Dr Mehroosh Tak

Lecturer in Agribusiness

Department: Pathobiology and Population Sciences

Campus: Camden

Research Groups: Sustainable Food Systems, IRLFS (Research Programme)

Research Centres: Veterinary Epidemiology, Economics and Public Health

Dr. Mehroosh Tak is an economist researching the structural causes of food systems change.  Dr. Tak is interested in supervising research on economics of food systems using approaches from political economy and development economics. 

Dr Mehroosh Tak is a Senior Lecturer in Agribusiness at RVC. She is an economist researching agricultural policies and food systems in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Much of her work evaluates nutrition-sensitivity of programmes and policies using approaches from development economics including micro-econometrics and political economy. Dr Tak has previously investigated the role of public expenditures in diversifying diets and antibiotic usage in livestock production systems in South Asia. She worked in International Development as a monitoring and evaluation consultant at Oxford Policy Management providing expertise on food and nutrition financing to international donors, such as the FCDO, UNICEF and the FAO. She co-leads RVC participation on the Centre for Doctoral Training on UK Food Systems.

2020            Choudhury, S., Shankar, B., Tak, M., Aleksandrowicz, L., Dangour, A., “A Caste-based Inequality in Fruit and Vegetables Consumption in India", Ethnicity and Health (forthcoming)

2020            Choudhury, S., Shankar, B., Aleksandrowicz, L., Tak, M., Green, R., Harris, F., Scheelbeek, P., Dangour, A., “What underlies inadequate and unequal fruit and vegetable consumption in India? An exploratory analysis”, Global Food Security, Vol 24

2019            Tak, M., Shankar, B. and Kadiyala, S., “Dietary Transition in India: Temporal and regional Trends, 1993-2012”, Food and Nutrition Bulletin.

2019            Tak, M. “Global Food Systems and Local Diets”, Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies, Vol. 19 No. 1, Spring 2019; (pp. 103-104) DOI: 10.1525/gfc.2019.19.1.103

2018            Walls, H., Joshton, D., Tak, M., Dixon, J., Hanefeld, J., Richard, R. and Hull, E., ‘"The impact of agricultural input subsidies on food and nutrition security: A systematic review", Journal of Food Security.

2018            Tak, M., Allan, S. and Picanyol, C., ‘Spotlight 5.1. Tracking government expenditure in Bangladesh and Tanzania’ in Development Initiatives, 2018. 2018 Global Nutrition Report: Shining a light to spur action on nutrition.

2017            Aleksandrowicz, L., Tak, M., Green, R., Kinra, S. and Haines, A., ‘Comparison of food consumption in Indian adults between national and sub-national dietary data sources’, British Journal of Nutrition 117(7), 1013-1019.

2017            Adhya, T. K., Joy, E., Agrawal, S. and Tak, M., ‘Dietary patterns and implications for reactive N flows in India’ – book chapter in Abrol, Y. P. and Adhya, T. K. (eds.), The Indian Nitrogen Assessment: Sources of Reactive Nitrogen, Environmental and Climate Effects and Management Options and Policies.

2016            Background paper for ‘Food Systems and Diets: Facing the Challenges of the 21st Century’ – Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition (London, UK).

2015            Groom, B. and Tak, M., ‘Welfare Analysis of Changing Food Prices: A Nonparametric Examination of Rice Policies in India’, Journal of Food Security 7(1), 121-14.

2015            Kanter, R., Walls, H., Tak, M., Roberts, F. and Waage, J., ‘A conceptual framework for understanding the impacts of agriculture and food system policies on nutrition and health’, Journal of Food Security 7(4), 767-777.

2015            Picchioni, F. et al., ‘Agri-health research: What have we learned and where do we go next?’, Journal of Food Security 8(1), 291-298.

2014            Kanter, R. et al., ‘4th Annual Conference of the Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health (LCIRAH), Agri-food policy and governance for nutrition and health, London, 3 – 4 June 2014’, Journal of Food Security 6(5), 747-753.

Podcast

Nov 2017     Tak, M and Vaghi, F, 2018, ‘Governments, markets, men, women, children - who decides which food is good?’, Episode 2 of podcast, “What is good food?”, SOAS Radio

 

Dr. Tak contributes to economics, business and food systems teaching at RVC. She is interested in supervising MSc and PhD projects on economics of food systems with a systems approach on agriculture to nutrition linkages. Dr. Tak is also interested in antimicrobial use in livestock production systems. Research on role of state and non-state actors in food system delivery and nutrition-sensitive programmes and policies are also encouraged.

  • Critical Research on Industrial Livestock Systems (CRILS) Network

    The Critical Research on Industrial Livestock Systems (CRILS) Network aims to understand the trade-offs of large-scale, industrial livestock systems and to use available evidence to advocate for just and sustainable food systems, especially in the Global South. The network brings together researchers and non-academics including civil society, activists, policy-makers, industry actors, and lawyers among others, to challenge and nuance narratives of livestock production systems.

  • Identifying Economic and Financial Drivers of Industrial Livestock Production - the Case of the Global Chicken Industry

    The project investigates asymmetries of power relations and policy formulations that give rise to corporate concentration in livestock industries using the case study of poultry. Corporate contract farming or industrialised integrated production are becoming dominant forms of meeting such demands. This guidance memo aims to investigate asymmetries of power relations and policy formulations that give rise to corporate concentration in livestock industries using the case study of poultry. 

  • Sustainable Beef & Sheep Food Systems

    This project brings together different disciplinary and One Health specialists from two collaborating universities; the Royal Veterinary College and the University of Hertfordshire to contribute creatively to solutions for more sustainable beef and sheep production and marketing systems in Great Britain.  

    Using trans-disciplinary, systems modelling approach we aim to map the British beef and sheep food systems and identify metrics of sustainability for each farming system to create an integrated model to assess impacts.

  • UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) One Health Poultry Hub

    With integrated streams of social, economic, biological, mathematical and policy-led research, we are co-producing detailed knowledge on the biological, structural and socio-economic factors that shape networks of chicken production and distribution. The RVC-led UKRI GCRF One Health Poultry Hub brings together leading laboratory, clinical, veterinary and social scientists, as well as skilled communications experts, programme support staff and external stakeholders.  

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