Staff and trustee profiles
Core staff, project and campaign coordinators and officers
Gavin Dupee
Head of Digital & Design
Gavin manages Sustain's online and print presence, and develops technologies to help engage with Sustain’s audiences. Gavin has 20 years of experience developing web solutions predominantly for the charity sector. A comprehensive knowledge of PHP, Javascript and MySQL forms the backbone to numerous bespoke solutions he has developed for Sustain and partners ranging from Jamie Oliver to the Mayor of London.
His Sugar Smart platform empowers leaders across the UK to engage with local partners creating real change in an auditable way. The core Sustain site sits top of the search engines serving over a million visits a year, and integrations with the API services of Google, Twitter, Mailchimp and others give the ability to make more of Sustain’s data, and further engage with existing and potential supporters. So whether it be a national map of bakeries, an application to record and audit fruit and veg harvests in small growing sites, or a platform to manage a national grants programme, Gavin has coded it.
Additionally, Gavin develops web applications and print media for a number of charities, research groups, companies and private individuals, and has designed courses and lectured in web and graphical design.
Alan Karlik
Digital & Design Officer
Alan is a graphic and web designer, with passion for music, multisensory design and sustainability.
Stephanie Kennedy
Communications & Learning Coordinator (on maternity leave)
Stephanie is leading on Sustain’s communications strategy as the organisation enters an exciting new phase of growth.
The rest of her time is spent on FoodSHIFT2030, an EU project supporting innovative food systems across Europe as part of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and information between sector bodies and project participants.
Abi Taylor
Finance & Administration Officer
Abi joined Sustain in July 2019 as the Finance & Administration Officer. She studied Nutrition & Health at university and has previously worked in the fitness industry. She is passionate about health, wellbeing, sustainability and conservation.
Quoc-anh Tran
Head of Finance
Following graduation with a degree in Accounting and Business Information Technology, Quoc-anh joined Sustain in February 2002. Quoc-anh is continuing his professional development by working towards becoming a full member of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA).
As Sustain's Head of Finance , Quoc-anh works closely with the project officers in managing budgets, prepares management accounts for finance and board meetings, and produces Sustain's annual accounts ready for the audit.
Among other duties Quoc-anh is responsible for are developing project budgets for grant applications as well as reporting to funders.
Fran Bernhardt
Commercial Determinants Coordinator
Fran Bernhardt is Commercial Determinants Coordinator at Sustain. Commercial determinants are industry activities which affect our health, inequalities and climate. Since 2018, she has advised the Mayor of London's team on writing and implementing the Healthier Food Advertising policy which restricts unhealthy food and drink advertising from the Transport for London network. This has led to a weekly reduction of 1,000 calories and a 20% reduction in sugary products in London households' purchases. It is estimated to prevent 100,000 cases of obesity, 3000 cases of diabetes and 2000 cases of heart disease plus it's expected to deliver a saving of £218 million to London's NHS over the lifetime of the current population.
She has also supported eight local governments to take it through their own council boards to successfully pass the policy: Haringey, Merton, Southwark, Greenwich, Bristol, Barnsley, Tower Hamlets and Luton. There are now more than 100 local governments consulting her for support to do the same across their own advertising sites.
Barbara Crowther
Campaign Manager
Barbara joined Sustain in 2018 and manages the Children’s Food Campaign, which champions children’s rights, parent power and government action to improve the food environment children grow up in. This includes campaigning for tighter regulations of junk food marketing to children, better school food and reducing children’s consumption of sugary or unhealthy food.
Barbara worked for over 13 years for the Fairtrade Foundation as Director of Policy & Public Affairs, leading the organisation’s communications, public campaigning, policy and research to make trade work better for farmers and workers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.
Prior to that she was Head of Campaigns at Save the Children, working on child poverty and child rights. As well as her work for Sustain, Barbara is a freelance campaigns and public affairs consultant specialising in sustainability, ethical trade and human rights, a personal and professional performance coach and an avid foodie, birdwatcher, singer and creative writer.
Hannah Crump
Local Policy Coordinator (on maternity leave)
Hannah coordinates Good Food Local, which supports local authorities to prioritise good food and commit to action on a breadth of food issues. She is also co-author of the Good Food for All Londoners report, which benchmarks councils and aims to inspire leadership on food policy and practice.
