An online conversation about School Lunches and Local Food Systems. Angela Clifford - CE of Eat New Zealand will be joined by:

Dr. Kelly Garton - INFORMAS (International Network for Food environments Research,

Monitoring and Action Support)

Dr. Garton is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Auckland’s School of Population Health, where she studies transitions to healthy and sustainable food environments and food systems. Her research blends political economy analysis with complex systems approaches, focusing in particular on the global dynamics of trade and investment in food systems. She also conducts research monitoring the healthiness of food environments in Aotearoa New Zealand, providing evidence-based policy recommendations to improve population health and policy coherence with economic development and environmental sustainability objectives. She focuses in particular on children’s exposure to unhealthy food and beverage marketing (primarily in digital media, neighbourhood access to healthy food outlets, and school food provision (assessing the impacts and wider potential of the Ka Ora, Ka Ako | Healthy School Lunch Programme).

Leah Galvin - Good Food Purchasing Australia

Leah Galvin is a Churchill Fellow with a background in public health nutrition. For the last 25 years Leah has worked in various settings, including state and local government, the not-for-profit sector and as a freelance consultant delivering projects and campaigns to reduce barriers preventing eaters from enjoying tasty seasonal food. In 2019 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate approaches used by business and government to increase institutional procurement of locally produced food. For her 2022 fellowship trip she travelled to 7 countries. Her interest in institutional food procurement is driven by a desire to pull the biggest levers that can re-localise, reduce emissions, strengthen livelihoods and build resilience in food systems in Australia. She works part time for Good Food Purchasing Australia a new action-oriented initiative that resulted from the April 2026 release of their Transforming the Public Plate report. She lives in Nipaluna/Hobart in Lutriwita/Tasmania.

This webinar is free to join - simply register and you'll be sent a link prior to the event.

Contact the host of Vote for Kai Webinar #1 ~ School Lunches & Local Food Systems