Profile
Saher is a Researcher at the Food Systems Transformation Programme with the University of Oxford's Environmental Change Institute and an Environmental Change Research Fellow with Reuben College. Trained as an environmental scientist and geographer, she has worked on food geography, urban environmental health, and the impacts of infrastructure and fuel disruptions on urban communities. With the Environmental Change Institute, she works on an interdisciplinary portfolio of projects focused on food systems and foresight analysis. Previously, she has worked as the Research and Community of Practice Coordinator for the Foresight4Food Initiative. Currently, she is the Education Coordinator for Oxford with the Interdisciplinary Food Systems Teaching and Learning (IFSTAL) programme. She is also on a Sprint project in NERC's Agile Initiative around mapping nutrient flows (a collaborative effort between ECI's Food Group and Engineering Science) and with the Food Standards Agency and the University of York on exploring various elements of the UK's food system.
Reports
Mapping the UK food system: A report for the UKRI Transforming UK Food Systems Programme
This report quantifies the distribution of economic value, the number of enterprises, and levels of employment across the UK food system. It has ‘mapped’ UK food system activities as described by their economic value, employee and enterprise numbers. This provides a first assessment of the overall shape of the UK food system and a foundation to build on for further analyses.
Farmers and food systems: What future for small-scale agriculture?
What does the future hold for the world’s 500 million small-scale farms as food systems change? A significant transformation of small-scale agriculture is needed to realise the SDGs, and to achieve healthier, more equitable and environmentally sustainable food systems. This report argues that a much deeper, more nuanced and up-to-date understanding of small-scale agriculture and family farming is urgently needed to drive such a transformation.