Dr B Coles, Dr K Barrett
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)
About the Project
The current consumption of food and energy cannot be sustained in the future. The UN reports that if a global population reaching 9.6 billion by 2050 becomes reality, the equivalent of almost three planets is most likely required to upkeep the current lifestyles (UN, 2013). Given that between 2014-2016, one in nine people of world population were suffering from chronic undernourishment, the prediction that was made by UN does not seem a far-fetched forecast (IFPRI, 2016). Moreover, global meat production – a key consumer of resources, driver of climate change and signal of the Anthropocene – is predicted to increase by 73% in 2050 owing to increases in population, wealth, and urbanization (Tilman et al., 2011). Such statistics beg questions about whether the world has the capacity to feed everyone. Adding to the complexity, and presenting a wicked problem, is that such questions of food security become questions of water and energy security as well.
Cultured meat, synthesised from reduced carbon (e.g. sugar) or directly from photosynthesis, has been proposed as one of the significant ways to address the food security problem. Given that the current consumption rate of animals is unsustainable, shift to production of cultured meat to meet the needs of the world population is not only necessary but indeed, inevitable (Post, 2013). Moreover, their distribution will no doubt be spatially, and geographically uneven,
Organised around three themes, spatiality, ecology and regional economy, this project will examine the geographies of cultured meat. It asks four central questions:
1. What is the capacity for the planet to produce enough synthesised meat for the future?
2. What will be the distribution of lab-engineered meat by mid-21st Century?
3. What will be the effects of cultured meat on the relationship between humans, the environment and the food-water-energy nexus?
4. What will be the effects of cultured meat production on the regional agricultural economies in the medium term?
Addressing these questions will enable to address the geographical viability of protein/food production into the future, and will likewise address one of the key problems posed by the Anthropocene.
Funding Notes
• A full UK/EU fee waiver for 3 years
• An annual tax free stipend of £14,777 (2018/19)
• A Research Training Support Grant to support project costs, fieldwork and conferences where applicable.
Studentships are open to UK Home / EU applicants and partial funding is available for international applicants
References
1. FAO, UNICEF and WFP. 2012. Promoting resiliency for at-risk populations: Lessons learned from recent experience in Somalia. Presentation at High-level expert forum on food insecurity in protracted crises, FAO, Rome, 13–14 September 2012.
2. International Food Policy Research Institute. IFPRI. 2016 Global hunger index: Getting to zero hunger. 2016
3. McMichael, A J. Powles, J W., Butler C D., and Uauy, R. Food, livestock production, energy, climate change, and health. The Lancet. Volume 370, Issue 9594, 6–12 October 2007, Pages 1253-1263
4. Post, M J. An alternative animal protein source: Cultured beef. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 1328(1):29–33. 2014
5. Tilman, D., Balzer, C., Hill, J., and Befort, B L. Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agriculture vol. 108 no. 50. December, 2013.
6. United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs. World Population Projection. 13 June 2013
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