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Food Systems in transition – ParticipatOry, Open citizen research for sustainable Nutrition

Project description

Empowering citizens for a sustainable food future

Food systems contribute up to 37 % of global greenhouse gas emissions and could rise to 50-90 %. Conflicts, climate shocks and inequality weaken supply chains, causing food insecurity even in affluent regions. In Europe, 38 million people lack access to sufficient, healthy food. Addressing these issues requires innovative technologies, behavioural shifts and policies that consider cultural dietary practices. Traditional top-down approaches are insufficient in today’s rapidly changing landscape. The EU-funded SPOON project shifts the focus to local consumer realities and operational settings through citizen science, empowering communities to generate knowledge and foster collaboration. By integrating citizen science, consumer behaviour and data sharing, SPOON seeks to drive data-driven decisions for healthier, more sustainable diets and reduced food insecurity.

Objective

The global food system, responsible for up to 37% of GHG emissions, requires urgent transformation due to challenges from urbanisation and unsustainable diets. Additionally, climate change and biodiversity loss exacerbate the vulnerability of European food systems, as seen in recent climate-related disasters like wildfires and droughts, compounded by disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite food abundance in Europe, food insecurity threatens millions of European citizens, necessitating a comprehensive approach encompassing knowledge, technologies, behaviours, and policies that promote healthier and more sustainable food systems. Given citizen science (CS) as a potent tool for achieving these goals, SPOON takes the innovative approach to food insecurity by employing CS to empower citizens in creating a more inclusive and sustainable food environment. SPOON’s four main aims are to: deepen scientific knowledge about food environments; increase capacity of policymakers in data-driven decision-making; foster cross-sector collaboration; increase agency of citizens to change their food consumption behaviour and local food environments; and foster more confidence in citizens in sharing personal food data. SPOON bridges the intention-action gap towards healthier and more sustainable diets by placing citizens at the forefront of transforming the food system through CS integration. SPOON's conceptual framework centres around six CS Labs in Europe, coordinated by local partners and utilising a multi-actor approach. Citizens engage as both researchers and subjects, testing and validating innovative digital tools to collect, analyse and interpret data on their food consumption behaviors and local food environments to then co-design and run small-scale behaviour change interventions together with other stakeholders. SPOON prioritises GDPR compliance and FAIR principles in its data management.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.

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Programme(s)

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL6-2024-FARM2FORK-01

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Coordinator

COLLABORATING CENTRE ON SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION GGMBH
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 693 687,50
Address
HAGENAUER STRASSE 30
42107 WUPPERTAL
Germany

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Region
Nordrhein-Westfalen Düsseldorf Wuppertal, Kreisfreie Stadt
Activity type
Research Organisations
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 693 687,50

Participants (15)

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