Hannah joined Sustain in August 2021 to take forward the London Food Link network, with a focus on Good Food Enterprise. Her role involved developing campaigns and projects to promote and support good food in London, engage network supporters and manage relevant comms, including the Jellied Eel print and online magazine.
Hannah has a background in sustainability and a love for food and throughout her career, has worked for charities, businesses, and social enterprises managing operations and delivering green projects and programmes. Having worked for Unpackaged and the Sustainable Restaurant Association she has experience in working on zero waste with businesses, sustainability within restaurants and hospitality sectors, and community led growing projects working in partnerships with organisations including Eden Project Communities.
Bella Driessen
Local Policy Coordinator (on maternity leave)
Bella joined Sustain as Local Action Officer, working on Good to Grow, Veg Cities, Sugar Smart, and Food for the Planet. She has a background in organic market gardening and research.
Bella coordinates Good Food Local, which supports local authorities to prioritise good food and commit to action on a breadth of food issues.
Rachel Dring
Capital Growth Coordinator
Charlotte Gage
Local Food Retail Coordinator
Hannah Gibbs
Programme Manager
Hannah joined Sustain in November 2022 as Programme Manager for the Bridging the Gap programme, which aims to demonstrate ways to build better supply chains between climate and nature friendly food and people on a lower income.
Hannah has a background in international development and social impact business, working on issues from global health to institutional development and security sector reform, largely in sub–Saharan Africa. Before joining Sustain, Hannah was working as a freelance consultant on UK and international projects and campaigns, including the Better Business Act which aims to change UK law to ensure every company in the UK aligns their interests with those of wider society and the environment.
Sam Hayward
Campaign Officer
Kate Howard
Campaign Coordinator
Kate joined Sustain in June 2023, and coordinates the Recipe for Change campaign, as part of the wider Children’s Food Campaign. Recipe for Change is calling on the Government to introduce new industry levies to help make our food and drink healthier, building on the success of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy.
She brings a background in managing programmes in a range of health and educational settings in the UK and abroad, most recently in Nesta’s People Powered Results team where she supported long term change in the NHS and community settings by mobilising those closest to the issues.
She was first introduced to Sustain by learning about the Capital Growth programme through her wonderful local community garden.
Naema Jannath
Campaign Officer
Naema joined Sustain in June 2023 as the Children’s Food Campaign Officer. After finishing her Masters in Public Policy and an internship at Bite Back 2030, her interest in children’s health and nutrition grew. Naema works on the ‘Say Yes to School Food for All’ campaign, advocating for all children to have equal chance to thrive at school and improving the relationship between happy children and healthy food. Also, Naema leads on the Children’s Food Ambassador Programme, highlighting the voices of parents and carers in children’s food policy.
Colette Marr
Research Adviser
Colette joined Sustain in December 2023 on an 8-month placement funded by the Wellcome Trust, working with the Children’s Food Campaign to build research and insights on parents’ and carers’ lived experiences of the food environment.
Colette has a background in psychology and nutrition and has worked in public health research for the last seven years, with a particular interest in children’s nutrition. She has worked on a variety of research projects and has evaluated methods to reduce portion sizes of high fat, salt and/or sugar snack foods for pre-school aged children. She’s worked on an N8 AgriFood project examining the association between food insecurity and childhood obesity and the impact of restricting advertising of unhealthy food. Her recent PhD explored whether grandparents should be considered important stakeholders in young children’s nutrition. She was co-lead of the University of Sheffield food and nutrition research group and helped to design and deliver healthy eating workshops for primary school children across Sheffield.
Gillian Morgan
Planning Lead
Gillian is supporting Sustainable Food Cities engage in the plan-making process to ensure that community food growing has been taken into account in their local plans.
As well as being a planner who has specialised in the strategic planning and management of greenspace (from local level in London Boroughs through to national park level as planning director in the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads), Gillian is a passionate gardener.
She started volunteering for Capital Growth, meeting inspirational community food growers and has gone on to publish Sustain's guidance for planners on writing planning policies to support community food growing.
Lily O'Mara-Adembesa
Local Action Officer
Kiloran O’Leary
Programme Officer
Kiloran joined Sustain in November 2022 as Programme Officer for the Bridging the Gap programme, which aims to demonstrate ways to build better supply chains between climate and nature friendly food and people on a lower income.
