Global Food Security and Nutrition (Online Learning)

Overview

Food security is concerned with the availability, access, and utilisation of safe, nutritious and sustainable food to all, especially vulnerable groups within society. The challenges related to food are not only the existence of approximately 795 million undernourished people in the world (Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO)) but also the increasing presence of diet related non-communicable diseases (e.g. diabetes and heart disease); the contribution of agriculture to greenhouse gas emissions and land use change. Understanding the interconnection of food, health and the environment, as well as their trade-offs is vital to formulate policies that enable us to achieve food security in a sustainable manner.

The Global Food Security and Nutrition (Online Learning) programme from The University of Edinburgh recognises that food security concerns not only food policy and food production issues but other aspects such as land tenure, immigration, demographics, diet and nutrition, technology, natural resources (e.g., pressures on water and soil) and climate change.We offer expertise and research on these topics, and the team have good working relationships with international organisations that are at the cutting edge of addressing food security issues, such as FAO, World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Federation of Red Cross/Crescent.

Career opportunities

This programme is designed to equip graduates with the skills to go on to careers in government and international Non-Governmental Organisations working in a broad range of areas relating to food security.

There are increasing postgraduate research opportunities available in the food security arena, in the UK, EU and internationally.

There are also some positions in the private sector that will be attractive to graduates such as retail, food supply management, or even commodity trading.