Samantha Sandilands

My PhD research aims to investigate how the global food waste problem is being addressed using social business models through the use of international comparative case studies. The study will attempt to identify changes in behaviour and challenges as a result of a variety of different types of food waste regulation, and how this may differ to a country without any formal regulation but where food waste has seen high levels of improvement over recent years. This qualitative study will be underpinned by a constructivist, interpretivist philosophical standpoint and will involve interviewing key stakeholders in social businesses, looking at documentation and conducting some observations to get an overall picture of how effective current initiatives are and how businesses have adapted to new regulations. This information may then be used to identify potential impact on organisations in the UK. North America and Europe not only face issues with commercial waste but also with consumer waste, accounting for a high percentage of overall food waste compared to other continents (FAO, 2018), and it may be of interest to investigate the impact that business changes have had on wider consumer opinions and behaviours. This research aims to make positive progress towards decreasing this rising percentage and recommending positive steps that can be taken.

• Social Business
• Sustainability
• Food Waste

Combining food waste with social enterprise as a research topic was an obvious choice for Sam, as she developed her interest in social enterprise through a job role in 2012 and then again through her Masters degree, and food waste has been an issue which has concerned her since she was very young. She says that the opportunity to work in this area is exciting to her and is looking forward to finding out what is happening and how progress can be best made in this area.

Her Masters dissertation formed a pilot study for the PhD research, and she was awarded Santander funding to conduct her research on location in Boston, USA.

Her personal interests outside of academia include travelling, board games, cooking (and eating!), swimming and spending time with friends.