Speak Up for Food Security

Winner of the Speak UP for Food Security Storytelling Competition Announced

Phillipa Simmonds, who is based at the University of Gloucestershire, has be named winner of the Speak UP for Food Security Storytelling Competition 2021. You can read about Phillipa’s research here and watch the video of her story here. We are thrilled that her exciting and thought-provoking research captured the minds of the public and judges, emphasising the need for storytelling in the science and academic research sphere as a positive way to interact and engage with the public.

Summary

This year, UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) cross-council Global Food Security programme (GFS) will focus its annual research storytelling competition ‘Speak Up for Food Security’ on how we can tackle the climate crisis through the food system.

12 successful UKRI-funded early career researchers (ECRs) will be invited to attend a two-day virtual storytelling masterclass (Monday 27th Sep and Friday 1st October), where they will receive training in communicating their research through narrative, inspiring action, and presenting live on camera.

Besides providing an introduction to the theory and practice of storytelling, this unique masterclass is also an opportunity for ECRs to network with other passionate and charismatic researchers working in food security/climate-related research, and to gain a deeper understanding of the role our food system plays in addressing the climate emergency.

After the masterclass, five finalists will be selected to present their 3-to-5-minute stories live to the public in GFS’s competition final – being held at UKRI’s virtual COP26 programme on 28th October 2021. The public will have the opportunity to ask the finalists questions about their stories and research, before voting for their favourite story.

PhD students and early career post-docs currently funded by any UKRI council (AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, Innovate UK, MRC, NERC, Research England and STFC) are invited to apply, as long as they can link their research (directly or indirectly) to the climate crisis and the food security challenge (other eligibility criteria below).

The overarching aim of the ‘Speak Up for Food Security’ competition is to equip the next generation of UKRI researchers with the narrative theory and tools to support the transformation of our food systems for people and the planet.

Rationale

In a time of climate crisis, rising sea levels, dwindling natural resources, and the rapid loss of biodiversity, the global food security challenge has never been greater. It is clear that providing universal access to enough healthy, safe, sustainable food requires the rapid and radical transformation of our global food system.

Thankfully, the research community is providing a wide range of disruptive tools and strategies that are capable of supporting the transition to a climate-friendly food system. These approaches can vary greatly, including adapting farming practices, shifting economic models, challenging cultural norms, rethinking education and city planning, managing resources differently, nudging human behaviour, understanding geographical drivers, harnessing technological innovation, and many, many more.

However, the fact that business-as-usual continues is evidence that sparking this transformation requires more than just high-quality research. It requires inspiring food system stakeholders to take bold action.

To this end, the Speak Up for Food Security competition encourages and trains ECRs to harness the universal and persuasive language of storytelling to not only inform climate action in the food system, but to inspire it as well.

The masterclass

The virtual 2-day research communication masterclass, led by professional storyteller Clare Murphy, will take place on Monday 27 September and Friday 1 October 2021. During the masterclass, 12 multi-disciplinary early career researchers will be challenged to develop engaging 3-to-5-minute stories around their research with the aim of inspiring climate action in the food system.

The first day of the masterclass will focus on stepping away from traditional scientific presentations, introducing narrative techniques such as framing, invoking creativity, and getting comfortable with communicating feeling and uncertainty. The semi-finalists will then have a few days to apply their learning to craft a short, engaging story around their research.

On the second day, the semi-finalists will receive constructive group feedback on their research-inspired stories and training in storytelling technique, voice, presence, confidence and presenting on camera. The hope is that the researchers will use their learning to continue to develop their stories for future public engagement activities.

The final

The masterclass is a fantastic prize in itself. However, in the week following the masterclass, the 12 semi-finalists will be asked to submit a recording of their 3-5min short story, from which GFS will select five finalists. The finalists will be given two weeks to perfect their research-inspired stories before presenting them live at GFS’s public engagement event “Food vs Climate: Five Stories for Change”, taking place as part of UKRI’s virtual pre-COP26 programme on 28 October 2021. The finalists will compete for the prestigious GFS Speak Up for Food Security award in front of a panel of judges and a live audience, who will vote for their favourite stories.

Assessment criteria

The applicants will be judged on five different criteria at various stages of the competition:

Language: Is your word choice appropriate for a non-expert audience? Are you able to communicate their research in an inclusive and accessible way?

Big picture-thinking: Have you thought systemically about the potential real-world climate and food security impacts of your research (positive and negative)? Have you communicated the wider climate and food security challenges that your research could address?

Creativity: Is your communication of the information novel and interesting? (Please note: this criterion focuses on your communication of the information, not the information itself)

Storytelling: Does your story hook your audience from the start? Are the audience able to follow your story with ease? Does your story communicate a clear message? Are you able to inspire your listeners?

Presentation: Does your body language and facial expressions support your story?  Does your passion shine through when you present? Are you able to deliver your story with confidence?

Eligibility

In order to be eligible, early career researchers should be:

• Currently undertaking a UKRI council-funded PhD or post-doc*. UKRI-funded early career researchers based outside of the UK are eligible to apply.
• Available to attend the two virtual online masterclass days (Monday 27 September and Friday 1 October 2021)**.
• Available to attend the virtual competition final as part of UKRI’s pre-COP26 programme on Thursday 28 October 2021.

