The Co-Centre aims to transform the food system on the Island of Ireland (IOI) and the UK, addressing economic, social, and environmental challenges to ensure safe, nutritious food for all. It focuses on key challenges related to food system integrity, resilience, food safety, and promoting healthy diets from sustainable sources.

The Co-Centre’s research programme encompasses the food system in a circular manner, where changes in one area will be considered across all others. It will consider critical points such as challenges in animal and crop production, to improve efficiency and resilience, while minimising environmental impact. Food processing and food safety issues are addressed to ensure provision of safe, healthy, and nutritious food for all. The changes required to transition to healthier diets from more sustainable sources need to be identified and incorporated into improved production and processing systems which take account of current diet and incorporate health by stealth policy approaches. All these changes must be considered in the context of complex societal and regulatory frameworks that determine provision and access to foo. Covering soil to society, and back again, our research programme will ensure effective solutions to support the transformation of food systems on the IOI and the UK and will undertake a research programme across five core Platforms outlined below.