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LSHTM Research Online Picchioni, F; Aurino, E; Aleksandrowicz, L; Bruce, M; Chesterman, S; Dominguez-Salas, P; Gersten, Z; Kalamatianou, S; Turner, C; Yates, J; (2017) Roads to interdisciplinarity – working at the nexus among food systems, nutrition and health. Food security, 9 (1). pp. 181-189. ISSN 1876-4517 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-017-0658-2 Downloaded from: http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4086886/ DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-017-0658-2 Usage Guidelines: Please refer to usage guidelines at https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/policies.html or alternatively contact [email protected]. Available under license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk

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Page 1: LSHTM Research Onlineresearchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/4086886/1/Picchioni2017...CONFERENCE REPORT Roads to interdisciplinarity – working at the nexus among food systems, nutrition and

LSHTM Research Online

Picchioni, F; Aurino, E; Aleksandrowicz, L; Bruce, M; Chesterman, S; Dominguez-Salas, P; Gersten,Z; Kalamatianou, S; Turner, C; Yates, J; (2017) Roads to interdisciplinarity – working at the nexusamong food systems, nutrition and health. Food security, 9 (1). pp. 181-189. ISSN 1876-4517 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-017-0658-2

Downloaded from: http://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/id/eprint/4086886/

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-017-0658-2

Usage Guidelines:

Please refer to usage guidelines at https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/policies.html or alternativelycontact [email protected].

Available under license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/

https://researchonline.lshtm.ac.uk

Page 2: LSHTM Research Onlineresearchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/4086886/1/Picchioni2017...CONFERENCE REPORT Roads to interdisciplinarity – working at the nexus among food systems, nutrition and

CONFERENCE REPORT

Roads to interdisciplinarity – working at the nexus among foodsystems, nutrition and health1st annual Agriculture, Nutrition and Health (ANH) Academy Week, Addis Ababa(Ethiopia), 20–24 June 2016

F. Picchioni1,2 & E. Aurino1,3 & L. Aleksandrowicz1,4 &M. Bruce1,5,6 & S. Chesterman1,7&

P. Dominguez-Salas1,5,8 & Z. Gersten6,9& S. Kalamatianou1,4,6

& C. Turner1,4 & J. Yates1,4,6

Received: 21 November 2016 /Accepted: 29 November 2016 /Published online: 14 February 2017# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht and International Society for Plant Pathology 2017

Keywords Agri-health . Nutrition . InterdisciplinaryResearch . ANHAcademyWeek . Impact Pathways .

Learning Labs

Introduction

The development agenda over the next 15 years will beframed by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ofwhich more than half relate either directly or indirectly tothe agricultural sector, highlighting its importance in econom-ic growth and development of low- and middle-income coun-tries (LMICs) (FAO 2015). It is therefore imperative that ag-ricultural systems are better understood, so that they may bestrengthened and optimised to deliver outcomes in line withthe SDGs. The interface between agriculture, nutrition andhealth is particularly multifaceted and complex, and the de-velopment of successful strategies will require an integratedand multi-sectoral approach (Dorward and Dangour 2012;Jones and Ejeta 2016).

‘Agri-health’ is an evolving paradigm seeking to unify re-search approaches and methodologies between agricultureand health. Research within the field encapsulates a broad

range of disciplines, locations and actors, and aligns these intoa common research agenda. In doing so, agri-health aims totranscend barriers imposed by the longstanding institutionaland disciplinary silos. Much progress has been made in recentyears in this regard (Harris et al. 2013; Kanter et al. 2014;Picchioni et al. 2015). However, more coordinated effortsare required to generate consensus and target strategic priori-ties amongst the many existing information gaps (Webb andKennedy 2014). Understanding the linkages between com-plex issues such as globalisation, climate change, food sys-tems, and evolving burdens of malnutrition is central to agri-health research.

The Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research onAgriculture and Health (LCIRAH) was created in 2010 witha key focus on agri-health interdisciplinary research. LCIRAHincludes experts from across the member colleges of theUniversity of London: the London School of Hygiene andTropical Medicine (LSHTM), the School of Oriental andAfrican Studies (SOAS), and the Royal Veterinary College(RVC).

The Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy (ANHAcademy), was established in 2015 as a platform to facilitatelearning, knowledge sharing, capacity building and collaborative

* F. [email protected]

1 Leverhulme Centre for Integrated Research on Agriculture andHealth (LCIRAH), LIDC, 36 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD,UK

2 School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, UK

3 Imperial College, London, UK

4 London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM),London, UK

5 Royal Veterinary College (RVC), London, UK6 Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition

Actions (IMMANA), London, UK7 World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi, Kenya8 International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Nairobi, Kenya9 Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy,

Boston, USA

Food Sec. (2017) 9:181–189DOI 10.1007/s12571-017-0658-2

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partnerships among the growing global community of re-searchers, practitioners and policy makers working within agri-health. It was developed with support from the InnovativeMetrics and Methods for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions(IMMANA) research programme,1 led by LCIRAH and TuftsUniversity, in partnership with the CGIAR Programme onAgriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH). Within this scope,the ANH Academy hosts an annual ANH Academy Week,building on the legacy of five agri-health research conferencesorganised by LCIRAH; as well as events and activities coordi-nated under the CGIAR A4NH.

The inaugural ANH Academy Week took place in AddisAbaba, Ethiopia, in June 2016 and included two daysof interactive ‘learning labs’ (training sessions on skillsand methods across a broad range of disciplines inagri-health), followed by a three-day research conference.The conference included a mix of abstract-driven sessions,round table discussions, and keynote speeches from acrossthe spectrum of agriculture, nutrition and health disciplines,and a wide range of countries (Fig. 1).

Hawkes et al. (2012) developed a conceptual framework(Fig. 2, hereafter referred to as the Framework), outlining thekey pathways throughwhich agriculture may affect nutritionalstatus in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs), as wellas broader drivers of these pathways. Drawing on thisFramework, this paper aims to provide an analytical synthesisof the ANH Academy week by mapping the research anddebates presented during the conference.

Linking pathways among agriculture, nutritionand health

Identifying pathways among agriculture, nutrition and health,and novel methods and metrics in this area was a commontheme connecting the Academy Week learning labs, confer-ence presentations and debates. This section will briefly ex-plain the conceptual Framework used to categorize the con-ference abstracts, and describe these results. A description ofpresentations, organised by four thematic areas, then follows.

In the Framework illustrated in Fig. 2, nutrition is the keyoutcome and endpoint of impact pathways stemming fromagricultural and food system activities. These pathways fromagriculture to nutrition act through modifying food environ-ments and food intake, and alterations of socioeconomic fac-tors such as education, health, and income. Additionally, the

Framework shows broad macro-level drivers influencingthese pathways to nutrition, namely climate and environment;culture, gender and equity; political and economic context;and policy and governance.

We applied this Framework to assess the research contri-butions of the conference, using a multi-stage process.We firstclassified each presentation by its main research scope, broad-ly represented by the domains in the Framework. The researchabstracts were then classified in terms of whether they studiedthe Framework domains as a determinant of nutrition, as anoutcome in itself, or as an intermediary on the pathway tonutrition (Fig. 3).

During the conference, 45 abstracts were presented. Withinthese, the domains of agricultural inputs, practices, and foodvalue chains were most commonly studied as the determinantsof nutrition and health (15, 14 and 11, respectively). Severalother domains were also studied as determinants of nutritionin the abstracts, including (1) gender empowerment andintrahousehold dynamics, (2) consumption, (3) environmentand climate change, (4) food environments, and (5) politicaland economic factors (9, 7, 7, 6, and 4 studies, respectively).This highlights a wide range of intersectoral nutritional deter-minants that were presented during the conference and a trendto investigation within the macro-level drivers related to thedevelopment of agriculture-for-nutrition interventions andpolicies. In terms of the final outcome, domains presented inthe abstracts focused predominantly on nutritional status, par-ticularly child and maternal nutrition. Food intake was alsocommonly used as a study outcome, often used as proxy fornutritional status. Fewer studies included health, educationand wellbeing as the final, measurable outcome of their anal-yses, emphasising the difficulties in measuring impacts ofagricultural interventions on these important domains. Interms of intermediary aims, food consumption was the pre-ferred channel to improve nutritional status (6 studies),followed by gender empowerment and intra-household dy-namics, and agricultural practices (3 studies for bothdomains).

