Opportunity to join OIRC innovation hubs to translate nutrition research into real-life benefits
British Nutrition Foundation, August 2023
Unhealthy diets are a major contributor to the global burden of disease. The Diet and Health Open Innovation Research Club (OIRC), coordinated by the British Nutrition Foundation, aims to bring together leaders in the field to find innovative, real-life solutions to tackle the major diet and health-related challenges we face.
The UK is a global leader in nutrition research, but this must be translated into real public health benefits that change our food environment for the better in order to have an impact. To achieve this, partnerships between funders, researchers and industry are needed and such partnerships will unlock greater investment in innovation.
Funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), with support from Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), Innovate UK and the Medical Research Council (MRC) has created the Diet and Health OIRC, comprised of six innovation hubs, bringing together leading academics and experts from nutrition, food and behaviour science, tackling key strategic themes to address some of the most pressing topics associated with improving the diets of our nation.
The British Nutrition Foundation is delighted to have been appointed by the BBSRC to act as a coordinator across the six innovation hubs to help facilitate conversations between the research community, industry and policymakers, identify areas where innovation and transformative thinking are needed and support the development of open, transparent collaborative partnerships.
The six hubs cover the breadth of the identified five key strategic research priorities and identify and establish specific challenges within the focus of each theme. Each will offer annual awards including Business Interaction Vouchers (up to £50 000) to strengthen collaborations between academia and industry; Feasibility Awards (up to £100 000 with expected matched cash or in-kind contributions from industrial collaborators) for projects at a more advanced stage to enable translation and commercialisation activities leading to innovation; and Flexible Mobility Awards to support early career researchers, technicians, industry workers and others that wish to expand their skill base.
This is an opportunity to advance nutrition research across a wide range of areas and to create a collective voice which is translatable, implementable, and maximises the impact of research. The British Nutrition Foundation urges all interested parties from academia (including Early Career Researchers), the food industry (especially Small to Medium size Enterprises), government, civil societies and charities to sign up for relevant Hubs to keep informed about workshops, meetings, events and funding calls. Membership is free so don’t miss this timely opportunity to work collaboratively to help provide solutions for UK diet, health and nutrition challenges.
Details of each of the hubs and links to join are shown below:
Strategic Theme 1: Understanding the interplay between food components and human physiology
RIPEN Hub: https://www.ripenhub.co.uk
TRanslational Innovation Hub for Population HEalth using Food and Nutrition approaches to enhance Positive Physiology. Lead investigators: Professor Gary Frost, Imperial College London, Professor Susan Lanham-New, University of Surrey, Dr Sue Gatenby, PepsiCo. Hub manager: Dr Katerina Petropoulou, Imperial College London. To join: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/metabolism-digestion-reproduction/research/digestive-diseases/nutrition-research/ripen-hub/
The RIPEN Hub will support research and translation activity that bridges the gap between biosciences research and development to better understand the interplay between food components and human physiology, and to ultimately improve health. It will provide thought leadership, develop partnerships and build critical mass in the areas that affect food and its consumption in relation to human physiology. A specific aim is to develop talent and a vibrant environment for this field, supporting the next generation of young scientists in this area.
Strategic Theme 2: Improving Health and Nutrition Through Biofortification
Biofortification Hub: https://biofortificationhub.org/
Innovation Hub for improving health and nutrition through biofortification. Lead investigators: Professor Martin Warren, Quadram Institute Bioscience and Professor Cathie Martin, John Innes Centre. Hub manager: Dr Philippe Vain. To join: https://biofortificationhub.org/apply-for-membership/
The Biofortification Hub aims to leverage expertise in soil, crop genetics, food innovation and human health to strengthen the United Kingdom’s position as a world leader in the research and commercialisation of biofortification (the development of crops and foods with higher levels of nutrients). It will work with a community of food producers across the supply chain, industry, policymakers and researchers who can collectively address challenges to the biofortification of food and feed crops, seeking to deliver new, real-world applications.
Strategic Theme 3: Biological, Social and Psychological Determinants of Food Choice and Eating Behaviour
Consumer Lab Hub: https://consumer-lab.bristol.ac.uk/
Building academic-industry partnerships to ensure sustained acceptance of healthy foods. Lead investigators: Professor Jeffrey Brunstrom, University of Bristol, Professor Louise Dye, University of Leeds, Dr Dani Ferriday, University of Bristol, Lisa Kehoe, University of Bristol and Dr David Mela, industry consultant. To join: https://consumer-lab.bristol.ac.uk/hub-membership/
The aim of this hub is to develop a distributed UK-wide ‘consumer lab’ comprising a network of industry and academic members with a portfolio of interdisciplinary methods to investigate food product appeal and consumer choice and dietary behaviours in everyday places (e.g. home, cafés and school canteens). There is a clear need for better tools to understand food choice and how better food products can be accepted in real-world settings. We also need to understand more about how changes to food packaging, labelling and processing can influence people’s preferences. The Hub will prioritise research aimed at studying food choices in groups at risk of food insecurity to help the food industry address their specific needs.