Kiloran has a background in growing, education, network coordination and food partnership coordination. She previously worked as co-director at OrganicLea and Story Garden Manager at Global Generation. Kiloran is driven by the belief that everyone should have the right to access food that is good for the planet and good for health.
Sofia Parente
Head of Local Action
Sofia provides strategic oversight, programme and staff management to local action projects and campaigns at Sustain.
Sofia has been working at Sustain since 2015 and during that time she has driven local and national action on key food issues for the Sustainable Food Places Network, amplifying the voice of members at a national level and advocating on specific issues where local priorities need national action. She has developed several campaigns including Food for the Planet and Veg Cities and led the roll out of the Sugar Smart campaign, from an idea piloted by a hand full of pioneer cities, to a national campaign with over 80 cities and other local areas involved. She coordinated the Good Food for London report which shines a light on action on good food by London boroughs and was a trustee of the Eating Better alliance.
Her background is as an animal welfare, food and environmental campaigner in the charity and voluntary sector. She grew up on a farm in the north west of Portugal and has a degree in Agronomy from the Technical University of Lisbon.
Sareta Puri
Diversity Outreach Coordinator
Sareta coordinates Sustain's diversity outreach work which aims to bring more people from underrepresented backgrounds, with specific focus on ethnic diversity, into the progressive food and farming sector. A core part of this work is outreach with younger people and students to inspire them to get involved in the movement. She manages Sustain’s Roots to Work jobs platform which is also a tool to engage new and diverse talent into the sector.
Sareta has worked freelance for several years in areas of sustainable food, community and diversity. This includes as chef, teacher and special project development at Made In Hackney community cookery school; ambassador for Be Inclusive Hospitality; and in several strategy and operations lead roles in plant-based food startups. Prior to being self-employed Sareta had a decade-long career in youth and education charities and holds a Masters degrees in Childhood Studies from The University of Edinburgh.
Oliver Ratcliffe
Public Affairs Officer
Oliver joined Sustain in September 2020 and has a background in policy. He will be focusing on Sustain’s Parliamentary work by engaging with key stakeholders and monitoring policy developments.
He has a passion for politics, sustainable food and music.
Isabel Rice
Campaign Coordinator
Isabel joined Sustain in September 2022 to coordinate the London Food Poverty Campaign which highlights and encourages sustainable responses to food insecurity. Isabel works closely with local authorities and food partnerships on policy and practice to tackle the root causes of food poverty, as well as conducting lived experience work to inform recommendations. She leads on Good Food Local: the London report, which benchmarks council action on food and inspires leadership on food policy and practice in the capital.
Isabel also leads on the national Connecting Community Food Enterprises project, supporting sustainable development of community food projects, and encouraging partnership and social investment from councils and housing associations.
Isabel is a Registered Dietitian with a background in clinical and public health nutrition working with marginalised populations in London. She has undertaken research and advocacy work focusing on food insecurity in the UK, and management of frontline food aid provision. Isabel is also a committee member of the Public Health Specialist Group for the British Dietetic Association. Following a master’s degree in Nutrition for Global Health, Isabel was further inspired to work towards promoting sustainable food systems and reducing nutritional and health inequity. She has published work on improving access to health and nutrition services for disabled children in Uganda.
Hannah Thompson
Communications & Learning Coordinator
Ruth Westcott
Campaign Manager
Ruth manages Sustain's work on the Climate and Nature Emergency and on Sustainable Fishing, working to make food a central part of policies to tackle the climate and nature emergency at a local and national level; also to encourage businesses to adopt a fully sustainable fish policy, and thereby help transform the way the world's oceans are fished.
Ruth has led campaigns at Sustain for over seven years, joining from the Marine Stewardship Council. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and Imperial College, London, where she was awarded the Fishmongers' Company Scholarship.
Will White
Sustainable Farming Coordinator
Will joined as Sustainable Farming Campaign Coordinator at Sustain in September 2023, and has a background in implementing Agroecological farming methods and managing vineyards in Somerset. Outside of his farming expertise, Will has previously worked on issues surrounding food poverty, having coordinated food bank collection campaigns in Bristol and near Manchester. Will is a dedicated advocate for nature friendly farming and fairness across the entirety of the food supply chain.