We now more comprehensively summarise the presentedabstracts, by dividing them according to four thematic sphereswhich emerged from the conference sessions: 1) Value chainand market approaches in agri-health 2) Pathways among ag-riculture, food systems, and health; 3) Environmental sustain-ability of agriculture and food systems; 4) Gender and house-hold dynamics approaches in agri-health.

Theme 1: Value chain and market approaches in agri-health

In recent years the agri-health community has employedvalue chain approaches to address global malnutrition. Valuechain frameworks examine the actors involved in differentstages of food production, distribution, and consumption, as

1 IMMANA provides a number of grants and fellowships. Grants aim toaccelerate the development of innovative interdisciplinary methods, metrics,and tools to fill key knowledge gaps in agriculture-food systems and nutritionresearch. Fellowships aim to build a cadre of early career researchers in agri-culture and food systems, nutrition, and health research. During the ANHAcademy Week IMMANA grantees and fellows presented their research.For a detailed list of researchers and projects visit IMMANAwebsite.

182 Picchioni F. et al.

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well as their interrelations (Gelli et al. 2015). Key concernsrelate to how value chains can be optimised to improve nutri-tion, including how to minimise inefficiencies and risks. Theneed to comprehensively account for all stages, and acrossmultiple value chains, was a key message from thediscussions.

Multiple value chains combine to shape food availabilitywithin food environments, providing both opportunities andconstraints for policy levers to tackle malnutrition. However,as Aisha Twalibu2 noted, the vast majority of value chainstudies have focused on single chains. Twalibu’s project useda multi-chain focus to address the various constraints hinder-ing quality of diets. Her work emphasized the roles of socialinvestment and the public sector in bridging low-incomehouseholds with access to markets. Rohit Parasar compareddistribution value chains under the Supplementary NutritionProgramme (SNP) in two Indian states, finding higher stateSNP spending is associated with lower levels of undernutri-tion, and making the case for the programme’s inclusion ofmore beneficiaries. Parasar also emphasized the importance ofhaving differentiated models of preparation and distribution offortified foods; state intervention, private-public partnershipsand cooperatives can play important roles in this sector,while also providing employment opportunities. PaulaDominguez-Salas, reported, on behalf of Maud Carron, ongovernance structures within poultry value chains inNairobi, which show nuanced effects on urban food environ-ments. Having only few producer associations, with minimalgovernment oversight, led to the dominance of informalvalue-chains and consequent food safety risks. Geday Eliasfound that, in the Ethiopian highlands, whilst there was anegative association between households’ participation inmilk value-chains and milk consumption, there were positiveassociations among participation and dietary diversity, energysupply, and farm income.

The importance of improving access to markets that pro-vide affordable and diverse foods throughout the year was akey message from several presentations. The role of marketsin dietary diversification has grown more prominent recentlywithin the Bagriculture for nutrition^ agenda. In a talk present-ed by Bhavani Shankar, Giacomo Zanello examined foodavailability and accessibility in markets in Afghanistan. Hefound that household dietary diversity was largely explainedby market-purchased foods, especially during seasons whenroads to markets are useable. Mehroosh Tak found that cross-state dietary diversity in India improves with increased marketcoverage and female literacy. Likewise, Kalle Hirvonen’sanalysis in remote Ethiopian localities emphasized the central-ity of markets in making communication strategies for behav-ioural change effective in improving children’s diets. In sim-ilar study regions, Bart Minten found that the additional costsimposed on farming households from poor roads and marketaccess, translated to worse welfare and food security. JérômeSomé’s study, presented by Andrew Jones, showed how de-gree of seasonal variation in household dietary diversity inBurkina Faso, due to fluctuations in agricultural production,can depend on the households’ agricultural and socioeconom-ic characteristics. This body of research has important policyimplications: nutrition-sensitive agricultural interventionshave traditionally focussed on prioritizing individual farm-level production, while these studies show the fundamentalimportance of broad-based market improvements andaccessibility.