Strategic Theme 4: Investigating the Role of Functional Food and Beverages to Improve Health and Recovery
INFORM Hub: https://research.reading.ac.uk/inform-innovation-hub/
Investigating the role of Functional foOds and beveRages to iMprove health and recovery. Lead Investigators: Dr Gemma Walton, University of Reading, Professor Kieran Tuohy, University of Leeds. Hub Management Committee: Prof Glenn Gibson, University of Reading, Dr Kirsty Hunter, Nottingham Trent University, Lorraine Bailey, University of Reading, Dr Sue Gatenby, PepsiCo UK. Hub Manager: Fiona Lee, University of Reading. To join: https://research.reading.ac.uk/inform-innovation-hub/become_a_member/
The INFORM Hub aims to foster a relationship between academics and industries to initiate and grow new collaborations seeking to understand more about functional foods and support translational research activities. The focus will be on prebiotics, probiotics and plant stanols that can all impact positively on gut microbiota. The Hub will seek to identify research needs underpinning the development of functional foods that target health and recovery through alteration of the gut microbiome and drive forward research in these areas. It will look to provide expert advice to policymakers based on strong scientific evidence and support research development with industry focusing on functional products for bespoke use targeting recovery from exercise fatigue, inflammation, mental stress and post-illness to promote improved health.
Strategic Theme 5: Understanding How Food and Beverages can Deliver Improved Nutrition Across the Life-course
i-NutriLife Hub: https://www.i-nutrilife.org/
Innovative Nutrition solutions for Lifecourse Health. Lead investigators: Professor Philip Calder, Professor Jonathan Swann, Professor Keith Godfrey and Associate Professor Caroline Childs, University of Southampton; Professor Louise Dye, University of Leeds; Dr Miriam Clegg, University of Reading; Professor Simon Carding, Quadram Institute Biosciences; Dr Albert Koulman, University of Cambridge, Hub Manager: Julie Hickman, University of Southampton. To join: https://www.i-nutrilife.org/apply-for-membership/
The Hub focuses on research across the life course emphasising the role of good nutrition in promoting early life development, in sustaining function and resilience through adolescence and adulthood, and in promoting healthy ageing. The Hub seeks to work with academic researchers and industry, to develop and test novel strategies for enhancing the quality of food and beverages to improve nutrition across the life course. This Hub aims to catalyse novel collaborative research to understand how factors such as age, sex and ethnicity modify the diet-physiological function axis and the mechanisms behind this, providing the basis for translation to more healthful foods and beverages that can change biological and physiological processes to better meet consumer needs.
STAR Hub: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/start-healthy-stay-healthy-star-hub
Start healthy – Stay Healthy: Aligning Public and Planetary Health Through Precision Plant-Based Dietary Solutions across the Life-course. Lead investigators: Director Dr Kourosh Ahmadi, University of Surrey. Co-Directors Professor Claire Williams, University of Surrey, Professor Helene McNulty, Ulster University, Professor Thomas Hill, Newcastle University, Professor Louise Dye, University of Leeds. Hub Manager: Brita Terpe, University of Surrey. Join at: https://www.surrey.ac.uk/join-star-hub
The STAR Hub aims to consolidate the activities of communities working on novel plant-based products and to highlight opportunities for industry to exploit this evidence through further research and development. This will involve academia to produce innovative plant-based products, services and systems that are targeted and tailored to specific life stages to improve and maintain cognitive and mental health across the life course. The Hub’s focus is on polyphenols, fibre and resistant starch, alternative plant protein sources and the improvement of existing or novel plant-based foods.
For more information about the OIRC innovation hubs and the work of the club, see the editorial published by the British Nutrition Foundation in the latest issue of Nutrition Bulletin
------------------------------------
This post was written by the British Nutrition Foundation, which is a member organisation of the Academy of Nutrition Sciences (ANS). The Academy has a strategic role to amplify the activities of its member organisations, and hence the posting of this item. The Academy works to improve public health and wellbeing by supporting excellence in research, education and associated activities to advance the knowledge and application of evidence-based nutrition science.