Roni

A.

Neff

,

PhD

My research, policy and practice activities focus on advancing change at the intersection of food systems, planetary health and social justice.

Wasted food: For nearly a decade, I have explored wasted food causes and solutions, while seeking to broaden discourse on the issue to avoid suggesting food waste as a solution to hunger and the reverse. I am co-PI of the NSF-supported RECIPES food waste research network, through which my team and I focus on the quality of food provided through food rescue, co-creating worker-led interventions, evaluating food waste solutions in schools and local governments, and policy analysis. I am also PI of a USDA-supported INFEWS (food-energy-water nexus) study examining waste and resource use across the US seafood supply chain. I also participate in research focused on food rescue and public education. I recently served on a National Academy of Sciences consensus panel recommending a systems approach to consumer food waste.

Food system resilience: I work to support food security in the face of natural and human-made disasters by researching and promoting community planning. In late 2022 my team released a planning guide for local governments, the product of a multi-year collaboration with 5 US cities. The work builds on our 2017 Baltimore City collaboration that produced one of the first municipal food system resilience planning documents in the US. I also served on the executive team for the National Food Access and COVID Research Team (NFACT), and am performing analyses to better understand determinants of food system resilience.

Food insecurity & occupational health/safety:  I am partnering with NIOSH on a project to address food insecurity as a social determinant of occupational injury/illness.

I engage with public health practice and with broader food system issues through my longtime role at the school's Center for a Livable Future, an academic center focused on food systems & public health. I lead the CLF’s Food and Climate Team. I teach the community-engaged seminar course, Baltimore Food Systems: A Case Study in Urban Food Environments and an online course, Food System Resilience to Disasters. I co-lead the department’s PhD track in Environmental Sustainability, Resilience and Health, and co-direct the school's MPH Concentration and Certificate programs in Food Systems & Public Health. I edited the widely-used textbook, Introduction to the US Food System: Public Health, Environment, Equity (Wiley-Jossey Bass, 2014). I am a member of the National Academy of Sciences Food Forum. My work has been featured in major media outlets in the US and internationally.