May 6-7, 2013
Clark Kerr Campus
Panel 2
The inaugural symposium was held on May 6 and 7, 2013 and attracted over 150 practitioners, policy-makers, advocates, and academics representing various points across the food system. This highly successful event brought together thought-leaders from across the US (and a few key international participants) to begin a dialogue on how the Institute can create and motivate public interest research that will improve the environmental, social, and nutritional impacts of the food system. The goal was to identify key research gaps as well as points of commonality that could harness the intellectual assets of the University (faculty and students) from across disciplines, as well as stakeholders from outside of academia.
The numerous challenges illuminated, and the comments about others having brought a similar group of stakeholders together in the past, made it clear that the Institute will need to work very hard to strategically focus on research areas that Berkeley can have the greatest impact on and that ultimately informs and influences policy change. The core activities of the Food Institute need to include evidence-based research, policy recommendations based on sound science and world class teaching and learning, as well as translation of science through outreach and education.
