Team

Peter Delobelle

Peter Delobelle is the Chief Research Officer and Deputy Director of the Chronic Diseases Initiative for Africa, University of Cape Town. Public health expert with a focus on health policy and systems research in non-communicable diseases prevention and care, implementation research, and integrated knowledge translation. He lectures in health promotion and disease prevention both locally and overseas and teaches essential skills in global health.

Steve McKeever

Steve McKeever is an Associate Professor in Information Systems at Uppsala University. His expertise lies at the interface between life science and computation. He has worked extensively with digital formats, physiological models and simulation platforms. His background in software engineering is focused on robustness and high integrity system development.

Juliet Kiguli

Juliet Kiguli is an anthropologist and senior lecturer at the Department of Community Social and Behavioural Sciences at the Makerere University School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Kampala, Uganda.

Yemane Berhane, Steering Committee

Yemane Berhane is a professor of epidemiology and public health and the Director of the Addis Continental Institute of Public Health (ACIPH). He’s a leading expert in the field and has been instrumental in establishing and leading ACIPH since its inception in 2006. His expertise spans many public health areas, including maternal and child health, HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. His work has significantly contributed to the body of knowledge in public health, having over 400 scientific publications in national and international peer-reviewed journals. He has been passionate about developing Ethiopia’s next generation of public health professionals by expanding graduate-level training opportunities nationwide. He has contributed to many professional associations and networks nationally and internationally. He has served as the president of the Ethiopian Public Health Association and as Editor-in-Chief of the Ethiopian Journal of Health Development. He is a founding fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences.

Graeme Young, Steering Committee

Graeme Young is a Lecturer in Social and Public Policy in the School of Social & Political Sciences and the Convenor of the undergraduate Social and Public Policy program. He received his PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Cambridge in 2018. Graeme’s research focuses on the political economy of development, international peace operations, and the relationship between states and markets, broadly conceived. He is particularly interested in informal economic activity and policy work that aims to build inclusive economies and promote sustainable peace.

Mark Spires

Dr Spires’ primary research interests centre on seeking to better understand people’s lived experience of local food environments and how findings from these inquiries can contribute to more effective and inclusive food systems and related policy. At NRI, Dr Spires’ leads the Centre for Food Systems Research alongside forwarding his research interests through a variety of research projects. In this role, he also develops and leads research and innovation consortia with external partners including non-academic stakeholders.

Bent Egberg Mikkelsen, Steering Committee

Bent Egberg Mikkelsen is a professor at Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management at University of Copenhagen. He is a M.Sc. of Food Science from the Royal Agricultural University, Copenhagen and a PhD in Social Science, from Roskilde University. His research is on public food and urban food systems with emphasis on school food. He has developed the learning and lab concepts of “Gastronarium”, the “Alimentarium”, the “Food’n Science”, the “Young Minds Food Lab”, the “Next Generation Food Makers Space” and the “Young Food Waste Fighters Club”. These learning strategies for food literacy training are targeted developing 21st century skill-based didactics for young people at school and based on STEM and digital principles. Bent is the PI of the SELEA21 and SESAM programs that focuses on how foodsystems thinking can be integrated in the STEM, science and digital learning at school.

Olga Grönvall Lund, Steering Committee

Olga Grönvall Lund is the founder and General Secretary of Reformaten, an independent association advancing a science-based transformation of the food system for human and planetary health. She mobilises cross-sector actors for policy advocacy and public engagement and is a frequent lecturer and media voice on food systems change. She also serves on national advisory groups on food policy and research.