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Laura Sandys founded The Food Foundation in 2014 as an independent policy think tank to challenge the current food system and how it was impacting the public’s health, and the affordability of healthy food, particularly focused on lower income families – here and aboard.   

Former Deputy Chair of the Food Standards Agency, she has been a long-standing campaigner on food issues, focused on system wide solutions and evaluating success through real public outcomes. She is an active contributor to public policy in climate change, energy policy and resource management accelerating action towards a net zero economy.

Previously she was an MP and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Energy & Climate Change Minister. Described by The Times as “one of the sanest of all MPs” and by Conservative Home as “lateral-minded, original and free-thinking”, she has brought her political and business experience to calls for innovation in food systems policy. 

Shaleen works with The Food Foundation as Special Adviser on City Food Policy. She works on The Food Foundation’s Global Food Systems project funded by FCDO. This is the successor project to the Nutrition Smart City initiative, BINDI (Birmingham India Nutrition Initiative) which involved a learning partnership between Birmingham, UK and Pune, India. The work will focus on expanding the BINDI partnership to include cities from across the Commonwealth and beyond.

In her spare time, Shaleen set up Harborne Food School in 2014 to support the public and organisations to make healthier, more sustainable food choices. She is also the nutrition theme cross-cutting manager for a Horizon 2020 funded project focused on meeting the challenges of providing European citizens with affordable, safe and nutritious food and of creating healthier and more sustainable city region food systems.

Raf joined The Food Foundation in August 2020 as the Communications Manager. He has worked in charity communications for over 5 years, notably leading on a capital funding campaign to secure over £1.8 million in investment, saving an alternative education provision for at risk children in Leeds from luxury flat redevelopment. He has worked extensively with marginalised communities and vulnerable young people, helping to champion the voices of those often not heard.

Sophie joined The Food Foundation in August 2020 as the Veg Advocate Support Officer for England, working within our Peas Please project. Sophie is passionate about people and behaviour change with previous experience in managing communities and running successful engagement programmes. With continued interest in how we can change our systems, Sophie is studying a part time MSc in Sustainability and Behaviour Change.

Venus joined the Food Foundation as a Policy and Communications Assistant in May 2021 as part of the Kickstarter Scheme.

Prior to joining the team, Venus completed a Law degree at University of Essex and spent the past few years working with organisations such as The Advocacy Academy and Queen Sheba International, writing content and advocating for women’s and children’s rights in developing countries.

Venus is interested in the way in which food insecurity can’t be tackled through policy, addressing the ways in which a lack of access to food may affect children in the U.K. in particular and social media marketing. In her spare time, Venus enjoys collecting tropical plants, tending to her herb garden, animating and making candles.

Roz joined The Food Foundation in January 2020 as Events Manager from the Sustainable Restaurant Association. She is an experienced events and campaigns project manager specialising in public and stakeholder engagement and awareness-raising events across the not for profit, public and corporate sector.

Roz has held event management positions at Plan International UK, The Centre for Social Justice, Crisis, JTI and London 2012. Prior to this, Roz was the first Marketing Manager at the GLA from 2001-2009 overseeing public campaigns and events at City Hall for the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

Roz grew up in her parents’ Polish/Italian delicatessen and has had a lifelong passion for food, food education and food related community activities in her south London neighbourhood.

Florence joined The Food Foundation in September 2020 as Youth Engagement Project Manager. For the past 8 years she has worked with a number of food organisations in Bristol, including as a researcher into food insecurity, project managing community food initiatives and delivering food and sustainability workshops in schools. She also works with Bristol Food Network as Public Engagement coordinator on their Sustainable Food Places bid.

Before her career in food began, Florence was working as Science Communicator at Bristol’s science centre. She is particularly passionate about youth education and engagement in food systems transformation and bringing concepts to life in creative ways. She loves to cook, eat, learn about and talk about food!

Chloe joined the team in August 2020 as Global Food Systems Project Manager, leading on The Food Foundation’s international work in the run up to the UK hosting COP26 and the UN Food Systems Summit. She is now the Business Engagement Manager, working with food businesses to encourage them to improve the healthy and sustainability of their portfolios. Before joining us, Chloe worked for the National Trust within the External Affairs team. During her time there she set up a knowledge sharing network for climate change professionals called 'Fit for the Future'. She also spent a year managing an organic farm and sustainability centre.

Rebecca joined the Food Foundation in January 2020, leading on the Peas Please initiative. These days she manages our food business transformation team, with oversight of our work engaging food businesses, investors and policy-makers with the need to transition the UK towards a more sustainable and healthy food system. This includes our Plating Up Progress and bean projects.

Rebecca is a Registered Nutritionist (RNutr) with a background in science communication, joining the Food Foundation from the Nutrition Society. In a previous life, Rebecca worked in the marketing and tech sectors before deciding to move into nutrition, obtaining a MSc in Nutrition for Global Health at the London School of Hygiene and Medicine.

Rebecca is a bean obsessive, a staunch advocate for evidence-based nutrition communication, and is passionate about the structural changes that make healthy and sustainable diets accessible for all.