Keynote speaker, Sir Charles Godfray, will present his thoughts on what the industry needs to consider, in order to address the shifting challenges in building a just, healthy and sustainable food system.

Key issues anticipated to be covered by Sir Charles in his lecture include: 

• The resilience of the food system and what we’ve learned from the pandemic and Ukraine war shocks
• The net zero challenge and the scale of transformation it requires in the food supply chain
• The creative and disruptive potential of new technologies
• The epidemic of diet-related disease and what might be done about it
• Whether food poverty is a food-sector or a wider societal problem
• The critical role of the private sector in achieving these goals

Sir Charles, director of Oxford University’s Oxford Martin School and its Future of Food programme, has chaired the Lead Expert Group of the UK Government’s Foresight Project on the Future of Food and Farming. He has recently stepped down as chair of the Science Advisory Council of the UK’s Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society and was knighted for services to scientific research and science advice to the government in 2017.

For its 22nd lecture and first year re-branded as the City Food and Drink Lecture, following the welcome addition of The Worshipful Company of Distillers, around 600 livery and VIP guests are expected to attend alongside leading industry experts to discuss the prevalent issue of food sustainability throughout the supply chain.

To be held on 15th May 2023 at London’s Guildhall, the City Food and Drink Lecture will see Sir Charles share his thoughts on how the global food system will need to change and adapt, involving the critical role of the private sector and the need for politicians to be brave and make big decisions.

Following his lecture, Charles will join the panel, which will later be announced, for an interactive questions-and-answer session.

Sir Charles said: “It is a great honour to be giving this lecture in May, especially considering the illustrious people who have spoken in the past. Issues around the national and global food system are hugely salient at the moment and I much look forward to taking part in the lecture.” 

The current chair of the City Food and Drink Lecture, John Giles, commented: “There is so much happening in the world of agriculture, food and drink at the moment, in the UK and around global food security issues, how we go about feeding a global population of nine billion, the impact of the war in the Ukraine, mitigating against climate change and of course the challenges all of these have on our diet and nutrition. Sir Charles has a global reputation for his views on all these subjects and his work has been cited on more than 40,000 occasions. 

One of our key objectives of the event is to engage with the thought leadership process and with a Keynote Speaker of this calibre, anyone who attends will go away being much better informed on these massive forces for change in our respective sectors.”