Meet Dr Kate Womersley: embedding equity to deliver better science

As a physician working in psychiatry and a researcher in health policy, Dr Kate Womersley brings together patient care insights and knowledge of systems-level approaches to champion equitable health research.

“These two parts of my professional life very much speak to each other. I love practicing medicine and having clinical time with patients, but it takes on a whole new meaning when you're involved in research as well, and you see how what people are suffering from is - or is not - being addressed in an academic forum.”

Banksia Awards

'ecoSwitch' recognised at 35th Banksia Awards for sustainability

A world-first app developed by The George Institute for Global Health to assign packaged food products a ‘Planetary Health Rating’ has been recognised as a finalist in ‘Climate Technology Impact’ at the 35th National Banksia Sustainability Awards.

‘ecoSwitch’ launched in 2023 and allows shoppers to scan and compare the greenhouse gas emissions of more than 60,000 packaged foods sold in Australia. The Australian innovation is the first app to rate tens of thousands of foods using a standardised approach, so consumers can identify foods with the lowest environmental impact from the large selection on supermarket shelves.1

The global food system generates an estimated 30-40 per cent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions (including agriculture, production and transport).2 

Professor Simone Pettigrew, Program Director, Food Policy at The George Institute for Global Health, said, “We’re incredibly proud of ecoSwitch, which gives consumers the information they need to make climate-conscious choices to reduce the impact of our food system on the climate. 

“We congratulate all of this year’s winners and thank the Banksia Foundation for our nomination, which recognises the determination of our experts in nutrition, food regulation, mathematics and analytics, who collaborated to build a system that’s simple to use, yet based on a robust and highly standardised approach,” she said.

How ecoSwitch works

ecoSwitch calculates a product’s greenhouse gas emissions based on its specific ingredients, weight, production life cycle, country of origin and level of processing. This information is then presented in the form of a Planetary Health Rating, which ranges from half a star (worst) to five stars (best). This is like the approach Australians are already familiar with from the Health Star Rating.

As well as greenhouse gas emissions, developments are in progress to extend the ecoSwitch algorithm to integrate other environmental indicators such as land use, water use, and biodiversity. 

The George Institute’s goal is to develop a single, standardised sustainability rating system to bring transparency to the environmental impact of packaged foods around the world.

“The urgency to transform our food system could not be clearer – human health depends on a healthy environment, which is under threat from climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation,” Prof Pettigrew continued. 

“Planetary health is therefore a critical area of future research for us, to support integrated climate, health, food and environmental policies. 

“With ecoSwitch, we are putting power into the hands of consumers, as we have with our long-running FoodSwitch app for healthy food choices, to signal to industry and government that the community wants a more sustainable food supply.”

The ‘EcoSwitch’ app can be downloaded for free from Android and iOS.

References:

  1. Gains et al 2023. A novel approach to estimate product-specific greenhouse gas emissions for 23,550 Australian packaged foods and beverages; http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2023.138816
  2. Xu, X., Sharma, P., Shu, S. et al. Global greenhouse gas emissions from animal-based foods are twice those of plant-based foods. Nat Food 2, 724–732 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00358-x
  3. Ivanovich et al 2023. Future warming from global food consumption. Nat. Clim. Chang. 13, 297–302 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01605-8
     
Event

Pathways to publication with The Lancet

Group of people in college setting

Are you interested in getting your work published in The Lancet? Have you already seen your name in lights but are keen to hear expert insights around what constitutes a well-represented piece of academic writing? Would you like to know more about the inner workings of academic publishers and the role they play in sharing the latest research evidence and thinking?

Then why not join the School of Public Health, the Faculty of Medicine and The George Institute for Global Health for a special event with The Lancet editors on pathways to publication with the group.

The Lancet’s Callam Davidson (Senior Editor) and Helen Frankish (Senior Executive Editor) will share insights and information as well as invite audience discussion – so that you can get your burning questions answered by the experts.

The session is designed to boost colleague awareness of how one of the world’s most recognisable and high-impact academic publisher works, what they look for from authors, and how we can work together to get evidence-based insights to key audiences.

All staff and students from across the University are most welcome to attend. Attendees are invited to share topics and questions they would like covered in advance, as well as raising points for discussion on the day.

Please note: This event is restricted to staff and students of Imperial College London and The George Institute. Please use an imperial.ac.uk or georgeinstitute.org email address when registering.

We have limited capacity but will be operating a waiting list. Please sign up if you are interested and we will contact you if more space becomes available.

Register now

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