Rounaq Nayak

Dr Rounaq Nayak

  • Senior Lecturer in Sustainability
  • CH210,
UN SDGs:
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Biography

I am passionate about exploring the reciprocal relationship between organizations and local communities, analysing their mutual influence, and studying the sustainability implications. As a human factors specialist and a human geographer, I have worked on projects in agri-food and healthcare sectors, prioritizing a people-centred approach to service improvement. My research interest lies in enhancing the resilience of the global agri-food system to challenges like food poverty, forced labour, and carbon trading by adopting a systems approach. I aim to optimize systems, promote transparency, build community resilience, and evaluate technological innovations using a human factors lens. Through service improvement projects, I have generated reports contributing to sustainable transformations in the agri-food sector and charities. My work has contributed to policy reports on food security at the national (UK Parliament) and international level (United Nations).

I hold Fellowships with the Royal Society for Public Health, the Royal Geographical Society, and the Higher Education Academy...

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Research

In addition to my role as an academic at BU, I am currently on secondment with the Wales Centre for Public Policy as an ESRC Fellow. I work on projects related to using and evaluating evidence from individuals with lived experience and learned expertise to address challenges across the following United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals:

SDG 2: Zero hunger

• Target 2.1: End hunger and ensure access to safe, nutritious, and sufficient food all year round, especially among poor people in vulnerable situations.

• Target 2.2: End malnutrition

SDG 8: Decent work and Economic Growth

• Target 8.7: Eradication of forced labour (including child labour)

• Target 8.8: Protect labour rights & promote safe working environments

SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

• Target 12.2: By 2030, achieve the sustainable management and efficient use of natural resources.

• Target 12.3: Reduce food waste and food loss at retail and consumer levels

• Target 12.6: Encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle.

• Target 12.8: Create awareness among people for sustainable lifestyles

I am interested in deliberative policy analysis and projects that focus on sustainable business transformations, especially of NGOs and rural enterprises.

So whether you have similar interests, or want to find out more, please feel free to get in touch with me.

Areas of Research Interest:

1. Community feeding programmes (food banks, pantries, larders, social supermarkets)...

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Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person's work contributes towards the following SDGs:

Zero hunger

"End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture"

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Decent work and economic growth

"Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all"

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Responsible consumption and production

"Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns"

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Journal Articles

  • Nayak, R. and Manning, L., 2023. Forgotten children: a socio-technical systems analysis of the 2004 and 2015 forced child labour reports from Indian cottonseed farms. Trends in Organized Crime, 26 (3), 203-234.
  • Diaz De Oleo, D., McIntyre, L., Randall, N., Nayak, R. and Manning, L., 2023. Systematic mapping of food safety outbreaks in the hospitality sector in the Dominican Republic. British Food Journal, 125 (2), 500-521.
  • Nayak, R. and Hartwell, H., 2023. The future of charitable alternative food networks in the UK: an investigation into current challenges and opportunities for foodbanks and community markets. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 7.
  • Nayak, R. and Jespersen, L., 2022. Development of a framework to capture the maturity of food safety regulatory and enforcement agencies: Insights from a Delphi study. Food Control, 142.
  • Woodward, M., Nayak, R. and McCulloch, P., 2022. Radiography as a sociotechnical system – Improving patient identification with a multi-level human factors approach. Safety Science, 150.
  • Díaz De Oleo, D., McIntyre, L., Randall, N., Nayak, R. and Manning, L., 2022. A socio-technical approach to food safety incident analysis using the AcciMap model in the hospitality sector. Food Control, 136.
  • Nayak, R., Manning, L. and Waterson, P., 2022. Exploration of the fipronil in egg contamination incident in the Netherlands using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method. Food Control, 133.
  • Thatcher, A., Nayak, R. and Waterson, P., 2020. Human factors and ergonomics systems-based tools for understanding and addressing global problems of the twenty-first century. Ergonomics, 63 (3), 367-387.
  • Nayak, R. and Waterson, P., 2019. Global food safety as a complex adaptive system: Key concepts and future prospects. Trends in Food Science and Technology, 91, 409-425.
  • Nayak, R. and Taylor, J.Z., 2018. Food safety culture – the food inspectors’ perspective. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 10 (3), 376-381.
  • Nayak, R. and Waterson, P., 2017. The Assessment of Food Safety Culture: An investigation of current challenges, barriers and future opportunities within the food industry. Food Control, 73, 1114-1123.
  • Nayak, R. and Waterson, P., 2016. 'When Food Kills': A socio-technical systems analysis of the UK Pennington 1996 and 2005 E. coli O157 Outbreak reports. Safety Science, 86, 36-47.

