Members of the ACSS

The ACSS comprises an independent chair and nine independent members.

The members of the ACSS are:

Ms Julie Hill (Chair)

Julie Hill has had a career in environmental policy and politics, working primarily in the UK.  She is presently an inaugural Non-executive Board Member of England and Northern Ireland’s Office for Environmental Protection (OEP); President of the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES) as well as Chair of the Advisory Committee for Social Science (ACSS) for the Food Standards Agency (FSA).  Former roles include Chair of the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), board member of the Eden Project, the Environment Agency (EA) and the Consumer Council for Water (CCW). She has written and presented widely, including a popular science book ‘The Secret Life of Stuff’.   

Professor Julie Barnett (Deputy Chair)

Julie Barnett is Professor of Health Psychology and Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Research at the University of Bath. Julie is a social and health psychologist with research experience and expertise around risk perception and risk communication, loneliness and social connection and managing food hypersensitivity

Professor Dan Rigby

Daniel Rigby 

Dan Rigby is a Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester, and also holds a position at the University of Western Australia. He has been undertaking research in food and agriculture for over 25 years with his work increasingly focused on food and food safety.

Much of his research involves the design of surveys to elicit preferences and priorities, typically involving Discrete Choice Experiments or Best Worst Scaling techniques.

He has worked on projects to estimate the economic cost of foodborne illness in the UK and USA, and the economic costs of food hypersensitivities in the UK.

Professor George Gaskell

George Gaskell Emeritus professor social psychology and research methodology.  At the London School of Economics, he co-founded the Department of Methodology and was Pro-Director Planning and Resources (2007-2014).  External roles include vice-chair of the European Commission’s Science and Society Advisory Committee for the 6th FP (2003-2005) and membership EFSA’s Advisory Group on Risk Communication (2005-2012).  He was awarded the Gago Medal for lifetime contributions to European Science Policy (2017).  He is a member of LSE and Partners Consortium on Behavioural Science, conducting studies in support of European Commission policy making. 

Dr Hannah Lambie-Mumford

Hannah Lambie-Mumford is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield. She has undertaken research on food insecurity, food charity and public policy responses to food access issues for funders including the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the British Academy. 

Dr Seda Erdem

Seda Erdem is an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Stirling. She has a background in behavioural science and food economics.

Professor Spencer Henson

Spencer Henson is a Professor at the University of Guelph in Canada and Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in the UK. He is recognised internationally for his expertise on food safety and quality.

Professor Charlotte Hardman

Charlotte Hardman BSc PhD FHEA is Professor of Psychology of Eating Behaviour at the University of Liverpool. She has over 20 years’ experience of conducting research on the psychology of food-related behaviours (>95 peer-reviewed publications), and brings a wealth of methodological skills, knowledge, and networks in healthy and sustainable food choices. She leads research teams in major interdisciplinary projects funded by UKRI’s Transforming UK Food Systems Strategic Priorities Fund, and the European Commission’s Horizon 2020-funded SWEET consortium. She is a founding member of the Liverpool Food Growers Network and a trustee of Feeding Liverpool.

Professor Fiona Gillison

Fiona Gillison is a Professor of Health Psychology and Deputy Director of the Centre for Motivation and Health Behaviour Change at the University of Bath. Her research interests include the design and delivery of behaviour change interventions, particularly related to the promotion of a healthy weight, and the application of health communication theory.