Ingrid Kelling is well known both in the UK and internationally for her multidisciplinary reserach spanning transformative economics, wellbeing and equity in food systems, primarily applied in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors.

For a number of years, Ingrid worked on building sustainability and inclusion into international seafood supply chains, leading international teams and guiding projects through the science-policy interface.

More recently, her focus has turned to aternative economic and financial models that drive change towards a fairer world through groundbreaking research leading to a transformed economy, renewed policy priorities focused on social and environmental wellbeing, and innovative and inclusive business development. In 2020 she founded and directs the Fair Food Hub that brings together scientists, policy-makers, civil society organisations and industry representatives to achieve grounded solutions to complex and challenging issues.

She is an active member of the International Institute for Fisheries Economics and Trade, co-Chair of the Global Seafood Sustainability Initiative, and Forum Convener of the Sustainable Aquaculture Forum of the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology, Scotland. She regularly speaks at international organisations and meetings on her research, including the European Parliament, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Edinburgh Science Festival, the COP-28 Climate Hub and Global Seafood Expo.

We explore the vulnerabilities and inequities inherent in current structures of global food supply chains; and identify and empower the enablers to achieve more equitable, fair, and inclusive supply chains.
 
My vision is for just and equitable food systems that value people and the planet. I provide the inter-disciplinary, innovative, scientific, multi-stakeholder and collaborative approaches needed to challenge system inequity and injustice in food value chains.

Research interests: equity, justice, human rights, economics, wellbeing, welfare, trade, development, social sustainability, measuring impact, participation, co-creation, seafood marketing.

Research methods expertise: qualitative methods, mixed-methods, focus groups, interviews, creative and visual methods, surveys, community-based participatory research.

I hold an MA (Hons) in International Relations - Management from the University of St Andrews, Scotland, with an integrated year abroad in New Zealand. I gained an MPhil in Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge that focused on Environmental Economics and Environmental Law, while my PhD is in Sustainable Ethical Aquaculture Trade from the University of Stirling School of Management in conjunction with the Institute of Aquaculture and the WorldFish Centre, Penang, Malaysia. My research focused on the configuration and dynamics of seafood value chains, and shaping institutional frameworks to unlock the potential of developing countries to create greater value.

The theoretical and practical frameworks gained within these degrees have led to professional experience across policy-making in the public and private sectors, as well the foundation for those decisions through academic research. The multi-disciplinary projects I now lead support businesses, NGOs and government sectors to commit to, and act on, building sustainability into how they engage with oceans, with the ultimate aim of inspiring and implementing change through human-centric initiatives, supportive technologies and a politically-enabling environment.

My professional experience ranges from Parliamentary Assistant and Fisheries Advisor to the Chairman of the Fisheries Committee in the European Parliament, Brussels, during the pivotal Reform of the European Union’s Common Fisheries Policy, to Sustainability Coordinator for Unilever ICF in London, where I project-managed the revision and implementation of a company-wide revised fisheries procurement strategy in order to promote responsible fisheries, support sustainability aims and achieve company CSR goals. I also managed, led and authored a 3-year innovative and ground-breaking study on Globalisation in the Fishing Industry, while working as an economist at the  Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France. ​As a freelance contractor ​I led projects with diverse stakeholders throughout seafood supply chains to identify policies that promote sustainable growth, reduce poverty and enhance food security, while preserving the ecosystems on which the sector depends, notably in developing and emerging economies, including Community Social Sustainability Standards for WWF’s Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogues, Lead researcher and co-author of an assessment of the gap between future demand and fish supply in Indonesia and the Solomon Islands for the USAID-funded Coral Triangle Initiative at the WorldFish Center, Penang, and Lead researcher on the cost to society of a lack of governance in fisheries, funded by a scholarship from the Swiss government, the Embassy of France to the United Kingdom and hosted by the University of Sciences-Po, Paris.

Before returning to academia, I was Development Director at the  International Pole & Line Foundation (IPNLF), an international NGO working to secure the supply of high quality, responsibly-sourced tuna and promote the sustainability of small-scale fisheries, where I was responsible for the network of 60 commercial and non-profit members, championing sustainability in seafood supply chains, and leading initiatives based on the needs of seafood suppliers and producers as well as buyers. I co-led and wrote the IPNLF Social Sustainability Manifesto, resulting in public commitments from 7 international companies to incorporate social responsibility into seafood supply chains and was responsible for grant management, budgets, reporting and donor relations.

As an Assistant Professor at the University of Heriot-Watt, Edinburgh, Scotland, where I am the Founder and Director of the Fair Food Hub, providing the evidence-base and co-created solutions with industry partners for positive change for seafood workers along supply chains, long-term behavioural change in consumer preferences, and a focus on wellbeing and alternative measures of business success. I combine this role with that of Associate Director for Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI), a private development company, where I lead technical work on the marine environment, climate change, sustainable agriculture, greening economies and inclusive and sustainable market systems (Making Markets Work for the Poor).