*UKRI councils: AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, Innovate UK, MRC, NERC, Research England and STFC
** Please note that we are able to reimburse reasonable costs of care in order to allow you to fully participate in the masterclass and the competition final

How to apply

To apply, please answer each of the following questions in a document saved as “GFS Speak Up Application [Your name]”.

1. a) Your name and institution
   b) The UKRI council grant reference number of your PhD/post doc
   c) Your main research area (e.g. the arts, biology, chemistry, economics, education, engineering, environmental sciences, history, law, medicine, physics, philosophy, political sciences, psychology, etc.)
2. Please confirm that you are available to attend (if selected):
   a) The masterclass on Monday 27 September (9:30-4:30) and Friday 1 October (9:30-4:30)
   b) The competition final on Thursday 28 October 2021 (19:00-21:00)
3. In easily accessible language, please describe how your research could help combat climate emergency and food insecurity. (150 words max)
4. How might it change society if the aims of your research were met? (150 words max)
5. Why should we pick you to attend the scientific storytelling masterclass? (150 words max)

Please send your completed application to SpeakUp@foodsecurity.ac.uk. The deadline for applications is Sunday 5 September 2021. Applicants will be notified of the outcome by Monday 13 September 2021.

Note: In accordance with The Concordat (ref 17), researchers are encouraged to undertake Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities, which can be beneficial for both the researcher and institution. We therefore encourage applicants to seek permission from their supervisor to participate in the research communication masterclass prior to applying.

On 10th March 2020, the five finalists of the 2020 GFS Speak Up for Food Security competition arrived at Cambridge Science Festival to take part in GFS’s first public-facing research storytelling competition final ‘Once Upon a Food System’.

Each finalist was given 5 minutes to tell their research-inspired stories, which had been crafted to engage people with their research and encourage them to think differently about the food system. They presented to a crowd of over 120 people and a panel of judges, consisting of geneticist, author and broadcaster Dr Adam Rutherford, Director of the GFS programme Dr Riaz Bhunnoo, and the winner of last year’s Speak Up for Food Security competition, Claire Kanja from Rothamsted Research. The event was hosted by GFS project manager, science writer, and founder of the Speak Up competition, Maia Elliott.

The first finalist was BBSRC-funded PhD student Emily Harrison from the University of Sheffield, who’s story was inspired by her research into the use of genetic editing to engineer water-efficient crops. In her story, titled ‘A message from Flora’, she described a bleak future for our crops from the perspective of a plant, and asks why we didn’t use gene editing to prepare our crops for it.

Second was Mirjam Hazenbosch, a BBSRC PhD student in Biology/Psychology from the University of Oxford who is researching sustainable farming methods in Papua New Guinea. Mirjam’s story, ‘Once upon a sweet potato’, was based on the true story of how she collaborated with a farmer named Ohu to improve food security in his village.

Next up was Dr Josh Ahmed, a Research England-funded environmental scientist from the University of Hull, who is researching how we can adapt to future climate change by improving soil health. His story, titled ‘SOIL! The hidden world beneath our feet’, took the audience on an adventure into the soil, where they explored two very different worlds.

Fourth to present was Nina Goodland, a mathematics PhD student from the University of Dundee. Her EPSRC-funded research uses mathematical models to predict how fish respond to human activities, to better understand whether the rapid decline in oceanic fish populations could be partially attributed to fish changing their movements. Nina’s story ‘Finding Jane’ followed a fish who becomes lost when attempting to reach her spawning ground.

The final finalist of the evening was Charlotte Unruh, an AHRC-funded PhD student in philosophy from the University of Southampton. Her thesis argues that we have a strong moral duty not to harm future generations with the decisions that we make today. In Charlotte’s tale ‘The moral of the story’, a time traveller inspires three sisters to change the food system, in very different ways.

After all five food system research-inspired stories had been told, it was time for the judges to go away and deliberate. The audience members, who had each received voting slips upon entry, were asked to vote for the story they liked best. Once all the voting slips had been collected, professional storyteller Jan Blake took to the stage. Jan had the audience on tenterhooks with her dynamic telling of an ancient folktale with a food security message – the tale of Erysichthon. Thanks to Jan’s captivating performance, the judges’ deliberation time passed in a blink for both the audience and the finalists.

The winners were presented by Adam Rutherford, who announced that the judges and audience had picked different winners. He first revealed that the winner of the public choice award (the finalist with the most audience votes) was Nina Goodlad, for her story ‘Finding Jane’. Then it was time to announce the judges choice, and overall winner of the 2020 Speak Up for Food Security research storytelling competition. Adam presented the Speak Up trophy to Mirjam Hazenbosch, for her exciting tale ‘Once upon a sweet potato’. You can view her winning story here.

This was the first time that the GFS Speak Up competition final had been held at a science festival, and Cambridge Science Festival received overwhelmingly positive feedback from members of the audience. One person commented “This event was amazing. Absolutely loved it. Such an interesting way to showcase a range of topics.” Another member of the audience who came with a group of high school students said “This event made science more approachable and easier to talk about”.

The Global Food Security programme is already planning next year’s event! If you’re interested in participating in this food system storytelling competition in 2021, please sign up to our newsletter or follow us on twitter to be the first to hear when applications open.