Amanda

Wood

PhD

Researcher

amanda.wood@su.se

+46 8 674 7812

@amandawoodr

RSS-link

Profile summary

  • Sustainable food systems
  • Food policy
  • Food system transformation
  • Multi-stakeholder collaboration
  • Transdisciplinary research
  • Qualitative analysis
  • Nordic region

Amanda Wood works with a wide range of food system actors to link the science on sustainable food systems with policy and practice

Wood is currently funded by a FORMAS mobility grant to work with a wide range of academic partners, policy makers and other food system actors to co-develop transformative action pathways towards sustainable food systems in the Nordic region.

Through this work, she is partnering with several other large food system projects such as MISTRA Food Futures, the North Western Paths sustainable food system modelling project, the Norwegian NOR-Eden project, and the Icelandic project Sustainable Healthy Diets: Filling the gaps and paving the way for a sustainable future through science.

Given her focus on transdisciplinary research, outreach and stakeholder engagement is a large part of Wood’s work. She has worked closely with the Nordic Council of Ministers, for example, leading the project Towards sustainable Nordic food systems (2019-2021). This was a collaboration across the five Nordic countries which brought over 115 stakeholders together in a series of dialogues to explore ‘what’s next’ when it comes to sustainable Nordic food systems. Read more about the dialogues here.

She has also worked on the project Deep Demonstration on Resilient Food Systems and Diets, funded by EIT Climate-KIC and in collaboration with the Nordic Council of Ministers and EAT (2020). The result of the project was the Cookbook for systems change, which applied the mission-based approach to transformation of Nordic food systems.

Wood completed her Masters of Public Health and PhD in public policy at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Her doctoral work focused on policy development of food labelling regulation, specifically analyzing the drivers of complex policy-making processes and the influence of different stakeholder groups on the policy development process.

Prior to her role as a researcher, Wood worked with SRC and EAT as a postdoctoral fellow on the EAT-Lancet Commission on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems.

Key publications

  • Benchmarking the Swedish Diet Relative to Global and National Environmental Targets
  • Nordic food system transformation series
  • Cookbook for systems change – Nordic innovation strategies for sustainable food systems
  • EAT-Lancet Commission report
  • Nordic food systems for improved health and sustainability report
  • Reframing the local-global food debate through a resilience lens article

Publications by Wood, Amanda

Sustainability benefits of transitioning from current diets to plant-based alternatives or whole-food diets in Sweden

Journal / article | 2024

Bunge, A.C., Mazac, R., Clark, M. et al. Sustainability benefits of transitioning from current diets to plant-based alternatives or whole-food diets in Sweden. Nat Commun 15, 951 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45328-6

Plant-based alternatives (PBAs) are increasingly becoming part of diets. Here, we investigate the environmental, nutritional, and economic implications of replacing animal-source foods (ASFs) with PBAs or whole foods (WFs) in the Swedish diet. Utilising two functional units (mass and energy), we model vegan, vegetarian, and flexitarian scenarios, each based on PBAs or WFs. Our results demonstrate that PBA-rich diets substan...

Exploring the transformative potential of urban food

Journal / article | 2021

Hebinck, A., Selomane, O., Veen, E., de Vrieze, A., Hasnain, S., Sellberg, M., Sovová, L., Thompson, K., Vervoort, J. & Wood, A. 2021. Exploring the transformative potential of urban food. npj Urban Sustainability 1(1), 38.

Urban food is a key lever for transformative change towards sustainability. While research reporting on the urban food practices (UFPs) in support of sustainability is increasing, the link towards transformative potential is lacking. This is because research on urban food is often place-based and contextual. This limits the applicability of insights to large-scale sustainability transformations. This paper describes UFPs that ...

Nordic food system transformation series (Insight Paper #4)

Policy brief or report | 2021

Wood A, Halloran A, Gordon L J.2021. Insight paper #4 of the Nordic food system transformation series. Stockholm Resilience Centre; Stockholm

This fourth Insight Paper of the Nordic food system transformation series explores the uncertainties associated with different food system futures. These uncertainties are mapped in relation to the three priorities of the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Vision 2030: a green, competitive and socially sustainable Nordic Region. This Insight Paper discusses a variety of tools that can be used to inform decision-making in uncertain s...

Nordic food system transformation series (Insight Paper #3)

Policy brief or report | 2021

Wood A, Halloran A, Gordon L J.2021. Insight paper #4 of the Nordic food system transformation series. Stockholm Resilience Centre; Stockholm

This third Insight Paper of the Nordic food system transformation series draws on the multi-stakeholder dialogues discussed in Insight Paper #1 to identify key barriers related to food system transformation in the Nordic countries. Insight Paper #3 looks at what it will take to overcome the barriers currently slowing down transformation to sustainable food systems in the Nordic region. Insight paper #1 provides an overview ...