Lopa holds a PhD in Environmental Economics and Environmental Management from the University of York, UK, and an MPhil in Applied Economics from the Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum (Jawaharlal Nehru University) in India. Before joining Coventry University, she worked as an independent researcher on collaborative projects led by academics from various Universities in the UK, as a research consultant, and as an honorary Non-Resident Fellow of South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics, and Environment (SAWTEE), a regional network of organisations spanning five South Asian countries.

Lopa's current research sits at the intersection of food geographies, sustainability, and resilience, with a particular focus on community-led/community-centred food initiatives and their links to nutrition, health, culture, gender, agriculture, and the environment. Working across the UK and in India, her research addresses two core themes.

(1) Place-based approaches to food insecurity/food poverty - critically analysing approaches to community food governance to bridge the gap between research, policy, and practice across multiple levels and actors, both state and non-state.

(2) Community self-organisation for sustainability and resilience -- examining social-ecological dimensions of urban biocultural diversity and rural Indigenous food systems.

In her teaching role, Lopa leads the MSc module 'Gender, Food Systems, and Natural Resources' and teaches Ecology on the Apprenticeship Programme at Coventry University. She supervises PhD research on topics including networked food governance for food security, food literacy, health and social justice, and food waste practices and perceptions.

Lopa publishes under her full name: Lopamudra Patnaik Saxena.

Beyond academia, Lopa is actively engaged in community action. In Coventry, she is a member of Coventry Food Network and a Founding Trustee of Feeding Coventry. She is involved in local community action to make Coventry a sustainable and resilient food city.

She is an active member of various research networks, including the Food Geographies Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), the Food Action and Research Midlands (FARM) Network, and the Revitalising Rainfed Agriculture Network (RRAN, India). She is also a Founding Member of Feeding Britain’s Academic Advisory Group.

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; Indigenous food systems; 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 addresses emerging challenges in food studies, which have impacts beyond academia with social, economic, environmental, and cultural benefits. I take a transdisciplinary approach, fostering connections, collaboration and knowledge exchange between academic and non-academic sectors. Central to my work are two guiding questions: how do the complex socio-political, economic, and cultural structures in which communities 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 and marginalised groups, promoting a just and sustainable future for all? These questions continue to inspire my research and drive my commitment to supporting positive change across multiple levels.