CAREER: Bolstering Food System Resilience to Reduce the Human Impacts of Disasters

The focus of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award is to advance the science of food environments and enhance the mitigation and adaptation of social and built environment systems to disasters by bolstering food security and the resilience of food systems. Food is a basic need for human survival and the ability of social systems to meet this need in disaster situations is compromised when our homes, businesses and other structures are damaged and lifelines disrupted. While elements of the various social and built environmental systems that make up the broader food environment as well as food security issues have been studied by various disciplines, a comprehensive, systematic approach has yet to be applied and tested in disaster settings. The overall objectives of this research are to develop a model of the Food Environment in Disasters (FED) along with theory-based tools to support food system resilience. The development of this model and associated tools facilitates a clearer understanding and monitoring of food availability, acceptability, and accessibility to enhance our understanding of the causes, consequences, and health effects of food environment disruption in disasters. This work contributes to NSF’s mission to promote the process of science by developing and validating a new theoretical model and associated metrics on food environment disruption and food security following disasters. The products of this research will advance national health, prosperity, and welfare by supporting improved food security and food system functioning following disasters.

Funder: National Science Foundation, Award #2225665
Project Team
Lauren Clay (PI)