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Guidelines to suggest and vote for a topic

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Guidelines to suggest and vote for a topic

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The SCAF Unconference will take place on 27th August, 9 - 1 pm, including lunch. At an unconference, the agenda and topics for discussion are created collaboratively by you and the other attendees. Everyone is welcome to suggest a topic and/or facilitate a session. There will be 3 time slots of varying lengths (up to one hour) split across up to 5 spaces. Please note that most spaces will not be set up for slide presentations, so sessions should be designed to work without them where possible.

To suggest a session: Please include a title, short description, name of the presenter/facilitator, session length and format.

To express your interest in an already suggested session, please use the heart button on the bottom left of each post

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Workshop: Capturing food system impacts on people through participatory arts engagement

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Workshop: Capturing food system impacts on people through participatory arts engagement

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Synopsis: The workshop will demonstrate a participatory creative arts approach that was used as part of a larger programme of research to investigate food access and health inequalities in underserved areas of Glasgow. In this workshop, participants will be introduced to the methodological approach and will be invited to participate.

Aims:

This first phase of qualitative research aims to explore and understand the factors that affect access to and choice of nutritious foods (e.g. fruit and vegetables, oily fish, and fibre-rich foods) specific or unique to a community. This foundational understanding aims to enable trusted and embedded co-design, leading to implementation and evaluation of a place-based, community-led food market as a driver for diet and behaviour change.

Methodology:

Design-based, participatory arts methodologies are an emergent approach within public health research and offer a valuable means of generating rich, intersectional insights into complex social systems, including food insecurity in areas of multiple deprivation.

This study adopts a design-led, low-barrier engagement approach that invites community members to share food-related stories through visual narrative mapping around a shared table, enabling the collection of nuanced qualitative data grounded in lived experience.

Developed through co-design with each community, this approach responds to local, situational dynamics and supports the analysis of tensions and intersections within complex food systems.

The methodology is used to visualise individual and collective food experiences, histories and barriers to food access in a way that avoids potentially intrusive or distressing questioning.

Facilitator: Lydia Stewart

Duration: 1 hour

Format: Workshop

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discussion on foraging and a walk to look for edible plants on and around campus

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Workshop: alternative foods to meat and dairy

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Workshop: alternative foods to meat and dairy

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Short description:

Aim: TBC

Methodology: TBC

Facilitator: Sarah Nájera Espinosa

Duration: 1 hour

Format: Workshop

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Community‑Led Food Systems -

A space to explore how community food provisions & local food systems can move beyond supermarket surplus and towards dignified, community‑rooted access. We’ll look at the realities facing small growers and producers — isolation, low income, limited funding routes — and ask what is possible when communities, growers and organisations work together rather than in parallel.

A grounded, collaborative session about building food futures that support both community wellbeing and rural livelihoods. Facilitator: The Haven/Foodlink NE- Natalie Jurdeczka. Format: Group session - structured co-creation of a 'Recipe' build. 60 minutes

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Alistair Trail, Principal Food and Enterprise Consultant at SAC Consulting/SRUC will give an overview of our New Product Development Service where we collaborate with SME's and entrepreneurs to develop innovative food prototypes for the UK market. He will also give an Overview of ONE SeedPod, the New Food Innovation Hub based in Aberdeen and how SeedPod support's businesses to commercialise novel food products and bring these products to market.

Alistair will be joined by Tim Yeoman from the Nourished Plate who is in the process of developing an innovative healthy Seed Butter product for the Scottish Market. Tim will discuss his development journey, the support he has received and some of the ongoing challenges Entrepreneurs face when bringing new products to market.

Presenter: Alistair Trail

Duration: 45 minutes

Format: Talk and Q&A

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Workshop proposal: Edible Cities: Reimagining Urban Spaces for Food, Community and Climate Resilience

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Workshop proposal: Edible Cities: Reimagining Urban Spaces for Food, Community and Climate Resilience

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As cities face increasing challenges related to climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity and public health, there is growing interest in how urban spaces can be transformed into productive, edible landscapes. The concept of Edible Cities promotes the integration of food growing into parks, streets, schools, housing developments and community spaces, creating environments that are not only greener but also healthier, more resilient and socially connected.

This interactive workshop will explore how local authorities, community organisations, researchers and residents can work together to embed food growing within urban planning and place-making. Drawing on examples from Scotland and beyond, participants will examine the environmental, social and economic benefits of edible landscapes, including improved biodiversity, access to fresh food, climate adaptation, community cohesion and opportunities for learning and engagement.

Through facilitated discussion and practical exercises, attendees will identify barriers and opportunities for implementing edible city initiatives in their own communities and develop ideas for collaborative action. The session will encourage cross-sector dialogue and knowledge exchange, supporting the conference theme of catalysing collaboration for a better food future.

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Beyond Reformulation: Who Needs to Be at the Table to Create Food People Want to Eat?

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Beyond Reformulation: Who Needs to Be at the Table to Create Food People Want to Eat?

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Food reformulation is often presented as a technical challenge: reducing salt, sugar, fat or calories, or increasing fibre and other beneficial nutrients. However, healthier reformulation does not automatically translate into consumer acceptance, sustained consumption, or public health impact.

Aim: Drawing on lessons from my PhD research, this session will explore how interdisciplinary and multisector collaboration can bridge gaps among scientific evidence, product development, consumer needs, and policy implementation. Participants will consider who should be involved, whose voices are often missing, and how researchers can move beyond studying acceptability towards co-designing healthier, acceptable and practical food products.

Facilitator: Dr Aishat Momodu
Duration: 1 hour
Format: Interactive co-design workshop
Method: Facilitated roundtable discussion

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Workshop proposal: What counts as food literacy? Designing the future of food education in Scotland 2040. 

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Workshop proposal: What counts as food literacy? Designing the future of food education in Scotland 2040. 

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An interdisciplinary mapping and futures concept exercise.

Aims: to explore different understandings of food literacy and collectively identify priorities for future food education in Scotland.

In this session we will

·         Collaboratively map ‘food literacy’

·         Consider what aspect we pay most attention to today, what’s missing, neglected or underdeveloped.

·         Design food education for 2040

From this session we could generate a visual map or manifesto or top recommendations, suggestions for an output welcome in comments below.