Theme 2: Pathways among agriculture, food systems,and health

A food systems perspective, of which agricultural produc-tion is one component, is crucial to foster health outcomes.Food systems are complex socio-ecological systems, andthere is a critical need for specific methods, metrics, and char-acterisation of the pathways within these systems. A diversityof abstracts on this theme were presented during theconference.

2 For a full list of presenters and affiliations, see List of Presenters’Affiliationsand Institutions at the end of the document.

Fig. 1 Countries representedwithin ANH Academy Weekabstracts

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The links between agriculture and nutrition are bidirection-al (Hawkes and Ruel 2006), and nutritional intake affects la-bour, which is a key input into agricultural production.Rosemary Isoto discussed how the intake of macro- andmicro-nutrients was positively associated with productivityin Uganda women’s productivity, which more than doubledwhen nutrition improved. Maria Garza reported on thegovernance of animal health in poultry and aquaculture sec-tors in Bangladesh, finding a crucial need for more evidence-

based approaches in decision-making. Mieghan Brucediscussed her research on the effect of animal health interven-tions on home-consumption and income pathways in ruralTanzanian smallholder households.

Although animal-source foods have many nutritional ben-efits, food safety issues are still of concern. Derek Headeydiscussed evidence that exposure to chicken faeces had a det-rimental effect on child growth but more research was neededto clarify the mechanisms. However, there are potentially

Fig. 3 Classification and numberof abstracts by research domainsand analysis pathways

Source: Hawkes etal. 2012.

Fig. 2 Conceptual Framework ofpathways between agriculture andnutrition – Research Chain forAgriculture and Nutrition

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detrimental implications associated with food safety regula-tions; although the presence of aflatoxins in feed for dairycattle in Kenya contributes to significant costs, DanielSenerwa (in a study of five agro-ecological zones) estimatedthat if legislation were enforced, the economic losses would beconsiderable.

School feeding programs are seen as a tool to connect ag-riculture, nutrition, and development. For example, the GhanaSchool Feeding Program (GSFP) procures local food fromsmall-holder farmers, and aims to improve both child nutritionand school attendance (Gelli et al. 2016). However, asMatildaE. Laar and Clement Adamba indicated, challenges exist inevaluating these programmes comprehensively against multi-ple dimensions, and understanding the obstacles along variousstages of the procurement and distribution chain. AsnakeIrenso’s analysis of food security predictors in Ethiopiahighlighted the relevance of secure and stable food productionin urban and rural areas.

The food environment is the interface between food sys-tems and consumers, and includes the physical, economic andsocio-cultural factors that influence food choices. Consumer-food environment interactions are shaped by the availability,accessibility, affordability, desirability and convenience of di-verse food sources and products. Several speakers touchedupon these aspects.

Dominic Rowland discussed the important contributionthat forest foods provide to dietary quality in 24 tropical coun-tries where communities live within proximity to forests.Hassan Ishaq Ibrahim examined the detrimental effects ofpost-harvest losses in agriculture on household food securityof communities in Northern Nigeria.

Anna Herforth discussed the Indicators of Affordability ofNutritious Diets in Africa (IANDA) project and the develop-ment of new metrics to track the affordability and availabilityof nutritious and diverse foods throughout the year. FiorellaPicchioni presented the Minimum Calorie Expenditure Share(MCES), an indicator of food prices sensitive to the impacts ofprice shocks. Drawing on Dorward’s (2013) research, theMCES measures the extent of food price increases for food-insecure populations, and compares these against the relativeeffects of economic and income growth.

Parnali Dhar Chowdhury and Geofrey Maila presented onthe prevalence of overweight amongst children in Dhaka andthe elderly in Zambia, respectively. Both presenters highlight-ed the need to understand the complex social determinantsshaping food consumption patterns within food environments.

