Understanding how we interact with food is central to delivering a healthier and more sustainable diet for all. Recognising the need to study real-world dietary behaviour, our innovation hub brings together academic and industry researchers to support training and research.
The Consumer Lab is one of six innovation hubs - part of the Diet and Health Open Innovation Research Club.
The Diet and Health Open Innovation Research Club was established in 2022 to support strategic, collaborative research and development between businesses and academic researchers together with other users of research, policy makers and wider stakeholders.
We have received funding to operate for five years from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, part of UK Research & Innovation, the national funding agency investing in science and research in the UK.
The 6 innovation hubs will support and drive progress across one or more of the following strategic priority areas:
- understanding the interplay between food components and human physiology
- improving health and nutrition through biofortification
- biological, social and psychological determinants of food choice and eating behaviour
- development of functional foods and beverages
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understanding how food and beverages deliver improved nutrition across the life-course
Led by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), with support from DEFRA, Innovate UK and the Medical Research Council (MRC), the new Diet and Health Open Innovation Research Club (OIRC) represents an investment of almost £15m into research and innovation that will help address the critical, shared barriers to innovation across the food and drink sector.
Each Innovation Hub will build cross-sector collaborative networks to improve the UK’s capacity and capability and deliver world-class innovation around diet and health. Details of the other successful Innovation Hubs are available on the UKRI website.