Dr Bethan Mead MSc PhD

Personal Statement

I am a Research Fellow working with the Food Standards Agency, under the Global Food Security - Transforming the UK Food System Strategic Priority Fund. My research is focussed on consumer and stakeholder perceptions of urban-grown food and alternative proteins. I use a combination of psychological, social, consumer and data science techniques to explore determinants of acceptance of such foods. Prior to this I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Appetite and Obesity research group, working on the Rurban Revolution project: http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/rurbanrevolution/. This work is focused on the health and dietary benefits of upscaling urban greening and growing, and barriers to achieving this. Alongside this, I am involved in experimental studies investigating psychological factors related to appetite and weight loss.

My PhD (2017) examined the role of hedonic hunger and food cue reactivity in weight loss. This was part of the WRAP (Weight Loss Referrals for Adults in Primary Care) trial, which investigates the clinical and cost effectiveness of behavioural weight management programmes.

Keywords: #fixedterm, appetite, sustainable food systems, urban agriculture, obesity.