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Food security is a significant concern in today's world and this conference will view the issue from several angles. Food security in European countries and their former colonies will be explored from the colonial period until the present day and beyond; with particular focus on how formerly being a colonised or a colonising country has impacted upon food security. The consequences of the resultant agricultural systems in the colonies affect daily life, the spread of wealth and food security up to this day. The engineering, along with the socioeconomic, aspect of this conference will explore how technological advances, particularly in the fields of food preservation and decentralised energy supply, can play a vital role in securing the livelihoods of people, especially in disadvantaged regions.
 
Potential areas of debate are: How can history influence our understanding of food security and the resulting ethical dilemmas? What influence have behavioural changes, such as consumer waste in Europe, had? What effect have local, national and global policies had on food security and its wider ethical context? How have advances in engineering impacted upon the development of agriculture and rural livelihoods? What are the implications of food security to environmental conservation? How have global demands for food been affecting local livelihoods in the global South?
 
The explicit aim of this conference is to develop new concepts based on past experience with the existing systems which are not constrained by the lack of communication between disciplines and not dominated by advocates of the current systems and approaches. This inter-disciplinary conference will allow us to use the expertise of the different disciplines involved to help develop new and more ethical approaches to global food security, as well as help participants to network with people form different fields whom they otherwise would not meet at this point in their careers.

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