Booking is now live for the fourth session in this series, which will take place on Wednesday 6 April at 12pm – 1pm

At this session we will discuss food inequalities.

We will be hearing from Dr Bernadette Moore of University of Leeds and Rifhat Malik of Give a Gift.

Dr J Bernadette Moore is Associate Professor of Obesity in the School of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Leeds. Research in Dr Moore’s laboratory has largely focused on characterizing the molecular basis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). NAFLD is the hepatic manifestation of obesity and the metabolic syndrome, and is now the most common cause of liver disease affecting an estimated 30% of adults and 10% of children in the UK. However, because overwhelming  evidence demonstrates that in addition to biology, there are critical social and environmental determinants of obesity, including food insecurity; Dr Moore’s research also encompasses strands of food policy and food systems related to childhood obesity, food poverty and malnutrition. She has published >50 peer-reviewed papers, editorials and book chapters, and was the recipient of the 2018 Nutrition Society Silver Medal for Research Excellence in a Young Investigator. In addition, Dr Moore is currently the Head of the Graduate School for the Faculty of Environment at the University of Leeds, which encompasses approximately 600 postgraduate researchers.

Rifhat Malik is currently overseeing the work of Give a Gift and manages the Projects, Events, fund raising, marketing/promotion, volunteers & advocacy support. She has worked in the Third Sector for over 25 years and has successfully delivered several projects in partnership with statutory bodies such as Leeds City Council, Leeds United foundation, International relief agencies & the NHS, mainly within the most deprived areas using person and community centred approaches.

Rifhat has significant experience of connecting and empowering people to take positive actions to transform their health & wellbeing. She also has experience of working strategically sitting on numerous management committees and steering groups such as North West Primary Care Trust, Hooner Kelah women’s training organisation, Feel Good Factor Management committee and currently as a Trustee at Martin House Children’s Hospice,  and an Executive board member of LCP HATCH.

In addition to her work, Rifhat has been a dedicated volunteer with Islamic Relief for over 20 years  when she got involved raising vital funds for various emergency disasters such as Kosovo, Haiti, Pakistan floods and earthquake and was fortunate enough to visit the Pakistan earthquake camps back in 2005 and the Pakistan floods in 2010 in Peshawar.

Book your place HERE.

About ‘Ideas for a More Equitable Leeds’

A bi-weekly seminar series presented by Voluntary Action Leeds and Leeds ACTS! –  acknowledging, challenging and exploring solutions to rising inequalities in Leeds.

Each of these online lunchtime seminars, hosted by Peg Alexander, will address an area of inequality:

• Money (this session took place on 9 February)
• Environment & Greenspace (this session took place on 23 February)
• Housing
• Food
• Health & Wellbeing
• Education, Skills & Employment

You’ll hear from two speakers, one providing input from an academic perspective and one providing a community perspective. After the speakers give a brief introduction to the topic, Peg will open up a Q&A session between attendees and the speakers, seeking to identify one or two key actions the city should undertake to reduce the causes of that inequality.

At the end of the series we’ll be sharing a report outlining the key outcomes of the seminars.

We hope you will join us over the lunch hour as we come together as a city to discuss the challenge of rising inequalities and how we can work towards a more equitable city.

Dates for your diary

Every seminar will be held between 12noon & 1pm and we’ll be sharing further details soon.

In the meantime, if you would like to express an interest in attending, please email carl.robertshaw@val.org.uk and we will contact you with the details as soon as they are available.

• Wednesday 23 March
• Wednesday 20 April