About the project
This project investigates climate change’s impacts on global food production and trade networks, focusing on food security and nutrition outcomes. Using network analysis, it aims to identify pathways for enhancing global nutritional sustainability and resilience in a changing climate.
With climate change increasingly challenging global food security and nutrition, this PhD project investigates the interplay between climate variability, food systems, and nutrition through the lens of network theory. The research will analyze global food production and trade networks to evaluate their resilience, adaptation, and vulnerability to climate-related disruptions. By constructing models that capture the complex interdependencies within food systems, this work aims to provide critical evidence for policymakers, helping to shape strategies that support resilient, sustainable food networks capable of withstanding future climate pressures.
Research efforts will center on how climate change and shocks, spanning historical events to future projections, impact global food systems, altering accessibility to food security and nutrition. Through detailed historical data analysis, the proposed research aims to reveal adaptive responses of food systems to climatic stressors, laying groundwork for future scenario predictive modeling. The project prioritises understanding climate change's comprehensive effects on food system robustness and nutrition security, spotlighting vulnerability, and devising adaptation measures to withstand climate variability.
This initiative aligns with the PIRS program by combining mathematical and network theory with the pressing climate-related issues in global food and nutrition systems. It seeks to generate impactful insights for bolstering food system resilience and inform policy, practice, and community strategies for maintaining food and nutrition security in uncertain times and risky localities.
Participants will join an interdisciplinary team, partnering between experts from the University of Southampton and the World Bank. This collaboration aims to advance our understanding and strategic planning at the nexus of climate change, global food systems, and nutrition security.
Supervisors
In addition to being supervised by Dr Duo Chan (lead supervisor) and Professor Ruben Sanchez-Garcia, you will also be supervised by Dr Yan Bai from the Development Data Group, the World Bank, USA.
