated by the Network for Business Responsibility in their guide to avoiding greenwashing. The flexible format of the framework makes it adaptable to the needs of different kinds of organisations and researchers.

The IFTAG framework was developed with support from the Climate Social Science Network hosted by Brown University.

Ecological embeddedness aims to benefit business, consumers and the environment. The circular economy helps us use products for as long as possible in support of this aim. How circular is your organisation?

The Circularity Indicator Tool for Measuring the Ecological Embeddedness of Manufacturing (CITMEEM) supports manufacturers in improving their circularity practices. This tool was developed by engineering and business management researchers. CITMEEM has been used with over 100 organisations. It is a proven tool that supports the Centre for Sustainable Organisations’ goals to enable sustainable organisations through research and education.

Full details of the original concept have been published in the journal Sustainability.