Chris Young
Campaign Coordinator
Chris Young has coordinated the Real Bread Campaign since March 2009. In addition to lobbying for an Honest Crust Act of better loaf composition, labelling and marketing laws; he created and runs Sourdough September; Real Bread Week; Real Bread For All; Together We Rise promoting therapeutic/social benefits and bread making; the No Loaf Lost surplus reduction initiative; as well as Lessons in Loaf and Bake Your Lawn for schools. He’s the author of the Knead to Know…more microbakery handbook and Slow Dough: Real Bread recipe book; and edits True Loaf magazine.
From 2014-18, Chris also coordinated the London Food Link network, which included editing The Jellied Eel magazine and helping to launch and run the Urban Food Awards. Chris has pulled on his judge’s wig for BOOM Awards, The Cateys, The Great Taste Awards, The Scottish Bread Championship and The World Bread Awards. In 2017, The School of Artisan Food honoured Chris with its first Fellowship.
Vera Zakharov
Campaign Coordinator
Vera is the Sustainable Food Places Local Action Coordinator, linking up local activity across the network to help drive national-level policy change. She oversees the programme’s Good Food Movement work, helping food partnerships connect with grassroots communities and support resident-led action. She also leads on the Veg Cities campaign and the annual Sustainable Food Places Day of Celebration and Action.
She has previously coordinated the Sugar Smart campaign. Prior to joining Sustain, she ran local food waste action initiatives, including Brighton & Hove’s Love Food Hate Waste campaign and Surplus Food Network, as well as Feedback’s Sussex Gleaning Network.
Senior leadership team
Kath Dalmeny
Chief Executive
Kath is Chief Executive of Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming.
Among many initiatives, Kath has helped to design and instigate: the Sustainable Fish Cities alliance campaign, which has now won pledges to serve 100% verifiably sustainable fish from caterers that together serve 1 billion meals a year; the Good Food for Our Money campaign and the Campaign for Better Hospital Food, which together won healthy and sustainable food standards for Whitehall, prisons and parts of the armed forces, and in NHS Standard Contracts for hospitals. She now sits on the steering group for the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, campaigning to end the overuse of antibiotics in farming.
Kath also instigated and helped to develop the Good Food for London and Beyond the Food Bank reports, now established for several years, mapping uptake of good food schemes by London boroughs, for the benefit of citizens, food producers, farm animals and the environment, and encouraging healthy competition between local authorities. In 2017, she helped to launch of the Right to Food initiative, aiming to provide the legal foundations that would ensure that everyone, no matter what their circumstances, is able to eat well and not experience hunger. The Right to Food principle was adopted in the manifestos of Labour, the Lib Dems, the Green Party and the SNP in the 2019 General Election.
Following the EU Referendum in 2016, Kath led the alliance's response to Brexit and its profound implications for healthy and sustainable food, farming and fishing under the coordinating banner of the Campaign for a Better Food Britain. During 2020, she served as Chair of the Future British Standards Coalition that championed and led to establishment of the government’s Trade and Agriculture Commission to scrutinise post-Brexit international trade deals for their impact on farming, food standards and the environment.
During the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic from 2020 to 2022, Kath was the alliance lead on Food and Vulnerability, serving on numerous liaison and coordination groups to support the emergency food response at local and national level. She was instrumental in launching a judicial review of the government's approach to children's holiday hunger during Covid-19.
From 2013 to 2017, Kath served on the Programme Management Board for the Sustainable Food Places network, working with Food Matters and the Soil Association. She is honoured to be able to continue as an advisor and speaker for this thriving network.
From 2009 to 2012, Kath was a member of the Food Advisory Group to the Organising Committee of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which wrote and published the first ever Olympic Food Vision standards, championing local and seasonal food, higher animal welfare, sustainable fish, Fairtrade products, reduced waste, and tap water on demand. For several years she has also served as a member of, or advisor to, the London Food Board, under three consecutive mayoral administrations.
Kath's background is as a food campaigner and consultant to organisations such as the Food Commission, National Consumer Council, National Federation of Women’s Institutes, Food Climate Research Network, Greater London Authority and the London Development Agency. She was formerly a Commissioner on the Food, Farming and Countryside Commission. She has a special interest in food, sustainability and climate change; is passionate about sustainable fish and fair trade; increasingly fascinated by the role cities can play in improving the food system; and also interested in how the benefits of healthier food and fairer trading conditions can be enjoyed more equitably by consumers and producers alike.
