Lopa holds a PhD in Environmental Economics and Environmental Management from the University of York, UK. She has an MPhil in Applied Economics from Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum (Jawaharlal Nehru University) in India. Prior to joining Coventry University, she worked as an independent researcher in various capacities on team projects led by academics at a number of Universities in the UK. She was also engaged as a research consultant and was an honorary Non-Resident Fellow of South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics, and Environment (SAWTEE), a regional think-tank in South Asia.

Her current research is on sustainable and resilient food systems, with a particular focus on community-led food initiatives and their intersection with nutrition, health, culture, gender, agriculture, and the environment. Her work is situated in the UK and India. Her research includes two main strands. One is food insecurity/food poverty and the changing nature and influence of food governance at the local community level with a focus on the third sector, in the UK. The other strand is community self-organisation for resilience from a social-ecological perspective in the context of urban biodiversity as well as rural indigenous food systems. In her teaching role, she leads the MSc module on Gender, Food Systems, and Natural Resources.

She publishes under her full name: Lopamudra Patnaik Saxena.

In Coventry where she is based, Lopa is a member of Coventry Food Network and a Trustee of Feeding Coventry, engaged with local community action to make Coventry a sustainable food city. 

Area of Expertise:

Social Supermarkets & community food provisioning; community food initiatives; food & nutrition security; food poverty & food justice; local food systems & community self-organisation for resilience; food waste management; healthy & sustainable diets; food citizenship & food literacy; social impact of community food initiatives, including agroecological enterprises; evaluation of community food initiatives; gender, food systems & natural resources; environment & development; mixed research methods.

Social Supermarkets; Community Food Initiatives; Sustainable Food Systems; Right to Food; Food Citizenship; Food Literacy; Food Networks & Collaborations; Indigenous Food Systems; Gender & Food Systems.

My research encompasses new and emerging challenges in food studies, which have impacts beyond academia with social, economic, environmental, and cultural benefits. My approach to research has involved fostering connections, collaboration and knowledge exchange between academia and the non-academic sectors, which aligns strongly with a transdisciplinary approach to research. Key questions which guide my research are: how do the complex realities of socio-political-economic-cultural structures within which communities/groups are embedded mediate the experiences, vulnerabilities and capacities of women and men? What are the socially innovative ways in which state and non-state actors can create an enabling environment for vulnerable/marginalised groups, so as to promote a just and sustainable future for all? These are the questions which continue to inspire me to pursue research and support positive change at different levels.