Profile

Biography

Samarthia joined the Environment Department in December 2007 from her previous post from the Centre for Business Relationships, Accountability Sustainability and Society (BRASS) at Cardiff University, Cardiff. Samarthia had worked at the School of Management and Economics, Queen’s University of Belfast prior to joining Cardiff University. Samarthia has held various research positions in India and has extensive research experience in the field of Sustainable development & technological policy issues; Social & economic aspects of sustainability.

Please note that Samarthia's office has moved - she is now in V/X/033 in Grimston House

Career

Lecturer	University of York, Environment Department
PhD	Aberystwyth, UK
MSc Agronomy	Allahabad, India

Research

Overview

Samarthia's research broadly focuses on the various changes in production and consumption patterns in the Agri-food supply chains and understanding the ways in which current behaviours or changed behaviours may affect the sustainability of consumption and production systems in the future.

Current projects

Examining the degree to which dominant strategies of food regulation in the UK are reconfiguring the space within which alternative food supply chains function.

The research adopts a global-local perspective on the food industry and its regulation and aims to explore an understanding of the interaction of private and public systems of regulation and their effects on firm strategies (especially corporate retailers and processors) and the local and regional impacts of these models.  The perspective will integrate a (vertical) supply chain approach with a deeper understanding of the (horizontal) local and regional impacts and effects.

The research involves interviewing and assessing major corporate retailers along the following lines:

1. how their changing retail strategies are incorporating CSR and new food quality parameters
2. gauge how their relationships with governance frameworks and quality conventions are changing
3. assess how and what significance the relocalistaion process is having on their competitive positioning.

Exploring the influence of religion and the impacts of cultural and societal change on the structuring and regulation of food supply chains

Samarthia has been interested in this research programme as it looks to challenge traditional anglo-centric approaches to the sustainable production and consumption of food by highlighting the increasing significance of cultural, ethnic and religious farmings of food.

Secondly, it incorporates sociological and geographical knowledge to look more broadly at the effect of nature-society relationships on the production and consumption of food.  Some of the research projects that Samarthia is involved in under this research programme are:

(a) ethnic food deserts

This project aims to identify and map ethnic food deserts in South Wales.  It is hypothesised that certain regions may or may not be categorised as conventional food deserts, but also contain areas where ethnic minorities face intensified food access hardship due to a scarcity of traditional foods.

(b) Religious, Moral and Ethical Perspectives on Food Biotechnology

In the public arena, the debate over genetically modified foods has so far been dominated by disagreements over the potential risks and benefits of agricultural biotechnology.  These discussions, however, largely avoid explicit consideration of religious, moral and ethical values even though they take place against a backdrop of values and principles often shaped by unexpressed religious and moral viewpoints.

The research explores key interrelated questions, e.g.

• whether consumer (both general and ethnic population) acceptance of biotechnology is significantly influenced just by their perceptions of risks and benefits associated with GM products, or their moral and ethical views.
• in addition, whether consumers' views about corporations, knowledge of science, and trust in government has significant influence on their acceptance of biotechnology.
• whether public acceptance of the use of biotechnology is related to the consumers' ethnic, socio-economic and other personal attributes.  If so, then what is the place of ethnicity and religion in the social construction of risk within food.
• whether religiously affiliated organisations, particularly those that deal with rural life or poverty, work with industry and ethical leaders to create ethical guidelines for the use of biotechnology.

Religion and Society:  Halal Food Supply Chains

This research project aims to firstly map out the shape of the halal supply chain in South Wales thereby providing us with an important evidence base for future research initiatives and secondly look at the attitudes towards/reasons for involvement in the halal food supply chain by local farmers.

Industrial bio-transformation:  Exploring the Potential Institutional limits

Trends in the use of biomaterials suggest that automotive companies (e.g. DaimlerChrysler, Toyota and Ford) are using biomaterials, and other renewable materials and plastic with recycled-content in automotive components in Europe. However the increased presence of these materials in automobiles can be expected, only as more research is conducted and as performance meets or exceeds current standards and costs are reduced. Biomaterial substitution is in its early stages at present; therefore a complex question that arises is what infrastructure should be built and what biomass inputs and applications are most desirable, profitable and efficient over time.

In collaboration with the Composites Systems Innovation Centre, Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Sheffield, this research seeks to understand how significant the long-term potential of biomaterial substitution is and to identify the barriers to further growth. At its most fundamental, the research seeks to answer the question ‘Can biomaterials make a substantive contribution to greater sustainability?’

