What do a dietitian who practices social action theatre, an independent researcher on food, environment and human health, an entrepreneur supporting small-scale farmers in Africa and Latin America, a campaigner for young people’s access to nutritious food, a community organiser working for whole system food change, and a regenerative farmer, all have in common?
They have all joined the Food Ethics Council as our newest Council members! Oh, and they are all fiercely motivated by a vision of fairer food systems that respect people, animals and the planet.
This month, we welcome Lucy Aphramor, Elta Smith, Jason Archie-Acheampong, Christina Adane and Steph Ellis to join our now 20-strong Council. Farmer Ian Pigott will be joining us later in the year.
For those who don’t know, the Food Ethics Council is made up of five staff and a voluntary Council. Our Council are an eclectic bunch, bringing a wide range of expertise and interests to our work. They are leaders in their fields, which range from veterinary science to gender and the right to food. Their combined experience is expansive, treading academic research and journalism, through to working the soil and starting up businesses.
Our Council members are there to challenge, invigorate, inform and inspire the work of the Food Ethics Council. They meet regularly with staff to discuss project work and attend ‘brown-bag lunches’ to learn and eat together. Some Council members act as mentors for our individual projects, for example by providing invaluable insight into the processing sector for our Dairy Project. Some sit on expert panels to advocate for ethical food systems or write topical articles for our blog. Each year, our staff team and Council members meet in-person for an away day, where we connect, share knowledge and ideas, and collectively take a deep dive into some of the big challenges facing food and farming today.
Our Board of Trustees, elected from the wider Council, oversee the running of the organisation. We practise a radical model of a rotating Chair, thus every year, a different Trustee becomes Chair. This model seeks to share responsibility and be inclusive and nonhierarchical, embodying the ethical social relations that we advocate for.
We are delighted to welcome Elta, Jason, Lucy, Christina and Steph, and Ian later in the year. Over the coming weeks, we will be publishing short interviews with our brilliant new Council members, to share a little more about their backgrounds and expertise, and tease out some of the insights and challenges they hope to bring to the Food Ethics Council. Watch this space!