What Happened This Month | May 2026
Published: 4 June 2026
May’s SCAF activity looks at “futures work”: thinking about how quantum technologies might reshape food, what it really takes to change diets, and how to make the Alliance itself more visible and usable to its members.
SCAF aims to support members in their exploration of the research spaces at the interface between disciplines and sectors – accordingly, the alliance co-invested in several projects spanning food and quantum technologies. In May, three linked activities under the Quantum & Food banner moved from concepts to potential collaborations, with:
- A seminar (convened by Rachel Norman), introducing vertical growing and single photon counting, outlining where quantum sensing might meaningfully intersect with controlled environment food production.
- A Translating Quantum Food Futures workshop (read the blog here), convened by Saihong Li and Oliver Brown, focused on food security, sustainability and responsible innovation.
- A Quantum & Food collaboration primer workshop (convened by Rachel Norman and Ife Ejidike) on collaborative opportunities between quantum technology and aquaculture to translate discussions into concrete project ideas centred on Scottish aquaculture. Register for the second workshop until 8th June.
If you are keen to join future opportunities, keep an eye on our website and newsletter for further events in these series.
In May, we also heard about consumer behaviour and its complexities, with a seminar by Tess Davis (University of Strathclyde) and Amy Rodger (University of Edinburgh) entitled Changing consumer dietary behaviour in the current food system – it’s not that simple. Drawing on social psychology and climate research, the session (which is now available on our YouTube page) outlined why there is no single behavioural “fix” that will shift consumer food choices, and why individual‑level interventions and system‑level changes have to be pursued together if the food system is to become fairer, more equitable and more sustainable.
Alongside the events, there was also work on the Alliance's infrastructure. The SCAF steering meeting continued the year‑three focus on being more deliberate about where effort goes, including how funding, events and communications align. In parallel, SCAF soft-launched its Member Map, an interactive tool that allows users to filter the network by sector (academia, industry, NGO, public sector), institution, broad field or discipline, and whether a member is open to mentoring or contact about job openings. The map already shows early-adopters amongst the membership and is being populated via email and Slack invitations – check your latest copy of the SCAF newsletter. At term, it will give a realistic picture of who is in the Alliance and how they might connect.
We also announced our annual event “save the date”, with SCAF convening its conference and unconference in Aberdeen on the 26th and 27th of August - where we plan to celebrate three years of SCAF achievements and connections and look at the road ahead.
First published: 4 June 2026