Who’s responsible for making sure our children don’t go hungry? | RFTRW: S06E01

For almost two decades, Dr Rebecca O’Connell has dedicated her career investigating the impact of food practices and policies in the UK and internationally. From 2014 to 2019 she led the ‘Families and Food in Hard Times’ study comparing how and what young people and families eat in Portugal, the UK and Norway as they navigate difficult economic times. Dr O’Connell shares key findings and lessons learned from the study, particularly how families on low-incomes are trying to get by and what policymakers should be doing to address these problems.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the issue of food insecurity has also been headline news in the UK, and shed light on the ability of families to feed their children during this time. Dr O’Connell unpacks how this is currently playing out, especially since the government’s views on free school meals and welfare payments have come under heavy scrutiny from charities and football star Marcus Rashford. 

Listen to the podcast

Links

• Dr Rebecca O'Connell's research profile
• Families, food and environment research
• Thomas Coram Research Unit
• Social Research Institute
• Research for the Real World podcast