Dr Rebecca Wells

Overview

Rebecca is an Associate Professor in Food Policy in the Centre for Food Policy. As Division Lead in the Population Health and Policy Department she provides management and strategic direction for staff and PGT programmes.  She leads two modules: FPM003 Food Culture and Society on the MSc Food Policy and ANM005 Developing Professional Practice on the MSc Applied Nutrition. Her research focuses on food policy communication, with research projects and publications on food policy in the media, and food policy education for a healthier, more sustainable and equitable food system. She has a particular interest in the pedagogy of food systems and food policy and was made a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2025. She supervises 6 PhD students.  

A former BBC producer and food journalist, Rebecca joined the BBC in 1991 working on a variety of programmes including investigative and consumer output for BBC Radios 1, 2, 3, 4 and the World Service, before becoming a producer on BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme in 1999. She produced dozens of documentaries for the Food Programme, on topics including food policy, food culture, food history, nutrition, environmental sustainability and food education, winning the Guild of Food Writers Michael Smith Award for British Food in 2004, the Glenfiddich Award for Best Radio Programme in 2004 and a Sony Radio Academy Awards nomination in 2005.

Rebecca joined City in 2011, taking up a PhD studentship awarded by the University. Her PhD took as a case study the UK Department of Health recommendations on red and processed meat consumption and cancer 1993-2011. The research looked at the ways policies were developed and policy interaction with UK print media, using policy analysis, content analysis of UK print media coverage and participant interviews with journalists and policy makers.

Following completion of her PhD, Rebecca worked as a Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow on the food systems teaching programme IFSTAL (Interdisciplinary Food Systems Teaching and Learning), a HEFCE funded project dedicated to creating a network of students from seven UK higher education institutions, working in different disciplines at postgraduate level in food systems. IFSTAL is a collaboration between the universities of Oxford, City St George's, Reading and Warwick as well as the Royal Veterinary College, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the School of Oriental and African Studies.

In 2019 Rebecca worked as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow on the EU funded research project QUEST (Quality and Effectiveness in Science and Technology Communication), exploring science journalism as part of a wider programme looking at science communication across Europe. This project, led by Venice International University, was a collaboration between academics working in Science Communication from countries across Europe including Estonia, Ireland, Italy, Norway and the UK. In 2019 she was made a lecturer in Food Policy and from 2020-2026 she was the Programme Director for the MSc Food Policy. 

Rebecca is currently Co-Investigator on 3 funded research projects including the UKRI funded Fix Our Food project, led by the University of York, for which she leads the Policy Work Package and the UKRI NERC funded Joined-Up Landscapes project led by City St George’s University of London, for which she will support research on and development of knowledge dissemination.  

Rebecca has a particular interest in food systems teaching and learning and has an MA in Academic Practice. She is an expert in technology enabled academic practice, particularly hybrid teaching and learning techniques. She is Co-Investigator of the UKRI funded Centre for Doctoral Training in Food Systems, led by the University of Greenwich, as well as co-leading the IFSTAL Interdisciplinary Food Systems Teaching and Learning network. She has published research on food systems education including IFSTAL (Ingram et al., 2020; Pope et al., 2021) as well as an evaluation of the experiences of staff and students of hybrid teaching and learning at City (Melcher et al., 2025).

Qualifications

• MA (Distinction) Academic Practice, City, University of London, United Kingdom, 2014 - 2021
• PhD Food Policy, City, University of London, United Kingdom, August 2011 - January 2018
• BA (Hons), University of York, United Kingdom

Employment

• Senior Lecturer in Food Policy, City, University of London, United Kingdom, 2021 - 2026
• Lecturer in Food Policy, City, University of London, United Kingdom, 2019 - 2021
• Research Fellow, City, University of London, United Kingdom, 2019 - 2020
• Teaching Fellow, City, University of London, United Kingdom, January 2015 - January 2019
• Visiting Lecturer, Centre for Food Policy, MSc in Food Policy, City, University of London, United Kingdom, January 2012 - January 2019
• Visiting Lecturer, Department of Journalism, MA in Science Journalism, City, University of London, United Kingdom, January 2012 - January 2016
• Radio Producer, BBC, 1999 - 2011

Fellowships

• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Higher Education Academy, 2018 - present

Teaching

Educational Leadership

Programme Director: MSc Food Policy

Undergraduate Modules

SC3001 Food, Society and Culture (module leader)
PHM005 Health Policy & Politics
PH3001 Health Policy & Politics

Postgraduate Modules

FPM003 Food, Society and Culture (module leader)
FPM004 Food, Public Health and the Environment (module leader)
FPM005 Food Policy Dissertation (module leader)

2^ndsupervisor

• Melanie Southerden, Research Student

Publications by category