This pioneering research aims to provide solutions for the formulation of strategy concepts suitable for biomaterial substitution through: a)The identification of the scale and growth rate of the substitution of traditional material by bio-materials with specific reference to the automotive sector; b) The analysis of the impact of transformation towards material substitution occurring within and across the supply chain; c) The examination of the sustainability implications of the above at the local and national levels; and d) The formulation of conclusions on the implications of biomaterial substitution on national and regional level bio-security including in terms of other land-use conflicts.

The White Rose University Consortium has funded a three year studentship to conduct research leading to a PhD within this project.

Research group(s)

Grants

2007-2011	Local and Global Geographies: Unravelling the complex relationships between Food, Religion and Society. a) Religion and Society – Halal Food Supply Chains b) Ethnic Food Deserts
2008-2011	Economic Globalisation and Ecological localisation in the Agri-Food Sector.
2007-2011	Exploring the diffusion of Climate Change ideas and issues along the food supply chain.
2008-2011	Impact of bio-materials in the Agri-food and Automotive sectors: A supply chain perspective
2011	Whole Decision Network Analysis for Coastal Ecosystems, joint with Dave Raffaelli, John Forrester, Caz Snell et al (ESPA £170k)

Supervision

• Jesus Concepcion (ESRC studentship): The new geographies of food: confronting complexity between local and global (Principal Supervisor)
• Natalie Kopytko (Self funded): Climate change adaptation and mitigation in the agri-food sector (Principal supervisor)
• Anne Kildunne (White Rose Studentship): Industrial bio-transformation: Exploring the Potential Institutional limits (Principal supervisor)
• Julia Latham (ESRC studentship): Socio-economic implications of biodiversity conservation and REDD for protected area management in rural Africa (Co-supervisor)
• Howard Peters (ESRC/NERC Studentship): Cone snails – a significant biomedical resource at risk (Co-supervisor)
• Thomas Long (White Rose Studentship): Enabling supply chain adaptation to climate change and a resource poor future (Co-supervisor)
• Jessica Roberts (ESRC Studentship): The paradox of sustainable volcanic risk management (Co-supervisor)

Publications

Full publications list

Working papers/papers in preparation

• Thankappan, S. and Flynn, A. (2007). Looking Up, Looking Down: Responsibilities for Climate Change in the UK Food Supply Chains.
• Thankappan, S. and Marsden, T. (2007). Private Standards Driving the Agri-Food Supply Chains: What Role do Global Organisations Play?
• Thankappan, S and Flynn, A. (2006).Exploring the UK Red Meat Supply Chain.
• Thankappan, S and Marsden, T. (2005). The Contested Regulation and the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Sector in Europe.
• Thankappan, S., Hitchens, D. and Trainor, M. (2004). Dichotomy between Attitudes and the Environmental Performance: A Case of European SMEs.
• Flynn, A., Carson, L., Lee, R., Marsden, T. and Thankappan, S. (2004). The Food Standards Agency: Making a Difference?
• Thankappan, S., Marsden, T., Flynn, A. and Lee, R. (2004). The Battle for the Consumers: Building Relationships in a New Phase of Contested Accountability in the UK Food Chain.

Papers in Refereed Journals

• S. Thankappan, P. Midmore, T. Jenkins (2006). "Sustainable energy use for smallholder agriculture: a multi-objective programming approach." Journal of Resources, Energy and Development 3(1) pp. 21-34
• S. Thankappan, P. Midmore, T. Jenkins (2005). "Conserving energy in smallholder agriculture: A multi-objective programming case-study of northwest India." Journal of Ecological Economics 56 pp.190-208.
• D. Hitchens, S. Thankappan, M. Trainor, J. Clausen and B. De Marchi (2005). "Environmental performance, competitiveness and management of Small businesses in Europe." Journal Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie (Journal of Economic & Social Geography).
• Keil, M., Clausen, J., Hitchens, D., Konrad, W., Thankappan, S. and Trainor, M. (2002). ”Obstacles to the Greening of SMEs. A Comparison between Germany and the United Kingdom." Ökologisch Wirtschaften 2002 Nr. 3-4 S. 30-31.

