Elizabeth Dowler (2pp CV)

Department of Sociology, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL

tel: ++24 765 23549 fax: ++ 24 765 23497

Professor in food and social policy; Registered Nutritionist(Public Health)

1996 PhD University of London Nutrition and Poverty: the case of lone parents in the UK.

1976 MScUniversity of London (Faculty of Medicine) Human Nutrition

1972 MA Natural Sciences Tripos, University of Cambridge

My research and teaching is on the social and policy dimensions of food and human nutrition. I work collaboratively with colleagues from different disciplines and sectors in the UK, elsewhere in Europe and previously in the global south. Recent research is on food security and poverty; local food initiatives; food and nutrition in mediating inequalities in health and of poverty; policy evaluation at local and national levels; consumers’ identities and perceptions of ‘risk’ and ‘trust’ in relation to food, and implications of negotiated new relationships with producers and the food system; ethical dimensions of the food system. I have qualitative and quantitative research skills, and have managed a number of research projects, often across institutions. I carried out curriculum design for FAO at Masters level in nutrition and agriculture in Sri Lanka and China in the 1990s and contributed in Tanzania and Brazil. For 20 years I taught and researched internationally from London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; in 2000, I moved to social policy within sociology (Warwick Department of Sociology). I am a Member/Trustee of the Food Ethics Council.

  • member, External Expert Panel, Evaluation of Framework 7 KBBE programme 2006-13, EU Commission, Feb-Aug 2014.
  • member, Social Science Expert Panel, Defra/DECC, UK, May 2012 - ongoing
  • member, international experts WHO Europe led evaluation Norwegian Action Plan on Nutrition 2007-2011, Oslo, April 2012.
  • member, national Council Food Policy Advisers, Defra, 2008-2010
  • member, Food and Fairness Inquiry, Food Ethics Council, 2009-2010
  • member, Registration Committee, Association for Nutrition, 2010 - ongoing
  • member, Food Standards Agency, Independent Panel to Review Controls on Infant Formula and Follow-on Formula, 2008-2010
  • Senior Marie Curie Research Fellow, University College Dublin:rights base approaches to food poverty, Jan-March 2008
  • lead for evaluation team national policy, Food and Wellbeing Wales, for Food Standards Agency Wales, 2006-7.
  • member 3-person external evaluation panel, Scottish Diet Action Plan 1996-2005, for NHS Scotland, 2005-6;
  • member, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Programme Development Group, Maternal and Child Nutrition Guidelines (published March 2008)
  • recentResearch Steering Committees:
  • Families and Food Poverty in three European countries in an age of austerity, Institute of Education, London, 2014-6 (chair)
  • Commission into UK Food Poverty, Fabian Society, London, 2014-5
  • Food in Turbulent Times, University of Copenhagen, 2012-14
  • Evaluation of UK Health Start, University of York, 2010-2012 (chair)
  • Young children’s nutrition in Liverpool, University of Liverpool/Heart of Mersey 2009-2010
  • member Working Group on Food and Poverty/Food Access Network, Sustain, 1996-2009

summary recent/current research:

  • challenges for household food security in global North, in austerity and economic recession, and climate change (various)
  • food security: implications for low income consumers of financial crisis (Defra;Co-I; Collier PI)
  • role and access to ‘local’ food: developing participatory measurement toolkit (CPRE; Co-I; Kneafsey PI)
  • exploring ‘reconnection’ between consumers, producers and food (ESRC/AHRC; Co-I; Kneafsey PI)
  • evaluation nutrition strategy implementation, particularly for deprived households (Health Scotland/FSA Wales)
  • sustainability of community food projects as policy instrument for addressing inequalities (JRF/RDA West Midlands);
  • public perceptions of BSE/CJD and ‘risk in food’, media and policy responses (EU)

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS: BOOKS AND CHAPTERS:

DOWLER, E. (2014) ‘Food banks and food justice in “Austerity Britain”’ ch12 in: Riches, G. and Silvasti, T. (eds) First World Hunger Revisited, Basingstoke: PalgraveMacmillan.

Caraher, M. and DOWLER, E. (2014) ‘Food for Poorer People: Conventional and “Alternative” Trangressions?’ ch 11 in: Goodman, M., Sage, C. (eds) Food Transgressions: Making sense of contemporary food politics, Aldershot: Ashgate.

Dowler, E., Kneafsey,M., Cox, R. Holloway, L. (2010) ‘Doing food differently: reconnecting biological and social relationships through care for food’ in: N. Charles R. Carter (eds) Nature, Society and Environmental Crisis, Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Kneafsey, M, Venn, L, Holloway, L, Cox, R, DOWLER, E and Tuomainen, H (2008)Reconnecting Consumers, Producers and Food: Exploring Alternatives, Oxford: Berg.

DOWLER, E. (2008) ‘Poverty, food and nutrition’. ch 3 in: Strelitz,J. Lister,R. (eds) Money Matters, London: Save the Children Fund.

Cox, R, Kneafsey, M, Venn, L, Holloway, L, Dowler, E and Tuomainen (2008) ‘Constructing Sustainability through Reconnection – the case of ‘alternative’ food networks’, ch 10 in: Robinson, G (ed) Sustainable Rural Environments, Ashgate.

DOWLER, E. and Spencer, N. (eds) (2007) Challenging Health Inequalities: from Acheson to ‘Choosing Health’, Bristol: Policy Press. including: Spencer, N. DOWLER, E. Introduction ch 1;DOWLER, E., Caraher, M., Lincoln, P. Inequalities in food and nutrition: challenging ‘lifestyles’ ch 8; DOWLER, E. Spencer, N. Challenging Health Inequalities: themes and issues, ch 13.

