Kindling Trust is a not-for-profit organisation working to create a just and ecologically sustainable society through enterprising solutions. Established in 2007, they are a small team of ten staff who deliver innovative, creative & participatory initiatives which have the potential to have significant impact in creating lasting opportunities to improve the lives and communities who are most in need. Their work is focused on reconnecting City and Countryside through pioneering food projects.
Challenge
Over the last few years Kindling and its partners at Feeding Manchester, a network of sustainable food practitioners from across Greater Manchester, have been asking the question: Can Manchester feed itself? The short answer is no, but research across the country has recently been looking at how other cities (notably London and Bristol) are fed and asking how local horticulture and agriculture can be rejuvenated to provide more local food for cities. Notable research and strategies include: ‘Who Feeds Bristol?’ and London’s Growing Communities Food manifesto.
The challenge set forth by Kindling Trust asked researchers to collate up-to-date data and explore the opportunities around food production and job creation. We would like to find out who is feeding Manchester and start to answer the question: Could we feed ourselves better?
Project team
Imhotep Baptiste, PhD candidate in Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
Ximena Schmidt, Post-Doctoral Researcher in Chemical Engineering. Ximena is from Chile and started her Ph.D. in the Sustainable Industrial Systems group, becoming an LCA expert on food systems. After completing in December 2014, she worked as Research Associate in the Centre for the Sustainable Energy Use in the Food Chain as part of the University of Manchester team. Currently her projects are related to environmental sustainability analysis of alternative cooking fuels and techniques as well as the assessment of energy and quality damage of food processing techniques.
REAlab 