Theme 3: Environmental sustainability of food systems

Agriculture is inextricably linked to the environment. Foodsystems are the leading driver of water and land use globally,and produce about one-quarter of all greenhouse gas emis-sions (Whitmee et al. 2015; Aleksandrowicz et al. 2016); most

of these footprints originate in the primary agricultural pro-duction stage (Vermeulen et al. 2012). Agriculture is similarlyaffected by the environment, with further climatic changesexpected to increase pressures on agricultural production ca-pacity. Stephen Shisanya presented research on farminghouseholds among which 95%were expecting negative futureimpacts of climate on their crops, and were preparing to un-dertake adaptive farming practices. Technologies that improvesustainability are necessary for agricultural intensification.Anteneh Girma explored the nutrition security impacts of rain-water harvesting technologies, finding that using rainwaterharvesting improved the access and utilization componentsof a multidimensional food security indicator.

Improving diversity of agricultural production is consid-ered a requirement for food system resilience (FAO 2012).Andrew Jones considered the nutritional implications of this,through a systematic review exploring the relationship amongagricultural production diversity, market integration and die-tary diversity. He found that production diversity was posi-tively associated with dietary diversity in 93% of studies, in-dependent of wealth or market access. Roseline Remansassessed the trade-offs between nutritional yields andclimate-resilience of cereal crops in India, reporting that sor-ghum and maize provide high nutritional yields, while smallmillet is most resilient, and concluded that no single crop wassuperior for all objectives.

Sustainable diets are considered to be those with Blow en-vironmental impacts, which contribute to food and nutritionsecurity and to healthy life for present and future generations^(FAO 2012). Edward Joy presented the Sustainable andHealth Diets in India (SAHDI) project which defined typicalIndian dietary patterns using latent class analysis, and quanti-fied their health and environmental impacts. This work con-cluded that dietary changes could be optimised to deliverhealth and environmental co-benefits.

Theme 4. Gender and household dynamics approaches inagri-health

Research investigating the relationship between women’sempowerment and nutrition is expanding, with gender em-powerment increasingly being a core component of develop-ment interventions (van den Bold et al. 2013). However, thesecomplex pathways still remain to be understood. There is growingacknowledgement that nutritional analysis should be widenedto a broader range of household members (particularly ado-lescents), and to incorporate qualitative research in order tounderstand the linkages among gender, intrahousehold dy-namics and child nutrition.

Women farmers are often custodians of knowledge on theclimate resilience and nutrition of local crops. FlorenceMtambanengwe described her project using elderly women’sknow-how on production of resilient cereals and

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legumes for household nutrition security among small-holder farmers in Zimbabwe. Hilde Bras reflected onwhether women’s empowerment can improve the currentinequalities in nutritional status among siblings inEthiopia, due to birth order and/or gender. Bras connect-ed much of this effect to women’s time burdens, andsuggested investment in infrastructure and culturalchange around gender norms could reduce these dispar-ities. Similarly, Elisabetta Aurino identified similar pat-terns in India among longitudinal cohort data of youngand adolescent children, which showed higher dietarydiversity among boys, and higher allocation of nutri-tious food groups. Such gender imbalances appeared tobe linked with parent’s educational aspiration towardsboys (Aurino 2016).

Erin Milner described the negative impact of householdfood insecurity on early child development, and JessicaHeckert suggested that empowerment and increased resourceavailability from integrated agriculture and nutritionprogrammes can help women implement optimal nutritionand health practices. The development of a new agri-healthindicator of women’s empowerment in livestock-focused ag-riculture was discussed by Amy Webb Girard.

Cynthia Matare described her project on women’s timeuse, cultural norms, and agriculture in Zambia. Additionally,Nitya Mittal and Sudha Narayanan, discussed their use ofmixed methods to identify the pathways and mediating factorsamong gender, agriculture and nutritional outcomes.

Methods

Agri-health research employs a broad range of methods, met-rics, and multidisciplinary approaches in addressing thecomplexities of nutritional and health challenges.Various debates on agri-health data collection, harmoni-zation and measurement were presented during theAcademy Week’s conference and learning labs. The fol-lowing two sections describe the main debates andmethodological approaches discussed.

New tools and infrastructure for collecting, analysingand disseminating data

There is a need to both collect new data on many agri-health research gaps, as well as openly utilise and inte-grate the great amount of data that already exists. ToddRosenstock presented the Surveillance of Climate-SmartAgriculture for Nutrition (SCAN) project which aims to in-crease the spatial and temporal resolution of data. A new pro-ject presented by Andrew Jones seeks to redefine livelihoodtypologies in smallholder farming households, while the

suitability of conventional dietary intake measurements inpastoral contexts was explored by Bekele Megersa.

