University students come top in European food challenge
Release Date 05 July 2011
A team of three students from the University of Reading is one of the winners of a European challenge designed to generate new ideas for tackling the world's escalating food issues.
Catarina Rendeiro and Katy Hopkins, both PhD students, and Adrienne Attorp, who was studying for a Masters degree, will now take the global stage at One Young World, the world's leading forum for young leaders, where they will lead the discussion on food security for the future.
Thought for Food (TFF) is a unique initiative to leave a lasting legacy for the planet by thinking outside of the box to help overcome issues such as global hunger, food waste and climate change.
The Reading team, who come from the Departments of Agriculture, Psychology and Food and Nutritional Sciences, turned ‘Thought For Food' into ‘Food For Thought' in order to encourage a new understanding among the younger generation about the importance of healthy food decisions.
The first phase involved going to Desborough School in Maidenhead and using a thoughtful experiment to teach students about foods that will improve cognitive performance. The students were then challenged to use their brain power to think of creative ways to tackle the world's escalating food issues.
Each team captured their ideas and experiences in short video compilations, which they submitted via YouTube and other social media channels for public vote. A judging panel of experts in agriculture, communications and young global communities also cast their votes, and the winning entries were selected for the creativity of their solutions, the awareness generated and the impact on people's behaviours.
The judges saw the Reading project as representing something that could easily be replicated in national school curriculums and proving just how powerful the right food choices can be in forging a better future.
Catarina said: "We are all so excited that we have made it, we can still not truly believe it! Now there are new perspectives into replicating and scaling up our original project.. tt seems that the challenge has actually just started."
The three winning teams, including Imperial University and Wageningnen University in the Netherlands, will now prepare to attend One Young World in Zurich, Switzerland, in September 2011.
The 2011 Thought for Food Challenge was sponsored by Syngenta in partnership with One Young World, the Sandbox Network and Euro RSCG.
ENDS
For more information please contact Rona Cheeseman in the press office on 0118 378 7388 or email r.cheeseman@reading.ac.uk