On a voluntary basis, Kath is a trustee of a community-run box scheme and farmers' market that runs an exciting farmer-focused not-for-profit wholesaler in East London (Growing Communities); and a not-for-profit food consultancy that helps individuals and organisations working towards more sustainable, equitable food systems (Food Matters).
Formerly, she was a voluntary board member of Feedback, the global food waste campaign (Feedback); and a campaign to persuade government, Ofgem and the National Grid to consider the potential for small-scale electrical appliances such as fridges to balance energy demand (Dynamic Demand).
She is a proud not-for-profit shareholder in numerous community food initiatives, including Scotland the Bread, Fordhall Farm, The Community Farm, Luminary Bakery and the Ourfield initiative.
Kath has a first-class Masters in Food Policy from the Centre for Food Policy at City University London.
Her awards include being identified as one of 10 most influential campaigners in 2018 by The Right Ethos; one of the Top 20 most influential people in public sector catering in 2018 and 2020 in Public Sector Catering magazine; the 2006 Caroline Walker Trust Lifetime Award and, in 2016, an International Giraffe Appreciation Society award for "sticking her neck out in the public interest" (a title of which she is immensely proud), for helping catalyse third-sector legal challenges to the "anti-advocacy clause". Her work contributed to both the Food Commission and Sustain winning BBC Radio 4 Food & Farming Awards for food campaigning. After Sustain won the 2005 Judge's Special Award, Kath was also honoured to serve for a decade on the judging panel for the BBC Radio 4 Food & Farming Awards, meeting many inspiring food entrepreneurs and campaigners.
Kath Dalmeny owns one share in Barclays Bank, for the purposes of share activism on the climate and nature emergency, in support of the work of ShareAction. If this generates any profit, she will donate it to Friends of the Earth.
Sarah Williams
Programmes Director
Sarah is Programmes Director for Sustain and a member of the Senior Leadership Team, having joined in in 2009 to run Capital Growth campaign, which supported 2,012 new community food growing gardens in London.
Sarah has developed several new programmes at Sustain including Big Dig, Growing Health and more recently Bridging the Gap. Her work focuses on our Local Action theme and includes overseeing Sustainable Food Places, London Food Link and Sustain’s food growing programmes. Sarah also represents Sustain on the London Food Board, and co leads our work on skills including the Food Learning Forum.
Prior to Sustain her roles included running community regeneration projects, at Groundwork East London and Strategic Manager of the Newham Food Access Partnership. Sarah has a Masters in Leadership for Sustainable Development, achieved through the Forum for the Future programme.
Council of trustees
The members of Sustain's Council of Trustees are highly experienced and much valued advisors on Sustain's governance and strategic direction. They are elected by the Sustain alliance membership to form a governing body and declare any relevant interests (see individual profiles). Sustain’s Council of Trustees meets quarterly to guide the work of the alliance and many also serve as Working Party chairs or as Lead Trustees on specific areas of expertise. There are 15 places on the Council, with 5 offered as role-shares to create opportunities for diversity in terms of ethnicity, background and experience, and to cultivate younger talent in our sector.
Sustain trustees share their routes into sustainable food and farming
The short documentary hears from trustees Shefalee Loth, from Which?; Dr Kawther Hashem from Action on Salt, Sugar and Healt; Jyoti Fernandes, from Landworkers Alliance and Raksha Mistry from the Soil Association. They speak about challenges and opportunities in their roles and sectors, from access to land to perceptions of being a woman of colour, and touch on cross-cutting issues in food justice and public health. Blog and credits.
Josie Cohen
Pesticide Action Network UK
Josie Cohen joined Pesticide Action Network UK (PAN UK) in June 2017 to head up the organisation's UK campaigning, policy and communications work. She studied politics at university and has spent the last fifteen years working as a campaigner for a range of organisations including the League Against Cruel Sports and Save the Children UK. For the past decade she has focused on social, environmental and human rights issues associated with large-scale agriculture, leading ActionAid UK's biofuels campaign and working on land rights for Global Witness.