On the constraints of collecting and using data relevant foragri-health research, Lidan Du discussed the impact of timing,particularly of seasonality and harvest frequency, on thevalue of reported food consumption. Perrine Geniez de-scribed the practical challenges of setting up theNational Information Platforms for Nutrition, largely re-lated to the accessibility, quality, and standardisation ofdata. Accurate dietary intake data is important for manypolicy outcomes, particularly for countries undergoingnutrition transitions, such as India. However, as LukaszAleksandrowicz pointed out, there is a lack of national,gold standard data, and his comparison of seven Indiandatasets showed contrasting results in intake of impor-tant food groups.

Perrine Geniez identified scientific approaches, such asprobabilistic causal models, which hold promise for overcom-ing the challenges associated with poor data accessibility andquality. A Bayesian network model was presented by EikeLuedeling, which demonstrated the value of a holistic decisionanalysis approach that integrates even uncertain or missingdata in order to quantify nutrition pathways for agriculturalinterventions.

Learning labs - multidisciplinary training and workshops

A number of well-attended Learning Labs provided attendeeswith opportunities to learn and apply a broad range of skillsrequired for researchers and practitioners in agri-health. The labon Core Disciplines in Agriculture-Nutrition-Health (ANH-101),organised by the LCIRAH research team,3 provided the basics ofthe main disciplines of agri-health (nutrition, health and agricul-tural economics, and anthropology). Additional learning labs fo-cused on important components of the research process, includ-ing systematic reviews, data visualisation, working across disci-plines in agri-health, and publishing research.

The skills-focused Labs above were accompanied by onesfocusing on the uptake of methods, such as: i) Optifood, ii)mixed methods in process evaluation, iii) evidence-informeddecision-making, and iv) IFSTAL’s food systems approach.These were complemented by a set of labs on the use oftargeted and novel indicators. This session instructed re-searchers and policy analysts on the Food Security andInformation Network’s (FSIN ) compiled food security andnutrition indicators. A specialist team from the InternationalFood Research Policy Institute (IFPRI) led participants on theuse of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index(WEAI).

3 For a full list of Learning Labs facilitators and their affiliations, see List ofLearning Lab Facilitators at the end of the document.

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A final group of Learning Labs focused on integrative ap-proaches in agri-health. A session on mainstreaming nutritionin national agriculture investment plans, led by A4NH/IFPRI,FAO and NEPAD, introduced the CAADP ResultsFramework. A multi-institutional research team4 led by theUniversity of Sydney, presented an EcoHealth approach toreview options for achieving optimal diets in resource-limited settings. Finally, a specialist team from FAO led par-ticipants through mapping food security and nutrition policiesfor policy coherence in food systems.

The Learning Labs were well-attended and participantsrepresented diverse sectors, levels and regions. In alignmentwith the goals of the ANH Academy Week, the Labs focusedon linking agriculture and nutrition, and emphasised cross-cutting themes such as culture, gender, and climate change.These sessions targeted junior researchers from LMICs andtheir participatory nature enabled participants at all levels andsectors to engage and learn from one another.

Conclusion

As reflected in Shawn Baker’s keynote, considerable progresshas been made in expanding the agri-health research evidencebase and uptake in policy. A research landscape once typified byfew and relatively small groups has now evolved towards anincreasingly large, well-funded, interdisciplinary, and global ar-ray of researchers. This research space, which naturally supportsthe SDGs agenda, is actively filling critical gaps in agricultureand health, developing innovative methods and metrics, and al-ready informing interventions and cross-sectoral policy. The veryexistence of an ANHAcademy and similar initiatives, as well aspolitical commitment to initiatives such as Scaling Up Nutrition(SUN), is evidence of this progress and validation of the robustbody of evidence being produced.