Holloway, L., M, Kneafsey, R. Cox, L. Venn, E.Dowler and H. Tuomainen (2007) ‘Possible food economies: other food networks and the constitution of “alternative” producer-consumer relations’, in Maye, D., Holloway, L. and Kneafsey, M. (eds) Alternative Food Geographies: representation and practice, Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 77-93.

Elizabeth DOWLER, Judith Green, Giancarlo Gasperoni and Martin Bauer, (2006) Assessing public perception: issues and methods. ch 3 in: Dora, C. (ed) Health, Hazards and Public Debate: Lessons for risk communication from the BSE/CJD saga,WHO: Copenhagen.

Elizabeth DOWLER (2004) Food and poverty: insights from the UK. ch 3 in Maxwell, S. and Slater, R. (eds) Food Policy Old and New, pp33-41. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Elizabeth DOWLER and Geoff Tansey (2003) Food and poverty. in: Mosley, P & DOWLER, E. (eds) Poverty and Social Exclusion in North and South.London: Routledge. pp189-207.

E. DOWLER (2003) Food and Poverty in Britain: Rights and Responsibilities. in: E DOWLER C Jones Finer (eds) (2003) The Welfare of Food: rights and responsibilities in a changing world, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, pp 140-159. also (2002) Social Policy and Administration, 36, 6, 698-717.

Elizabeth DOWLER, Sheila Turner with Barbara Dobson (2001) Poverty bites: food, health and poor families. London: CPAG.

Elizabeth DOWLER and Suzi Leather (2000) Spare some change for a bite to eat? From Primary Poverty to Social Exclusion: the role of food, in: Bradshaw, J and Sainsbury, R. (eds) Experiencing Poverty, Aldershot: Ashgate, pp 200-218.

McGlone, P., Dobson, B., DOWLER, E. & Nelson, M. (1999) Food projects and how they work. York: York Publishing for JRF.

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS: JOURNALS

DOWLER, E. and Lambie-Mumford, H. (forthcoming) (eds) ‘Hunger, Food Poverty and Social Policy in Austerity’, special issue Social Policy and Society.

Lambie-Mumford, H. and DOWLER, E. (2014 in print) ‘Rising use of “food aid” in the United Kingdom’, sp issue British Food Journal.

Kneafsey, M., DOWLER, E., Lambie, H., Inman, A. and Collier, R. (2012) ‘Consumers and food security: Uncertain or empowered?’ Journal of Rural Studies, 28, 1-12.

DOWLER, E. and O’Connor, D. (2012) ‘Rights-based approaches to addressing food poverty and food insecurityin Ireland and UK’ Social Science and Medicine, 74, 44-51 special issue on human rights to health.

DOWLER, E., Kneafsey, M., Lambie, H., Inman, A. and Collier, R. (2011) ‘Thinking about “food security”: engaging with UK consumers’ special issue Critical Public Health, 21, 403-416.

MacMillan, T. and DOWLER, E. (2012) ‘Secure and sustainable? Examining the rhetoric and potential realities of UK food security’Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics25, 2, 181-204.

Elizabeth DOWLER (2008) ‘Food and Health Inequalities: the challenge for sustaining just consumption’ Local Environment 13, 8, 759-772.(special issue on inequality and sustainable consumption)

Dowler, E.A. (2008) Policy initiatives to address low income households' nutritional needs in the UK. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 67, 3, 289-300.

Holloway, L., Kneafsey, M., Venn, L., Cox, R., DOWLER, E., & Tuomainen, H (2007) Possible food economies: a methodological framework for exploring food production-consumption relationships, Sociologia Ruralis, 47, no1, 1-19.

Caraher, M. and DOWLER, E. (2007) Food Projects in London: Lessons for Policy and Practice, Health Education Journal,66, 188-205.

Thorogood, M., Simera, I., DOWLER, E., Summerbell, C., Brunner, B. (2007) A systematic review of population and community dietary interventions to prevent cancer. Nutrition Research Reviews, 20, 74-88.

Watts, R. , McGlone, P., Russell, J., Tull, K., DOWLER, E. (2006) Establishing, implementing and maintaining a social support infant feeding programme. Public Health Nutrition, 9 (6), 714-721.

Venn, L., Kneafsey, M., Holloway, L., Cox, R., DOWLER, E., & Tuomainen, H. (2006) Researching European ‘alternative’ food networks: some methodological considerations. Area, 38.3: 248-258.

Judith Green, Alizon Draper, Elizabeth DOWLER, Giolo Fele, Vera Hagenhoff, Maria Rusanen, Timo Rusanen (2005) Public understanding of food risks in four European countries: a qualitative study. European Journal of Public Health, 5(5):523-527.

Judith Green, Alizon Draper and Elizabeth DOWLER (2003) Short cuts to safety: risk and 'rules of thumb' in accounts of food choice. Health, Risk and Society, 5,1, 33-52.

Elizabeth DOWLER and Martin Caraher (2003) Local Food Projects - the New Philanthropy? Political Quarterly, 74, no1, 57-65.

Elizabeth DOWLER (2001) Inequalities in diet and physical activity in Europe. Public Health Nutrition 4, (2B), 701-709.

Morris, J., Donkin, A., Wonderling, D., Wilkinson, P. DOWLER, E. (2000) A minimum income for healthy living. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health 54, 885-889.

Donkin, A.J.M., DOWLER, E. A., Stevenson, S.J.,Turner S. A.. (2000) Mapping access to food in a deprived area: the development of price and availability indices. Public Health Nutrition, 3, 31-38.

DOWLER, E. (1997) Budgeting for food on a low income: the case of lone parents. Food Policy 22, 5, 405-417.

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