Books/ book chapters

• Marsden,T, Lee, R. Flynn, A., Thankappan, S. and Yakovleva, N. (2008) The new regulation and governance of food: Beyond the Food crises? Routledge. ISBN: 978-0-415-95674-1.
• Thankappan, S. (2008) Role of scientific information in food policy making: the case of GMOs, in: A.G. Pereira (ed) Science for Policy: New Challenges, New Opportunities. Oxford University Press (Forthcoming).
• Thankappan, S. (2008) European food regulation and accountability: the interplay of influences shaping the new regulatory terrain, in: J. Gunning and S. Holm (eds) Ethics Law and Society Volume IV. Ashgate publishing Ltd, UK.
• Thankappan, S. (2008) Community Involvement in Forest Management: Analyses of Case Studies in Africa, Asia and Europe, in: T.K. Marsden (ed.) Sustainable communities: new spaces for planning, participation and engagement. Elsevier Ltd, UK. ISBN- 978-0-08-045363-7.
• Thankappan, S. (2007) From Fridge Mountains to Food Mountains? Tackling the UK Food Waste Problem, in: J. Gunning and S. Holm (eds) Ethics Law and Society Volume III. Ashgate publishing Ltd, UK. ISBN: 0-7546-7180-1.
• Thankappan, S. (2007) What drives business towards sustainability? Lessons and policy implications for Asia, in: P. Verma, P.B. Bhaskaran and P. Madhani (eds) Economic Growth: Macro and sectoral perspectives. IBS Ahmedabad.
• Hitchens, D., Clausen, J., Trainor, M., Keil, M., and Thankappan, S. (2006) Competitiveness, environmental performance and Management of SMEs, in: S. Schaltegger and M. Wagner (eds) Managing the business case for sustainability: The integration of social, environmental and economic performance. Greenleaf publishing Ltd, UK. ISBN-10: 1-874719-95-0.
• Hitchens, D., Trainor, M. Clausen, J. Thankappan, S. and De Marchi, B. (2003) Small and Medium Sized Companies in Europe - Environmental Performance, Competitiveness and Management: International EU case Studies. Springer-Verlag Heidelberg. ISBN 3-540-40147-4.

Conference Papers

• Thankappan, S. Exploring climate change impacts in the UK agri-food supply chain. Paper Presented at the AAG Conference, Boston, April 15-19, 2008.
• Thankappan, S. Dealing with climate change impacts: the case of UK agri-food sector. Paper Presented at the 2007 ANZSEE Conference " Re-inventing Sustainability: A climate for change" 3-6 July 2007
• Thankappan, S. What drives business towards sustainability? Lessons and policy implications for Asia. Paper Presented at the International Conference on Management organised by ICFAI Business School Ahmedabad, January 5-7, 2007
• Thankappan, S. Sustainability of smallholder agricultural systems: Can we still afford to go down the green revolution road? Paper Presented at the International Society of Ecological Economics Conference Dec 15-18, 2006, New Delhi, India
• Thankappan, S. Is there light at the end of the tunnel? Debates and issues surrounding biotechnology Paper Presented at the International Society of Ecological Economics Conference Dec 15-18, 2006, New Delhi, India
• Thankappan, S. Relationship between investment in environmental initiatives and firm competitiveness: A case of European textile finishing firms. Paper Presented at the 12th Annual Sustainable Development Research Conference, Hong Kong April 6-8 2006.
• Thankappan, S. Modelling for Energy and Economic Efficiency of Crop-Livestock System. Paper presented at the AHAT BSAS International Conference on Integrating Livestock-Crop systems to meet the challenges of globalisation Khon Kaen, Thailand 14-18, November, 2005.
• Thankappan, S. with Yakovleva, N. Regulating sustainability issues in the UK food supply chain. Paper presented at the Sustainable Supply Chain Seminar, at Cardiff University 14 July 2005.
• Thankappan, S. & Hitchens, D. Firm competitiveness and environmental performance of European SMEs: the case of the fruit and vegetable processing industry. Paper presented at the International Conference on Foresight Management in Corporations and Public Organisations, Helsinki, 9th-10th June 2005.
• Thankappan, S. Marsden, T. and Flynn, A. (2005)."The Emerging New Phase of Contested Accountability in the U.K. Agri-Food Chain: A Conflict for Consumers?" Paper submitted for the 51st Annual American Council on Consumer Interests Conference, April 6-9, 2005, in Columbus, Ohio.
• Thankappan, S. and Lee, R. Science, Precaution and Governance in the Management of Risk. Paper presented at the Food Risk and Regulation Workshop 7-8 October 2004 in Cardiff.
• Thankappan, S. "Restoring Consumer Confidence in Food Safety" Paper and poster presentation at the European Union Risk Analysis Information Network (EU-RAIN) Conference: Farm to Fork Food Safety- A Call for Common Sense (12-14 May,2004 Athens).

Reports

• Hitchens, D. Trainor, M. and Thankappan, S. (2002), "The relationship between competitiveness, environmental performance and management of small and medium sized European manufacturing firms (SMEs)"- Synthesis report for the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.
• Hitchens, D. Trainor, M. and Thankappan, S. (2002), "The relationship between competitiveness, environmental performance and management of small and medium sized European manufacturing firms (SMEs)"- Synthesis report for the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK.

Teaching

Undergraduate

• Economics and Maths for the Environment
• Food, Space and Culture
• Sustainable Societies