The necessarily wide scope of the agri-health agenda hasbeen helpful for pursuing research on food system perspec-tives, as well as measuring impacts across multiple dimen-sions. Emphasis on innovative tools has been accompaniedby shifts towards more qualitative and mixed-methods re-search to provide deeper context around agri-health pathways.

Yet, considerable challenges still exist. Beyond the highglobal number of people undernourished - around 795 million(WFP 2016) - there is a rising prevalence of overnutrition.Indeed, dietary risk factors are now the top contributor to theglobal burden of disease (Global Panel on Agriculture andFood Systems for Nutrition 2016).

There is also major room for improvement in equalityamong high- and middle- or low-income researchers to accessfunding opportunities and resources in agri-health. Efforts to

make data, tools, and frameworks open, widely available, anduseable, such as the Global Open Data for Agriculture andNutrition (GODAN) initiative, are admirable and should beencouraged. Another priority is harmonising the use ofmethods and metrics, while recognising the strengths andweaknesses of the various tools we are using, to efficientlydrive research advances and impact.

Despite its increasing prominence, agri-health is still in itsinfancy. Frameworks emerging in this multidisciplinary areapoint towards complex and evolving relationships, and some-times tensions between global and local scales. This complex-ity brings both challenges and opportunities, includingshifting to novel and flexible ways of working collectively.The increasing pressure on policymakers to deliver co-benefits and efficiency offers great opportunities for agri-health research to find relevance in policy spheres. To capital-ise on this requires a concerted effort to present informationwith coherence both to policy makers and the public alike. AsHaris Gazdar noted in his keynote ‘researchers must be hon-est translators of their work and respectful interpreters ofothers [work]’. In this sense it is everyone’s responsibility tocommunicate, share and learn from one another.

List of Presenters’ Affiliations and Institutions.

Presenter Institution(s)

Adamba Clement University of Ghana, Ghana

Aleksandrowicz Lukasz London School of Hygiene &TropicalMedicine

Leverhulme Centre for IntegrativeResearch on Agriculture and Health

Ararsa Irenso Asnake Haramaya University, College ofHealth and Medical Science,Ethiopia

Aurino Elisabetta Imperial CollegeLeverhulme Centre for Integrative

Research on Agriculture and Health

Bras Hilde Wageningen University and ResearchCentre, Sociology of Consumptionand Households group, Departmentof Social Sciences

Bruce Mieghan Royal Veterinary CollegeLeverhulme Centre for Integrative

Research on Agriculture and Health

Carron Maud Royal Veterinary CollegeLeverhulme Centre for Integrative

Research on Agriculture and Health

Dhar Parneli International Development ResearchCentre

Domirguez-Sagas Paula Royal Veterinary CollegeLeverhulme Centre for Integrative

Research on Agriculture and Health

Du Lidan Strengthening Partnerships, Results,and Innovations in NutritionGlobally (SPRING)

E. Laar Matilda4 University of Sydney, International Livestock Research Institute, LondonSchool of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Royal Veterinary College.

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School of Dietetics and HumanNutrition, McGill University

Elias Geday 2MOISA,Sup-Agro Montpellie

Garza Maria Royal Veterinary CollegeLeverhulme Centre for Integrative

Research on Agriculture and Health

Geniez Perrine Global Support Facility for NationalInformation Platforms for Nutrition

Girma Anteneh Ethiopian Agricultural TransformationAgency

Harris Jody International Food Policy ResearchInstitute

Headey Derek International Food Policy ResearchInstitute

Heckert Jessica International Food Policy ResearchInstitute

Herforth Anna Columbia University, USA

Hirvonen Kalle International Food Policy ResearchInstitute

Ishaq Ibrahim Hassan Department of Agricultural Economicsand Extension Federal University

Isoto Rosemary Makerere University

Jones Andrew University of Michigan

Joy Edward London School of Hygiene &TropicalMedicine

Leverhulme Centre for IntegrativeResearch on Agriculture and Health

Luedeling Eike World Agroforestry Centre

Maila Geoffrey University of Zambia

Megersa Bekele School Veterinary Medicine, HawassaEthiopia

Milner Erin School of Public Health, Universityof California Berkeley

Minten Bart Lafayette College, USA

Mittal Nitya Columbia University

Mtambanengwe Florence University of Zimbabwe

Narayanan Sudha Indira Gandhi Institute of DevelopmentResearch

Parasar Rohit MS Swaminathan Research Foundation

Picchioni Fiorella School of Oriental and African StudiesLeverhulme Centre for Integrative

