We are so thrilled to welcome our latest team member Paul Denley. Read on to find out Pauls story in his own words.
My real interest in the food system began about ten years ago when I became vegan. It was the first time I had really looked with any depth into a part of the food system and I watched many documentaries and read many articles on the animal agriculture industry.
A few years later, I found myself in Denmark and was lucky enough to come across a Bachelor's degree in Global Nutrition and Health. It was an international, 3.5 year higher education programme taught in English, comprised of students from more than 20 different countries. This incredible, life-changing education taught me how to solve challenges in global nutrition and health among citizens, communities, and society at local, regional, and global levels. It also taught me to promote nutrition, sustainability and food security by implementing food and nutrition policies, using communication and education tools.
The holistic and broad nature of the degree programme provided me with a deeper understanding of how connected everything is, specifically with regards to challenges that we face, whether they be related to global warming, food security, wildlife and nature degradation, or physical and mental health epidemics, to name a few. Nutritional Science and Physiology were just components of what was a very broad course, which included modules in Sustainability, Sociology of Food, Anthropology, Statistics, Research, Project Management, Qualitative and Quantitative Methods and Psychology.
I conducted two internships as part of my degree. One was a research project at my university, where my main duty was assisting my professor in the evaluation of an organisation called "Taste for Life”. I conducted a systematic literature search of recent scientific articles regarding the sense of taste and subsequently analysed, documented and catalogued my findings.
The second internship was at an NGO called Crossing Borders, who work towards educating, connecting and empowering people to become active global citizens. My tasks included facilitating climate workshops, applying for funding, conducting interviews and focus groups, organising events, creating video content, proofreading, contributing to articles and conducting needs assessments. My time there allowed me to gain experience working with a diverse array of stakeholders in an international environment.
My Bachelor's degree culminated in a thesis where I looked at attitudes towards vegan meat substitutes amongst local residents in Copenhagen, where part of my research involved conducting a focus group.
I am currently doing a Master's degree in Integrated Food Studies at the University of Copenhagen. The curriculum looks at how to tackle problems related to the production and consumption of food, such as climate change, sustainability, or malnutrition. It looks at the production, processing, distribution, and consumption of food from the perspectives of the natural, health and social sciences. The aim of the course is to enable graduates to transform the food system towards better public health, lower environmental impact, and better-quality food for a growing global population; there is so much crossover with the work that Good Food Cheltenham is doing.
For part of my Master's, I can choose to do a “project in practice” where I collaborate with an organisation. The project in practice is a volunteer placement, where I spend time with an organisation, getting practical experience that’s relevant to my education. I was really excited and inspired when I found Good Food Cheltenham while searching for local organisations. The relevance of the work they are doing with regards to what I am studying made it the perfect organisation within which to gain practical experience, all while being involved with the local community I am so passionate about.
My particular interests lie in the field of sociology and eating behaviour, as well as evidenced-based nutrition; In particular, the abundance of evidence showing how diets centred around whole, plant-foods are proven to prevent and reverse the world's biggest killers, such as heart disease, diabetes type 2 and cancer.
I'm passionate about creating a society and communities where people have access to rigorous and sound scientific information around food and nutrition (not biased by rich, powerful corporations and lobbying interests). I'm passionate about creating a society where everyone has the means to procure and access to healthy food. I want to live in a society where local authorities and government prioritise good food practices and realise that solutions to problems concerning physical-health, mental-health, global warming, bio-diversity loss etc cannot be separated and should be seen holistically, often with food production and consumption playing a central and pivotal role.
Currently at Good Food Cheltenham, I am collaborating on creating a survey that will eventually be rolled out amongst local residents of Gloucestershire. The survey aims to build on existing knowledge and find out what "Good Food" means to our local communities. The data we collect via the survey will be a valuable resource in terms of allowing us to implement our food strategy in a way that is tailored to local residents’ needs. I'm also helping with the general running of GFC and it is allowing me to gain a valuable insight into the local food landscape.
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