Declaration of interest: none
Deirdre Dee Woods
Independent Food Aid Network
Deirdre ‘Dee’ Woods is an award-winning cook, community food educator, urban agroecologist, organiser and researcher, with over 25 years’ experience of working in diverse communities. In 2016 she was awarded BBC Food and Farming Awards, Cook of the Year. Dee is co-founder of Granville Community Kitchen and co-chair of the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN). She is a director of the Landworkers Alliance, and member of the London Food Board that advises the Mayor of London on food policy, as well as the Food Ethics Council. Dee is co-editor of A People’s Food Policy and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) at Coventry University. Dee is the also co-founder of the African and Caribbean Heritage Food Network, and a founding member of the Global Solidarity Alliance for Food, Health and Social Justice.
Dee’s work sits at the nexus of food and farming, particularly in intersectionality, diversity, equity and anti-oppression, decolonisation, reparations, the right to food and nutrition, participatory policy making, community food systems, food system change, food commons, agroecology, and food sovereignty.
Dee is co-founder of Granville Community Kitchen and co-chair of the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN). Dee is a member of the Community Food Growers Network and the co-ordinating committee of the Landworkers Alliance, the GLA London Food Board, and the Food Ethics Council. Dee is co-editor of A People’s Food Policy and sits on the steering group of People-Food-Power and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Centre for Agro-ecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) at Coventry University. Dee’s work sits at the nexus of food and farming, particularly in intersectionality, diversity and inclusion, the right to food and nutrition, participatory policy making, community food systems, food system change, food commons, agroecology, food justice and food sovereignty.
Declaration of interest: None
Djenai Delerue
Open Food Network
Djenai is the communications and events lead at the Open Food Network (OFN). She helps OFN to grow and build a network. Having studied community action and food systems, Djenai is eager to participate and support change within our current food systems.
Djenai is passionate about supporting communities as well as be part of making the sector more diverse, inclusive, and equitable. This includes creating inclusive events, championing minority voices and highlighting the work done by other organisations that work in food justice.
Role-share with Nick Weir, Open Food Network
Declaration of interest: None
Jyoti Fernandes
Landworkers Alliance
The Landworkers Alliance is a union of farmers, growers, foresters and land-based workers whose mission is to improve the livelihoods of LWA members and create a better food and land-use system for everyone. Jyoti Fernandes is part of the LWA’s Coordinating Group and an agroecological smallholder farmer.
Jyoti says, “I have worked closely with Sustain on many campaigns to build a fairer food and farming system. I would like to bring diverse voices together- uplifted by Sustain, to work for food justice where everyone, regardless of income, background or where they live has access to healthy, affordable, sustainably produced food. We also need to bring more people into farming and food projects from diverse backgrounds, start more community farms, and community food projects. I believe in being proactive in creating opportunities for people from less privileged socio-economic backgrounds to create social and political change, and serve on the board of Sustain as a link point for getting people involved.”
Role-share with Ele Saltmarsh of FLAME, the youth branch of Landworkers Alliance
Declaration of interest: Land Workers Alliance works on several joint projects with Sustain
Dr Kawther Hashem
Consensus Action on Salt, Sugar and Health (CASSH)
Dr Kawther Hashem BSc MSc PhD RNutr (Public Health) is a Registered Nutritionist, is currently serving as a Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition at Queen Mary University of London. Additionally, she holds the position of Campaign Lead for the Action on Sugar project at Consensus Action on Salt, Sugar and Health (CASSH), a research charity organisation concerned with the effects of salt and sugar on health. Kawther is responsible for driving Action on Sugar’s research, advocacy and policy work on sugar and calorie reduction.
Kawther's educational background includes a BSc in Nutrition from King's College London. Since completing her studies, she has garnered valuable experience across diverse sectors, including the food industry, non-governmental organisations, and most recently, academia. In 2014, she successfully obtained a Masters in Food Policy from City University of London, followed by the completion of her PhD focusing on sugar reduction in early 2019 from Queen Mary University of London.
In addition to her current responsibilities, Kawther also serves as a visiting lecturer on nutrition and food policy at multiple universities in the UK and a Trustee for the charity Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming in the UK. Her expertise in the field often leads to invitations to provide commentary on nutrition-related topics in the media.
Declaration of interest: None
Bridget Henderson
Unite, the union
Bridget Henderson is the research officer for the food, drink and agriculture sector represented by Unite, the union. Unite has more than 100,000 members in its food, drink and agriculture sector, and thousands more across all industrial sectors linked to the food chain, such as those in logistics and transport, printing and packaging, and the public sector. Formerly the editor of Landworker, the journal for rural workers, and now as the sector researcher, Bridget brings experience and insights of Unite members to contribute to Sustain's work in building a better, safer and fairer food system.
