Associated organisationsIND Catherine Sutherland 78387 · IND Muthulisi Siwela 250611 · International Water Management Institute · London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine · London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine · Royal Veterinary College · University College London · University of Aberdeen · University of KwaZulu-NatalEurope PMC affiliations are not treated as award recipients or mapped locations.
Funding£6.4M
PeriodFeb 2024 — Feb 2030
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
Southern African farmers, food vendors, and families are navigating a food system that is simultaneously failing their health, their wallets, and the climate—and this project will map exactly where and how to intervene. The problem is that climate change is hitting Southern Africa’s food systems hard, worsening food insecurity, malnutrition, and foodborne illness, while also straining mental health. Existing research often treats these issues in isolation. This project closes that gap by treating the entire food system—from farm to fork to climate—as a single, interconnected problem. It will generate actionable evidence on which interventions (e.g., shifting crop choices, improving cold chains, or diversifying markets) deliver the biggest health and climate benefits. If successful, the project will produce scalable, context-specific policy recommendations for South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Malawi. This could reshape how governments invest in food infrastructure, how supply chains are designed to reduce waste and emissions, and how communities adapt to climate shocks. A transdisciplinary Community of Practice, led by Global South researchers, will ensure that solutions are locally owned and politically feasible. The project also trains a new generation of scholars to keep this systems-thinking approach alive beyond the grant period.
View original technical description
SHEFS-SA will catalyse the transformation of Southern African food systems and communities towards systems and communities that are healthy and resilient to climate risks. We will do this by: (i) undertaking SHEFS transdisciplinary research to shift understanding of complex climate change (CC) challenges for health, as mediated by food systems, within particular contexts, translated into scalable solutions and policy recommendations with high impact; (ii) developing a transdisciplinary Community of Practice (CoP), led by the Global South, that contextualises and applies systems thinking within an expanded climate sensitive SHEFS Framework, to improve food security, food safety, nutrition, and health, including mental health; and (iii) developing a Global South-led cohort programme to train emerging scholars and practitioners in transdisciplinary research approaches at the intersection of Climate and Health. The SHEFS1 consortium will focus on providing actionable evidence for informed decision-making and identifying and developing practical solutions for CC mitigation and/or adaptation, while evaluating in detail how their effects connect to health, including mental health, through food security, food safety and nutrition (public health areas of concern identified in SHEFS1) The programme deepens our work in South Africa, and will expand to include Zimbabwe and Malawi to ensure regional policy impact.
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