Dr. Afton Halloran
Originally from Vancouver Island, Canada, Afton considers herself a global citizen. Her research, work, and curiosity has taken her to different corners of the world. She currently resides in Copenhagen but has also lived in Tanzania, Japan, Norway, Uganda and Italy.
Dr. Afton Halloran holds a PhD in International and Pediatric Nutrition with a specialization in Sustainable Food Systems. Her research looked at the impact of cricket farming on rural livelihoods, nutrition, and the environment in Kenya and Thailand as a part of the international GREEiNSECT project. In 2012, she completed her MSc in Agricultural Development at the University of Copenhagen, specializing in agriculture as an urban land use in Tanzania and Copenhagen. Afton holds her BSc (honours) in Global Resource Systems from the University of British Columbia.
Over the past six years, she has been working on the topic of edible insects in sustainable food systems. She is the co-author of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations most downloaded publication, Edible insects: future prospects for food and feed security. She is also the lead editor of Edible insects in sustainable food systems.
Afton formally worked as an urban agriculture project officer and affiliated researcher for the Canadian NGO, Sustainable Cities International. She was responsible for successfully helping to incorporate urban agriculture as a land use in the Dar es Salaam Master Plan. From 2015 to 2016, Afton also worked as a researcher for the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems.
Afton’s latest work is at the Nordic Council of Ministers where she is an External Consultant at the Nordic Food Policy Lab. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the Solutions Menu: A Nordic Guide to Sustainable Food Policy. Afton also runs her own consultancy where she advises intergovernmental organizations, companies and NGOs on issues related to sustainable food systems, including future foods, the social impacts of food production, food culture/gastronomy and sustainable diets. As a consultant, Afton also moderates events and facilitating workshops related to sustainable food systems. Dr. Halloran also sits on the Board of Directors of Funkis Fabriken, a cross-disciplinary sustainability research centre located in Sweden. Twitter: @aftonhalloran / Website: www.sustainablefoodsystems.blog