COMMUNITY CASE STUDY article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

Sec. Climate-Smart Food Systems

Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1620974

This article is part of the Research TopicFood Systems, Spatial Modelling, And PlanningView all 4 articles

Conceptualizing the Irish and UK food systems

Provisionally accepted
  • University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

As with any food system around the world today, the food system pan-Ireland and the UK are considered unsustainable as it is adversely affecting the environment and failing to provide the entire population with food and nutrition security. Integrated food systems research is becoming evermore necessary as any interventions targeting food system transformation must consider not only production to consumption but also the wider environmental and socioeconomic context. This paper proposes a new food system conceptual framework (the Food Co-Centre Conceptual Framework) which was developed via multi-stakeholder collaboration through a mixed-methods approach of: interviews, focus groups, webinars and workshops. The conceptual framework conveys the components (activities, drivers, outcomes, feedbacks) encompassed in the Irish and UK food system. Visually representing the food system pan-Ireland and the UK will help stakeholders comprehend the multidimensionality of the food system as well as any trade-offs and synergies. Thus, it is a valuable tool for designing and discussing food system transformation policies and interventions.

Keywords: Conceptual framework, DIETS, trade-offs, transformation, Participatory Design, Redesign

Received: 30 Apr 2025; Accepted: 30 May 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Gilmour, Ingram and Zurek. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Alice Gilmour, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

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