Declaration of interest: None
Katharine Jenner
Obesity Health Alliance
Katharine Jenner is a Registered Public Health Nutritionist and the Campaign Director of the award-winning salt reduction charity Action on Salt (CASH), its international arm World Action on Salt and Health (WASH) and Action on Sugar, which aims to reduce unnecessary sugars in the population's diet. She also runs the only charity dedicated to lowering the nation's blood pressure, Blood Pressure UK and is a Visiting Lecturer in Public Health Nutrition at several UK universities. Katharine worked as a media strategist for several years and as such is very interested in developing innovative approaches to communicating public health. Formerly, Katharine was Chair of Sustain's Campaign for Better Hospital Food.
Katharine is Chair of Sustain's SUGAR SMART campaign; also Chair of Sustain's Children's Food Campaign working party
Declaration of interest: None
Shefalee Loth
Which?
Shefalee Loth is Principal Researcher and Writer at Which?, the UK’s largest independent, not-for-profit consumer organisation which aims to tackle consumer harm and make consumers as powerful as the organisations they deal with in their daily lives. Shefalee produces consumer focused food and nutrition content for Which? covering nutrition and health, food safety and authenticity, and sustainability.
Shefalee is a Public Health Nutritionist who has previously worked in research and for the NHS. In her role at Which? Shefalee has campaigned for better nutrition labelling, consumer-focused food law enforcement, and most recently saving our food standards in future trade deals. Shefalee was an advisory group member for Food Integrity, an EU funded project to combat food fraud and was Chair and trustee of the Caroline Walker Trust.
Declaration of interest: None
Raksha Mistry
Food for Life, Soil Association
Raksha Mistry is the Soil Association Food for Life Programme Manager in Leicestershire. She is currently leading over 180 schools to develop a generation of conscious food citizens within a growing culture of good food. That extends across communities, caterers, food producers, and farmers. Raksha developed and established the national Grandparent Gardening Week, a campaign that enables generations to connect through food. Raksha is experienced working across community settings and generations to create meaningful and purposeful connection among groups. In 2019 the intergenerational practice and impact in Leicestershire was recognised and awarded by the NACC and reported across national media channels. Raksha has over 15 years’ experience in partnership building, marketing and communications. She has a Masters in Climate Change and Sustainable Development. Whilst at Learning and Work Institute (formerly NIACE) Raksha led a regional team across England to engage with diverse and disadvantaged communities to find life enrichment opportunities through adult learning.
Role-share with Rob Percival of the Soil Association
Declaration of interest: None
Rob Percival
Soil Association
Rob Percival is Head of Food Policy at the Soil Association, leading the organisation’s advocacy and campaigns for healthy and sustainable diets. He works closely with the Food for Life programme on procurement and school food policy, and is currently leading campaigns on intensive livestock, ultra-processed foods, and children’s food in popular attractions and high street restaurants.
Rob has worked with Sustain in a variety of contexts over the last (almost) decade to influence government policy on public procurement, children’s food, farming and land-use, and more.
Rob is an associate member of the Faculty of Public Health, sitting on their Food Special Interest Group. He is also a trustee of First Steps Nutrition Trust. His book, The Meat Paradox, which explores the tensions of the meat debate, was published in March 2022.
Role-share with Raksha Mistry of the Soil Association
Declaration of interest: Trustee of the First Steps Nutrition Trust, a Sustain alliance member organisation
Mike Rayner
University of Oxford
Mike Rayner is Chair of Sustain. He is a Professor of Population Health at the Nuffield Department of Population Health of the University of Oxford where he is head of the Sustainable, Food, Diet and Non-Communicable Disease Prevention Research Group. The group, formerly the Centre on Population Approaches for Non-Communicable Disease Prevention, which Mike founded in 1993, carries out research into the promotion of healthier and more sustainable diets. Mike is also Chair of the Nutrition Expert Group for the European Heart Network based in Brussels. He is an ordained priest in the Church of England.
Mike Rayner is Chair of Sustain
Declaration of interest: Member of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy evaluation panel. Also, the Nuffield Department of Population Health at the University of Oxford is partnering with Sustain on a research programme funded by the Wellcome Trust for work on food and climate change.
