LIDA: Food Community
LIDA Food is a newly-established community, which seeks to develop better data, data science and artificial intelligence (AI) methods and integrate them across the food value chain to address global food system challenges, such as diet-related ill-health, environmental sustainability and food security.
In April 2025 co-directors Professor Michelle Morris and Professor Nik Watson were joined by new associate directors Dr Leonard Döhl and Dr Emma Wilkins. Collectively, their experience spans nutrition, public health, health geography, sensors, AI, machine learning, digital food manufacturing, sustainable agriculture and soil science.
The LIDA Food community have worked with a range of external partners, including, supermarket retailers (e.g. ASDA, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Tesco), agri-food businesses (e.g. Nestle and Mondelez), food manufacturers, SMEs (e.g. Piglove Brewery), local authorities, third sector organisations (e.g. the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) and Which?) and international government organisations such as the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia.
The group’s work has generated industry and policy-relevant outputs, such as the Priority Places for Food Index, updates to the Nutrient Profile Model calculator, stakeholder workshops around alternative proteins and Enhancing Agri-food Transparent Sustainability , and a policy brief relating to High in Fat Salt and Sugar (HFSS) legislation.
Since its formation, the LIDA Food Community has nearly 20 articles published or under review in a diverse range of peer-reviewed journals with examples including a review on the potential of AI in colloids and interface science, and studies exploring the spatial relationship between advertising assets and deprivation within Leeds, UK and the impact of screening thresholds on the validity of supermarket transaction data for estimating dietary intake.
We have also been very busy with engagement and dissemination activities. The DIO-Food project, led by Professor Morris and supported by Dr Wilkins received considerable press attention in the Summer and Autumn of 2025. This project, which used supermarket retail data to evaluate the impact of legislation restricting the placement of less healthy foods within large stores, was picked up by >250 media outlets, including a live interview on BBC news.
Watch Dr Wilkins overview of the project and find out how the team worked with multiple supermarkets.
The work has also been presented at events in Westminster (pictured left) and Holyrood, with attendees including MPs and senior policymakers (e.g. from the Food Standards Agency), and an industry webinar hosted by IGD, with nearly 100 industry attendees. Follow-on work is planned as part of the LIDA Data Scientist Development Programme to understand whether the impact of the legislation was equitable across stores in areas with differing levels of deprivation.
In March the LIDA Food team co-hosted a workshop with the Global Food and Environment Institute at the University of Leeds farm, focused on how to best make use of the data generated at the farm. Prof Nik Watson led an AI Continuous Professional Development Event for Sainsburys in April and in May Dr Leonard Döhl attended and exhibited on the sustainable farming research led by the University at the Transition Live 2025 event at the University of Leeds farm.
In May, the team were involved with hosting and presenting at the Digital Footprints Conference at the University of Leeds, where Dr Wilkins won the highly commended Early Career Researcher prize. Members of the group also travelled to Paris in August to present at IUNS – a very large (>3,500 attendee) conference, and at the UK Congress on Obesity Conference in Aberdeen. In September the group were involved with the National Alternative Protein Innovation Centre (NAPIC) conference in Sheffield and the School of Food Science and Nutrition Industry Advisory Board at the University of Leeds. In November the LIDA Food team will host an academic ‘speed dating’ networking event to engage colleagues across career stages.
Find out more about LIDA: Food Return to the Annual Showcase 2025