The Food Security Initiative (FSI) co-founded by UBC Wellbeing, SEEDS Sustainability Program and Faculty of Land and Food Systems, is a cross-disciplinary initiative operating in both Vancouver and Okanagan campuses, that strives towards a holistic, university-wide, and systems-based approach to harness scalable solutions in alleviating household food insecurity and promoting community food security.  

Student-led applied research, leadership, and advocacy work has been foundational to campus food security initiatives and will continue to inform, advise, and activate various best practices and solutions towards campus food security.

By participating in a FSI collaboration:

  • Join a well-established  campus network and contribute to applied student research and collaborations that can  to generate scalable solutions along the food security continuum Strengthen your knowledge, from diverse disciplines and perspectives, about household food insecurity, community food security, and wider systemic transformation needed for holistic solutions for food security 
  • Strengthen your knowledge of household and community food security, and wider systemic transformation needed for holistic solutions for food security from diverse disciplines and perspectivesCreate cohesion in advancing food security through stronger network and fostering collaboration 
  • Take part in a national, provincial, and local coalition building and advocacy efforts to address the root causes of food insecurity Build your network and make interdisciplinary connections with campus operational practitioners, faculty members, students and community  
  • Create cohesion in advancing food security through stronger network and fostering collaboration
  • Build a community of practitioners and incorporate diverse perspectives, including lived experiences, into understanding and finding solutions for food security Build your network and make interdisciplinary connections with campus operational practitioners, faculty members, students and community Inform emerging and existing UBC policies to address food security, including but not limited to fostering food justice

(pictured above): Giving Food Insecurity a Voice: student storyboard to combine statistics and lived experiences to elevate the voice of students facing food security. Credit: Lyncee Dela Cruz, Miluska Bravo Vela, Ojinika Udeze, and Hafsa Ahmed. 

(pictured above): Increasing capacity for community food security; access to food growing, food literacy and food skills 

(pictured above): In 2017, undergraduate students from the faculty of Land and Food Systems piloted a food recovery program in partnership with UBC Food Services and AMS Food Bank. Students held a community meal with recovered foods, bringing together various campus stakeholders to increase future partnerships around reducing food waste and addressing campus food insecurity