Chapters

  • Nayak, R., 2023. FOOD PATHWAYS TO COMMUNITY SUCCESS. Food Futures in Education and Society. 229-246.
  • Nayak, R., 2021. The use of internet of things (IoT) technology to improve transparency in agri-food supply chains. In: Manning, L., ed. Developing Smart Agri-Food Supply Chains Using Technology to Improve Safety and Quality. Burleigh Dodds Science Publishing.

Internet Publications

Others

PhD Students

  • Dileyni Diaz de Oleo, 2023. A multi-method approach to analyse foodborne disease outbreaks in the hospitality sector: informing effective governance for the Dominican Republic, (Completed)
  • Ahmed Albandary. A study of food safety culture among hospitality students, (In progress)

Profile of Teaching PG

  • Green Technology and Renewable Energy
  • Sustainable Development in Practice

Profile of Teaching UG

  • Residential Field Trip
  • Contemporary Topics in Geography

Invited Lectures

  • Harper Adams University, 19 Oct 2023 more

Grants

  • Lived Experience Policy Fellowship at the Wales Centre for Public Policy (Economic and Social Research Council, 01 Nov 2023). In Progress
  • The Carbon Exchange: Mapping the drivers and impact of the carbon market on rural enterprises in the UK (REINVEST) (UK Research and Innovation Council, 01 May 2023). In Progress
  • Community feeding programs - Mapping the referral process to food banks and other community organisations (British Academy, 17 Oct 2022). Completed
  • Mapping the drivers and impact of Modern-Day Slavery practices within the traditional Indian tea farming sector (British Academy, 01 Jul 2022). In Progress
  • Edible Food Waste Reduction: Using STFC Technology In Food Valorisation to Integrate Excess Food in Local Communities (UTILISE) (Science and Technology Facilities Council [2006-2012], 01 Feb 2022). Completed
  • United Kingdom and Brazil INterventions for Food Loss and Waste Education in Secondary Schools (BINLESS): A case study of collaboration between schools from Brazil and United Kingdom (British Council, 01 Feb 2022). Completed
  • What’s the beef?: Reducing Carbon Emissions in Beef Supply Chains by decentralising the carbon value chain (Morrisons-Harper Adams University Sustainability Challenge, 01 Nov 2021). Completed
  • A multidimensional evaluation platform for Brazil’s national school feeding program (British Council, 01 Oct 2021). Completed

External Responsibilities

  • Roman Way Primary School, Governor (2023-)
  • Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems - Agro-Food Safety, Review Editor (2023-)
  • UKRI, Interdisciplinary Assessment College Member (2023-2025)
  • Royal Geographical Society, Reviewer (2022-)
  • British Council, Reviewer (2022-2023)
  • Norwegian Research Council, Reviewer (2021)
  • Greenacres Primary School, Parent Governor (2021-2022)

Internal Responsibilities

Journal Reviewing/Refereeing

  • Nature, Anonymous peer review, 12 Sep 2023
  • Foods, Anonymous peer review, 03 Mar 2023
  • British Food Journal, 19 Dec 2022
  • Zoonoses and Public Health, Anonymous peer review, 01 Sep 2022
  • Sustainability, Anonymous peer review, 01 Dec 2021
  • Food Control, Anonymous peer review, 01 Jan 2016

Public Engagement & Outreach Activities

  • Children's Food Ambassador (01 Nov 2023-31 Oct 2026)

Qualifications

  • PhD in Human Factos and Complex Systems (Loughborough University, 2018)
  • MSc in Food Safety, Hygiene and Management (University of Birmingham, 2014)
  • BEng (Hons) in Biotechnology (Vellore Institute of Technology, 2013)

Honours

  • Teaching Innovation Award (Bournemouth University, 2022)
  • Doctoral College Research Student Prize Highly Commended Award (Loughborough University Doctoral College, 2017)
  • Santander Mobility Award (Santander, 2017)

Memberships

  • Higher Education Academy, Fellow (2023-),
  • Royal Society for Public Health, Fellow (2022-),
  • Higher Education Academy, Associate (2021-2023),
  • Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), Fellow (2021-),
  • Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, Member (2016-2022),