Can you give a brief summary of your career to date, and the journey that brought you to the University of Edinburgh Business School?
I originally planned to become a vet, a large animal vet to be more precise, but after a few twists and turns found myself studying Agricultural and Food Engineering at University College Dublin in 1994. With a family background in agriculture and dairy farming specifically, I had always been fascinated by, and drawn to, farming, food and the land, however as my degree progressed I soon realised the technical side of engineering wasn’t where my strengths lay.
After finishing my degree and receiving some brilliant advice from the Dean of Engineering, I headed to Newcastle University to pivot into marketing while staying rooted in food and agriculture. Initially going for a 1year masters, I stayed 15 years, growing in the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development. During this time, my professional journey was shaped by three influential professors, Chris Ritson, Dave Harvey and Philip Lowe, who all in their different ways championed interdisciplinary, impact-led work and challenged traditional academic boundaries.
After becoming a Senior Lecture in 2008 and finally completing my PhD by published work (2010), I jumped at the opportunity to move to the University of Edinburgh Business School in 2013. I was drawn by the school’s openness to interdisciplinary research, expertise in public policy, and the strong connections I had with food marketing colleagues already here. Around the same time, Scotland was building momentum around food and drink policy, and through joining and actively contributing to networks like FRIED (Food Researchers in Edinburgh) and the Scottish Food Coalition (of which I was appointed chair in 2018 (to 2025)) I became increasingly involved in this dynamic, evolving policy space.
If you had to give your ‘elevator pitch’ and explain your research in layperson’s terms, how would you describe it?
My research focuses on understanding why people do what they do with food and why they engage in what are often termed ‘less than ideal behaviours’ around food. It’s something that has always fascinated me. Using a Social Marketing lens, my work initially focused on domestic food safety practices, before evolving into investigating food waste, overeating or disordered eating, sustainable agriculture and food, and most recently into public food (school food specifically) and wider food systems transformation.
I’m probably also fascinated by how I, as someone who significant education in, and knowledge of good food practices, will still often eat too much sugar, not sleep enough, waste food or take shortcuts when I am cooking at home. So, in one sense I‘m sort of trying to figure myself out as much as anyone else. I love exploring the tensions and trade-offs we all face in our everyday life around food.
Is there anything exciting in the pipeline that you're currently working on?
One particularly exciting area of my current work involves the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act. Passed unanimously by the Scottish Parliament in June 2022 becoming Scots Law in July 2022, the Act is at a pivotal stage of development.
The legislation requires the Scottish Government to publish a National Good Food Nation Plan, which is currently with the Scottish Parliament for scrutiny with the final plan expected to be published in December 2025, after which responsibility will be transferred to local authorities and health boards for them to develop their Local Good Food Nation Plan (all 46 of them!).
Our Living Good Food Nation Lab, funded by the Wellcome Trust, is essentially acting as a broker, supporter, and facilitator in this process. From helping to make sense of the available data to supporting local authorities understanding their new responsibilities, the Lab is actively shaping how the Act will be delivered on the ground.
I’ve also recently been appointed as one of four inaugural commissioners to the new statutory Scottish Food Commission, a new non departmental public body with responsible for monitoring and overseeing the Good Food Nation legislation. So, my fingers are in a lot of pies and through the advocacy work I led as Chair of the Scottish Food Coalition I feel vaguely responsible for the existence of both the legislation and the Commission and so this is definitely something that keeps me getting up in the morning!
What do you enjoy most about your teaching?
My teaching background has very much been large group teaching, and what’s always interested me is building a sense of passion and curiosity for the subjects I teach. I love that teaching lets me bring a subject to life in a way that is more than just theoretical or one-dimensional.
Another thing that really motivates me is helping students feel comfortable with complexity, uncertainty, trade-offs, and tensions, as these are the realities they’ll face in the real world. It’s challenging, but it’s also essential.
I am also not shy in saying I love the performative element of large group teaching. Some will sniff at the idea of ‘edu-tainment’, but I think when you have young, fresh minds in the room, then it is your responsibility to bring your topic to life, and to both entertain and educate.
What do you enjoy most about working at the Business School?
I think we have a very inclusive and interesting approach to supporting public policy work at the school. Being located so close to the Parliament naturally has benefits as it helps us to engage directly and effectively with parliamentarians, committees, and civil servants. But it’s not just about proximity. The school actively supports, nurtures and encourages public policy work, and I’m fortunate to work alongside some incredibly strong individuals who provide real leadership in the area.