Ele Saltmarsh
FLAME, the youth branch of Landworkers Alliance
Ele Saltmarsh is a member of the Coordinating Group of FLAME, the youth branch of Landworkers Alliance (LWA). Ele supports campaigns for better food and farming through quantitative and model-based research, which has been used in support of agroecological policy proposals from a local to national scale.
Her background in academic research and community engagement underscores her commitment to advancing food and farming practices that prioritise health and the environment.
Working together with Jyoti Fernandes of the Landworkers Alliance, Ele says, “We possess a shared vision of a more equitable, sustainable, and healthier food system but have diverse skills and practical experience. This diversity and our unyielding dedication to this cause would greatly benefit Sustain in its efforts to advocate for positive change in food and farming practices.”
Role-share with Jyoti Fernandes, Landworkers Alliance
Declaration of interest: None
Stephanie Slater
School Food Matters
Stephanie Slater is Vice-Chair of Sustain. Stephanie is Founder/Chief Executive of the charity School Food Matters, set up in 2007 to campaign for fresh, sustainable school food and to promote food education. In 2012 she joined the School Food Plan's Expert Panel, tasked by the Department for Education to create an action plan to support head teachers to improve food in their schools. She is now co-Chair of the School Food Plan Alliance.
Stephanie Slater is Vice-Chair of Sustain; also Chair of Sustain's London Food Link network and Capital Growth; and was formerly Vice-Chair of the independent Children's Health Fund Board (now disbanded).
Declaration of interest: In 2020, School Food Matters received a grant issued by Unicef, coordinated by Sustain, for work on the Covid-19 emergency food response
Additional note: Sustain's Deputy Chief Executive Ben Reynolds is Chair of the Board of Trustees of School Food Matters (an unpaid position)
Alison Swan Parente
School of Artisan Food
Alison Swan Parente studied social anthropology at LSE a very long time ago. She trained and worked as a child and adolescent psychotherapist in various settings in the USA and then the NHS for 35 years. She was Chair of the Trustees of the Women's Therapy Centre for many years and has sat on several Charity boards, both grant-giving and receiving.She founded the Welbeck Bakehouse in 2008 and the School of Artisan Food in 2009. She knows a bit about cooking from a lifetime of doing it, and a bit about education from her years of working with young people. She is particularly interested in food, health and obesity and the barriers to access to healthy food. She still has a lot to learn.
Alison is Chair of Sustain's Real Bread Campaign
Declaration of interest: Owner of Welbeck Bakehouse, a member of Sustain's Real Bread Campaign
Nick Weir
Open Food Network
Nick Weir is Community Facilitator for the Open Food Network. He is a founder of Stroud Community Agriculture and Stroudco Food Hub. He helped to bring the Open Food Network (OFN) to the UK and now works as Community Facilitator with OFN UK and a Global Gardener supporting new countries to deploy OFN.
As a Plunkett specialist advisor, a Co-ops UK consultant and a DTA Wales mentor, Nick has supported the set-up and development of many CSA and food hub enterprises.
Nick says, “I am passionate about supporting communities to build short food supply chains and facilitating the development of food systems that address the needs of all beings. This includes building enterprises that address social inequalities and working towards removing the need for food banks.”
Role-share with Djenai Delerue of the Open Food Network
Declaration of interest: None
Victoria Williams
Food Matters
Victoria is co-founder and Director at Food Matters, a charity working to make healthy, sustainable, fair food become a reality for everybody, every day. Victoria’s expertise centres on food poverty and access issues particularly the effect of national policies on local food initiatives. Victoria has been working on sustainability and food poverty for over 20 years and her current focus is on prison food reform. Victoria is Chair of the board at Brighton & Hove Food Partnership, board member of the Brighton & Hove Allotment Federation and she sits on the Programme Management Board of the Sustainable Food Places Programme.
Victoria is Chair of Sustain's Food Poverty working party and serves as Sustain's Treasurer
Declaration of interest: Food Matters is working in partnership with Sustain on the Sustainable Food Places programme (funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and the National Lottery); and on the Buckinghamshire Food Partnership scoping project (funded by the Rothschild Foundation)
Additional note: Sustain's chief executive Kath Dalmeny is a Trustee of Food Matters (an unpaid position)
