PhD opportunity: Social value of public procurement of food, University of Leeds, UK

The social value of sustainable food public procurement. A case study of Leeds.

This fully funded project is a collaboration between the University of Leeds (Professor Sara Gonzalez) and Leeds City Council and Foodwise (The Leeds Food Partnership).

This project aims to understand how social value can be leveraged to strengthen local food systems through a case study of public food procurement in Leeds. Public procurement is narrowly focused on financial value, limiting its potential benefits to public health, community economies, and environmental sustainability. This project will bridge innovative economic frameworks with food systems research to develop a broader understanding of value, moving beyond cost-based contracting to include social, environmental, and economic well-being within ecological limits.

The focus will be on Leeds, a city already using procurement to reduce its food carbon footprint and drive dietary changes but with challenges to utilize sustainable procurement practices to strengthen its local food system. Nationally, the project is timely as the government will publish both a National Food Strategy and new public procurement guidelines in 2025.

Globally, transforming food systems is essential for tackling climate change, ecosystem erosion, food insecurity, and unhealthy diets. Public food procurement by local authorities, hospitals, and other public bodies can be a powerful tool to influence this transformation. The UK Government wants 50% of the current £2.4 billion public food procurement budget to be spent on sustainable food produced locally or certified to higher standards. However, research has shown that public procurement is still a ‘cost-based contracting system’ geared to price-cutting and ‘value for money’. This economistic and narrow conception of value misses the wider value that sustainable food procurement has on public health, biodiversity, lower emissions, and a more resilient economy. A broader understanding of value is therefore needed.

Objectives:

1. Objective 1: Review and evaluate national and international best practices on public food procurement and social value frameworks.
2. Objective 2: Bring together theoretical inputs from critical economics, foundational economies, community economies, agroecology, alternative food networks, community food provisioning, and urban food systems.
3. Objective 3: Analyse Leeds City Council’s policies and processes on Social Value, Public Food procurement, Food Strategy, and the Best City Ambitions. Review existing food procurement contracts and their evaluation frameworks with a case study on a particular procurement area (possibly School meals).
4. Objective 4: Develop, in collaboration with key stakeholders, an innovative social value framework for sustainable food procurement, with clear indicators and public accountability processes.

The four objectives will be met by undertaking literature reviews, participant observation, interviews, and a case study of a particular procurement contract.

A 3-month Research in Practice placement will be provided at Leeds City Council.

For further information about the application process, please contact the Admissions Team.

For further information about the project, please contact Sara Gonzalez.