I also really value our student community. The school does a fantastic job of recruiting an eclectic, questioning, and curious student community, at both Undergraduate and Postgraduate level, which makes for a really stimulating academic environment.
Finally, the quality of Professional Services support we have available to us as academics at the Business School is incredibly valuable. The help I have received from these colleagues has been integral to what I've been able to do and achieve, and it’s helped me ‘juggle’ in a way that I don’t think would have been possible otherwise.
What advice would you give to your younger self, just about to leave home and embark on further education?
Follow what you're really interested in and curious about. Be OK with being uncomfortable and with having your strengths and weaknesses exposed. Commit to the process, and trust that if you engage fully you will evolve, develop and be employable at the end of it.
The other thing I think I would say is don't go straight away if you don't want to. My husband is a great example of this. After a tricky first experience as an undergraduate (just like me), he returned to university in his 40s, where he completed a masters, a PhD and another Undergraduate programme (finally did that maths degree he always wanted to do!). It was an eclectic mix of studies, but one which he excelled in both academically and intellectually, in a way that perhaps he wasn’t ready for at 18. Now, I'm not saying you must wait until your mid 40s, but rather that there are lots of ways we can navigate and develop ourselves, and different ways work for different people.
What one book, piece of music, and beloved item would you take to a desert island?
Favourite book: 4000 weeks by Oliver Burkmann
Favourite Song: If you were to fall and I were to fall in love with you - Christie Hennessy (and Hermione Hennessy)
Precious Item: Our Wedding Photo
Research Spotlight: Dr Mary Brennan
Dr Mary Brennan (Chair of Food Marketing and Society) leads impactful research influencing Scotland’s journey towards sustainable food policies.
Dr Mary Brennan combines her extensive research with active participation in Scotland's food policy reform, highlighting her role in passing the Good Food Nation Act. Her efforts extend into implementing the Act, supported by the Wellcome Trust. This aims to align local policies with sustainable practices through strategic collaborations and stakeholder engagement.
[Mary Brennan]
Hi, I'm Mary Brennan. I'm Chair of Food Marketing and Society here at University of Edinburgh Business School and Director of the Wellcome Trust funded Living Good Food Nation Lab.
So the research findings that are central to the impact that I had are built up over the last 25 years of my career, but are specifically associated with a large EU project that we are involved in called Strength to Food, which started in 2016, which was focused on sustainable food supply chains. And we specifically led the work around public sector food procurement. And in that, school food was our focus.
It's also been linked to an ongoing program of work that I have supported in being chair of the Scottish Food Coalition, a coalition of civil society organisations who've been campaigning for food systems transformation in Scotland. And the two things came together at the right time and in the right place. Because of where Scotland is on its journey towards food systems transformation and food policy.
So the most substantive beneficial changes that have resulted, first off was the passing of the new Good Food Nation Scotland Act, which I and others, especially through the Scottish Food Coalition, played a major role in influencing and shaping.
Subsequent to that, we have been able to leverage funding from the Wellcome Trust to be able to support the roll out and implementation of the Good Food Nation Act, which is currently ongoing and in particular to support the relevant authorities, local authorities and health boards here in Scotland with the development of their first local Good Food Nation plan, and we are playing an integral role in providing support to each and every one of those relevant authorities.
A good Food Nation, is a nation that tackles the tension between delivering economic, environmental, public health and social outcomes that are beneficial to the country and to the people to ensure fairer, healthier, more sustainable access to food for all.
To make these changes happen it has really been a, I suppose, a 10 or 12 year journey for me and for the stakeholders and and key actors that I've been working with.
It's involved intensive stakeholder engagement, a lot of collective working, with those stakeholders, in particular the civil society organisations, extensive parliamentary and and governmental advocacy and engagement. And that includes providing advice, giving expert evidence, advocating on behalf of, of of different aspects of the legislation and in some cases, being extensively involved and at different points in the bill process, helping to craft amendments, and to reshape the way in which different actors are thinking about the role and value of this legislation.
I wanted to make an impact because, one, our food system is broken. We know that unequivocally, scientifically, socially, personally, and therefore the status quo was not an option. Scotland was willing, and committed to investing time and energy and expertise in in driving forward transformation and took the decision to do that legislatively. And I felt that I had the skills and the expertise and the interest in being able to help support that. For me, I don't see a future as a politician, but this is my way of serving the Scottish public.
I've recently been informed that I was successful in my application to become one of the new food commissioners in the Scottish Food Commission, and it's really exciting to be part of that new statutory body that is going to have responsibility independently from monitoring and over-sighting the Good Food Nation Act.
Thank you for listening.
Chair of Food Marketing and Society