Approach
Our catering ethos across all our outlets is to maintain a balance with objectives and social and environmental responsibilities. We are proud to sell a number of Fairtrade products and work with local suppliers to ensure we provide a range of sustainable food and drink offerings on campus. We track and report on all waste, including campus food waste, and use a range of initiatives to reduce waste.
We provide healthy and affordable food choices, including vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free and gluten-free alternatives, and we do all we can to accommodate any request. We have a Sustainable Food Policy, covering our sustainable food practices across the board.
Our student’s association, ENSA, provides advice and support for students, including listing free or cheap places to eat. Our Student Funding team has a supermarket voucher scheme for students in need.
As part of our staff benefits, we offer a discount supermarket voucher scheme, guidance for staff on money matters, and we are committed to paying the living wage. Our staff wellbeing team can advise on local food banks if required.
Our supply chain code of conduct supports prioritising purchase of products including food from local, sustainable sources.
Research
We are actively researching food and food security, sustainable agriculture and aquaculture, with our expertise supporting local knowledge skills and technology for food producers. Initiatives include our Herring Hunt, which aims to rebuild inshore herring populations with positive social and economic impacts for local fishermen and food producers, as well as improving overall biodiversity.
One of our core academic research themes is 'Environment' and includes a number of our impact case studies that have a focus on working with communities to support livelihoods and food security:
Teaching
We teach on food, including food and Scottish culture in our module “Food Wine and Society” for students in our Business School, and “Food Microbiology & Biotechnology” for students in our School of Applied Sciences in the UK, Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong.