Grace Clare

PhD candidate

Contact

Email: grace.clare@postgrad.otago.ac.nz
Location: Archway West

Measuring the impact of food rescue in Aotearoa New Zealand: A Social Return on Investment

About

Grace moved to Dunedin for a Bachelor of Science in Food Science (2017). Grace was first introduced to the vital role that food rescue organisations play in reducing food waste and food insecurity during her honours project: The impact of COVID-19 on food rescue organisations in New Zealand. As a result, she was exposed to the multitude of initiatives working to reduce food waste, sparking a new research interest. Being in research was never her goal, but since then, she has explored opportunities as they arose and pursued things that interested her. Due to her passion for food waste research and appreciation for food rescue organisations, in 2021, she started a PhD project to investigate the impact of food rescue organisations.

Grace has been a Research Assistant (2020-2021), co-ordinating the development of the Upcycled Food Lab for the Food Waste Innovation Theme. She also worked on a food product development project with Citizen's Collective, coordinating the development of a beer made by upcycling surplus bread. The aim was to optimise the amount of surplus bread in each glass of beer as a food waste reduction solution.

Project outline

Grace uses a Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology to quantify the social impact of food rescue in New Zealand, producing a ratio of benefits to costs. Through this process, she will strive to develop the research outcomes to inform the food rescue sector to improve the effectiveness, economic viability, and reach of food rescue, ultimately increasing the impact.