Research on Agriculture and Health

Remans Roseline Department of Ecology, Evolution andEnvironmental Biology, ColumbiaUniversity, Newyork, USA

Rosenstock Todd World Agroforestry Centre

Rowland Dominic School of Oriental and African StudiesLeverhulme Centre for Integrative

Research on Agriculture and Health

RunyararoMatare

Cynthia Cornell UniversitySouthern African Institute for Policy &

Research

Senerwa Daniel International Livestoch research Institute

Shisanya Stephen Food and Nutrition Security Consulting

Somé Jérôme Department of Nutritional Sciences,School of Public Health, Universityof Michigan, Ann Arbor

Tak Mehroosh School of Oriental and African StudiesLeverhulme Centre for Integrative

Research on Agriculture and Health

Twalibu Aisha Save the Children

Webb Girard Amy Emory University

Zanello Giacomo University of Reading

List of Learning Labs facilitators and Institutions.

Learning Lab Facilitator(s) Institution(s)

ANH101 Lauren Blake, MieghanBruce, SoledadCuevas, Jody Harris,Elizabeth Hull,Fiorella Picchioni,Dominique Rowland& Mehroosh Tak,

LCIRAH

Data that speaks:data visualisationfor impact

Christine Lamanna &Todd Rosenstock

World AgroforestryCentre

Getting published Tom Ndanu African NutritionSociety

Innovative foodsystems andqualitative socialresearch

Lauren Blake IFSTAL & LCIRAH

Interdisciplinaryjourneys

LinleyChiwona-Karltun &Sabrina Trautman

Swedish Universityof AgriculturalSciences & LCIRAH

Mainstreamingnutrition -CAADP

Namucolo Covic &Mofu Musonda

A4NH/IFPRI, FAO,NEPAD

Mapping andanalysing policiesto inform securityand nutrition

Charlotte Dufour &Marie-CarolineDodé

UN Food andAgricultureOrganisation

Measuring foodinsecurity andmalnutrition

Will Masters & ShibaniGhosh

Tufts University

Mixed methods inprocess andimpact evaluation

Amy Webb Girard Emory University

Optifood Francis Knight London School ofHygiene & TropicalMedicine

Options forachieving optimaldiets in resource-limited settings

Robyn Alders, DeliaGrace, PaulaDominguez-Salas,Mieghan Bruce,Julia de Bruyn

University of Sydney,InternationalLivestock ResearchInstitute, LondonSchool of Hygiene &Tropical Medicineand the RoyalVeterinary College(London)

Systematic reviewswithin evidence-informed decision-making (EIDM) innutrition and health

Roos Verstraeten &Richmond Aryeetey

EVIDENT

WEAI Hazel Malapit &Kenda Cunningham

IFPRI

188 Picchioni F. et al.

Page 10: LSHTM Research Onlineresearchonline.lshtm.ac.uk/4086886/1/Picchioni2017...CONFERENCE REPORT Roads to interdisciplinarity – working at the nexus among food systems, nutrition and

Acknowledgements This paper has been supported by the LeverhulmeCentre for Integrative Research onAgriculture and Health (LCIRAH), theInnovative Metrics and Methods for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions(IMMANA) and its partner institutions. All authors declare no conflicts ofinterest. FP, EA, LA, MB, SC, PDS, ZG, SK, CT, JY contributed towriting sections of the manuscript. FP gave cohesion to the final manu-script and EA, LA, MB, SC, PDS, ZG, SK, CT, JY reviewed the manu-script and provided critical edits. FP incorporated all revisions. All au-thors approved the final manuscript. The authors thank Jeff Waage whoreviewed themanuscript draft and provided critical edits. The authors alsothank all Research Conference and Learning Lab speakers, participantsand all ANH Academy partners. This event was supported by UKAidfrom the UK Government, through IMMANA research programme andCGIAR A4NH that coordinated events and activities.

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