{"id":249,"date":"2025-01-21T10:34:39","date_gmt":"2025-01-21T10:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/agrifood-futures\/?page_id=249"},"modified":"2026-02-12T13:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T13:37:11","slug":"systems-and-futures-hub","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/research.reading.ac.uk\/agrifood-futures\/our-approach\/systems-and-futures-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"Systems and Futures Hub"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Established in March 2025, the\u00a0<strong>Systems and Futures Hub<\/strong> is a strategic interdisciplinary initiative aligned with the University of Reading\u2019s focus on innovation for sustainability\u00a0and its Agrifood Futures Strategy.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Purpose and Vision<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Hub is designed to advance the University\u2019s leadership in tackling global challenges. \u00a0It aims to strengthen institutional capacity for\u00a0applying <strong>systems and futures approaches <\/strong>across research, innovation, education and stakeholder engagement.<\/p>\n<p>The \u00a0Hub reflects the University of Reading\u2019s commitment to linking cutting edge science with processes of societal engagement to help bring about the transformation needed for a sustainable, healthy and equitable future for all.<\/p>\n<p>It builds on Reading\u2019s strong track record of interdisciplinary and systems research, and of innovative partnerships with policy makers, business, farmers and community.<\/p>\n<p>The Hub will support the use of systems and futures approaches across all of Reading\u2019s fields of work. There will also be a special focus on the challenges facing agrifood systems bringing together research across a diversity of fields including agriculture, food sciences, health and nutrition, consumer behaviour, environment, climate change, business studies and political economy.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Collaboration and Community<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Hub brings together a community of researchers from across the University, along with its partners from the UK and beyond who share the ambition of applying systems and futures thinking to bring positive and transformative change.<\/p>\n<p>To support and strengthen this community, Hub activities include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Facilitating collaboration through networking and idea sharing events.<\/li>\n<li>Hosting systems and futures capacity development and training activities.<\/li>\n<li>Promoting in systems and futures practice in research, stakeholder engagement and education.<\/li>\n<li>Providing expert advice for agrifood projects using systems and futures approaches.<\/li>\n<li>Supporting interdisciplinary funding bids for strengthening systems and futures research\u00a0 and innovation.<\/li>\n<li>Supporting innovation in systems and futures methodology.<\/li>\n<li>Publishing research on systems and futures innovations.<\/li>\n<li>Contributing to policy briefs, consultations, and position papers.<\/li>\n<li>Hosting a systems and futures online resource platform.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Director of the Systems and Futures Hub is <strong>Dr Jim Woodhill<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>For more information or to engage with the hub please email <a href=\"mailto:sfhub-info@reading.ac.uk\">sfhub-info@reading.ac.uk<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bringing together expertise from across the University to address agrifood systems challenges<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":991,"featured_media":626,"parent":405,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","footnotes":""},"coauthors":[15],"class_list":["post-249","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8.1 - 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