The opportunity to showcase globally significant food waste research was a highlight of the staff forum held at CQUniversity’s Sydney Campus as part of Vice Chancellor Professor Nick Klomp’s visit. And what visit is complete without one of our famous carrot cushions? This was presented to the Vice Chancellor by our own ENGAGE Program Leader Professor David Pearson.
Lunch participants heard from Professor David Pearson and were encouraged to ‘love their leftovers’ by taking uneaten lunch items home in the snap seal bag provided – thus making it a ‘Zero food waste event’. This simple, yet effective way to reduce food waste was part of Professor Pearson’s key message to ‘eat all the food you buy.’
In recognition of his continued support of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG) Professor Pearson presented Professor Klomp with a prestigious UNSDG pin and one of our ‘its ok to be imperfect’ carrot cushions.
CQUniversity is a foundation research partner in Fight Food Waste CRC and is home to the ENGAGE program, one of three research programs part of the $120 million, ten-year research centre. The ENGAGE program research projects are focused on training future industry leaders and improving effectiveness of interventions to reduce food waste in homes (where 1/3 of the food waste occurs in Australia). CQUniversity is home to four Research Higher Degree students, two project leaders and around a dozen researchers publishing academic journal articles contributing to the global conversation about how to reduce the squandering of resources associated with food waste.
Professor Pearson is looking forward to the release of the next series of research reports into household food waste behaviours at the end of April.
