On 18 July 2026, we held a workshop entitled 'Improving food and digital access for the Sudanese community in Birmingham'.

On 8 July, Susanne Jaspars presented a joint paper with C Sathyamala and Tamer Abd Elkreem in the panel on ‘The political economy of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and development.

Together with partners The Food Foundation, Yasmin Houamed, Susanne Jaspars, and Iris Lim produced this policy brief based on their research on the effects of digitalising food assistance and welfare in the UK.

In this blog, Yasmin Houamed writes about how the digitalisation is reshaping the food assistance landscape and argues that the expansion of "hubs" and ‘wrap-around' services risks normalising emergency food aid.

Over the past year, the team has obtained two separate impact grants from the SOAS ESRC Impact Acceleration Account. These grants are to disseminate findings and maximise impact in London and Birmingham.

Political economy and experiences of digitalised food assistance

This working paper presents findings for the second, in-depth phase of the research in Sudan. It focuses on the experience of marginalised populations in different parts of the country, as well as how digital food assistance practices interact with political and economic processes

This photo series by Tamer Abd Elkreem and Susanne Jaspars illustrates how the takaya, or community kitchens, evolved as the main life-saving intervention in Sudan during the war, and the role of social media and digital money transfers to support them.

In India, marginal farmers (< 1 hectare of land) and small farmers (1-2 hectares of land) own 86% of the total agrarian holdings. In the state of Chhattisgarh two-thirds of the farmers belong to this category. Digitalisation in agriculture has been positioned as beneficial to this group of smallholders.

In May 2026, the team submitted evidence to the Right to Food UK Commission. It highlights how access to food and related welfare support increasingly depends on digital infrastructure, devices, design and skills; and that digital exclusion serves as a barrier to realising the right to food in practice.

In partnership with The Food Foundation, this hybrid event shared findings of our research on the effects of digitalising food assistance on marginalised populations and on political and economic processes.

This photo series by Tamer Abd Elkreem and Susanne Jaspars illustrates how Starlink private internet provision has been normalised and weaponised during the war. 

This working paper presents findings for the second, in-depth phase of the research in England. It focuses on the experience of marginalised populations as well as how digital food assistance practices interact with political and economic processes.

Together with the International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA), the team has edited a blog series on ‘The politics of food and technology’ based on their IHSA conference panel.

As food assistance goes digital, vulnerable people risk being shut out. Iris Lim presents some of the key findings of our UK research in this short 8 minute pod bite produced together with the Food Foundation. 

This photo series by Yasmin Houamed explores the everyday practices and improvised adaptations that arise as welfare and social support systems move increasingly online. In England, access to state welfare services – including [...]

This photo series explores the everyday practices and improvised adaptations that arise as welfare and social support systems move increasingly online.

On 19 November 2026, Tamer and Susanne presented preliminary findings of the second phase of Sudan research at CEDEJ Khartoum in Cairo.

The team organised a panel on ‘The politics of food and technology in changing global and local crises’ at the conference of the International Humanitarian Studies Association in Istanbul (15-17 October). 

Tamer and Susanne presented a paper at the IDS conference (from 15-17 September 2025) on ‘The Politics of Digitalising Food Assistance in Sudan’s Crisis, and its Effect on the Food Security of Marginalised Populations’.

After several weeks of mass starvation in Gaza dominating global television coverage, news reports of similar conditions in Sudan’s El Fasher, once Darfur’s capital, are finally emerging. Both regions remain under siege, with starvation deployed as a weapon for the purpose of emptying and occupying them.

The international team met in Cairo (with Indian colleagues joining online) to discuss the preliminary analysis of our three country cases, start a comparative analysis, and plan our publications and dissemination strategy.

Sathya, Tamer and Susanne participated online in the DSA conference of 2025 on the 26th of June. 

This article argues that the digitalisation of food assistance mimics aspects of colonialism, especially in terms of the asymmetries involved in the extraction of data (as a valuable resource) from vulnerable populations and the dominating role of US-based multinationals.

This working paper reports on phase I – the exploratory phase – of ESRC-funded research into the effects of digitalising food assistance in India.

On May 21, 2025, Yasmin presented on findings from the Birmingham case study at the Future Food Symposium 2025, hosted by the University of Birmingham's Business School.