Christopher Turner is a Senior Lecturer in Food Systems and Public Health Nutrition at the Natural Resources Institute (NRI), University of Greenwich.

Chris is a human geographer with an interdisciplinary background in social science, epidemiology, and public health nutrition. His research focuses food environments and the role that they play in shaping diets, nutrition, and health around the world – particularly in low- and middle-income country settings.

Chris leads the Food Systems and Nutrition research group at NRI. He also co-manages the UK Food Systems Centre for Doctoral Training (UKFS-CDT) and is the innovation and impact theme lead on Food Systems for Improved Nutrition.

Chris joined the University of Greenwich in January 2020 as a Research Fellow under the Food and Nutrition Security Initiative (FaNSI). Prior to joining, he was a Research Fellow in the Department of Global Health and Development at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2019. He also held a Research Assistant position at the Department of Human Geography, Lund University, Sweden, from 2013-2015.

Chris graduated from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2020 with a PhD in Epidemiology and Population Health.

• O’Meara, L., Sison, C.,Isarabhakdi, P., Turner, C., Harris, J. (2024) ‘Whatever we have is what we eat’: How marginalised urban groups in the Philippines and Thailand experienced their food environments through COVID-19, Health and Place, 88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103279
• Turner, C., Salm, L., Spires, M., Holdsworth, M., Laar, A. (2023) Capturing the moment: A snapshot review of contemporary food environment research featuring participatory photography methods, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2023.101364 
• Spires, M.,Battersby, J., Cohen, N., Daivadanam, M., Demmler, K.M., Mattioni, D., Pradeilles, R., Thompson, C., Turner, C., Venegas Hargous, C., Wertheim-Heck,S. S., Wills, W., Hawkes, C. (2023) “The People's Summit”: A case for lived experience of food environments as a critical source of evidence to inform the follow-up to the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, Global Food Security, 37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2023.100690
• Turner, C. Bhogadi, S., Walls, H. Surendran, S., Kulkarni, B. Kinra, S., Kadiyala, S. (2022) Drivers of food acquisition practices in the food environment of peri-urban Hyderabad, India: A qualitative investigation, Health and Place, 74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102763 
• O’Meara, L*., Turner, C*., Costa Coitinho, D., Oenema, S. (2021) Consumer experiences of food environments during the Covid-19 pandemic: global insights from a rapid online survey of individuals from 119 countries, Global Food Security, 32, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2021.100594
• Constantinides, S.V*., Turner, C*., Frongillo, E.A., Bhandari, S., Reyes, L., Blake, C.E. (2021) Using a global food environment framework to understand relationships with food choice in diverse low- and middle-income countries, Global Food Security, 29, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2021.100511
• Turner, C., Kalamatianou, S., Drewnowski, A., Kulkarni, B., Kinra, S., Kadiyala, S. (2019). Food Environment Research in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Scoping Review, Advances in Nutrition, 11:2, 387–397. https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmz031
• Turner, C., Aggarwal, A., Walls, H., Herforth, A., Drewnowski, A., Coates, J., Kalamatianou, S., Kadiyala, S. (2018) Concepts and critical perspectives for food environment research: a global framework with implications for action in low- and middle-income countries, Global Food Security, 18:93–101; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2018.08.003

Chris has expertise in food environment research. He is involved in a range projects and initiatives across the world, with particular interest and experience in low- and middle-income country settings across sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

His work includes the development of theory and concepts for food environment research. He led the publication of the food environment conceptual framework by the Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy – Food Environment Working Group in 2018. This framework has since seen wide uptake across research, teaching, policy and practice. Chris continues to lead the Food Environment Working Group in an expanded format in 2024, supported by the Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions (IMMANA) program and the Food Systems Research Group at NRI.

His work also includes the development of novel mixed methods for food environment research, such as the use of participatory photography and mapping to capture the lived experience of food environments with a view to co-designing public health nutrition interventions and policies.

He is an active member of the Community of Practice on the Lived Experiences of Food Environments, led by Dr Mark Spires (NRI, University of Greenwich), and the Guild/Arua Centre of Excellence of Food Environment Actions for the Promotion of Health, led by Associate Professor Meena Daivadanam (Uppsala University, Sweden) and Associate Professor Jane Battersby (University of Cape Town, South Africa). He is also actively engaged with the Agriculture, Nutrition and Health Academy (ANH Academy) under the IMMANA programme.

UK Food Systems Centre for Doctoral Training (UKFS-CDT)

2023-present: Food Environment Actions for the Promotion of Health. PIs: Meena Daivadanam (Uppsala University, Sweden), Jane Battersby (University of Cape Town, South Africa). African Research University Alliance (ARUA)-The Guild Clusters of Excellence. Partner.

2023-present: Political Economy Analysis of Food Industry (PEAFI) - unpacking the influence of the food industry on adolescent consumption of ultra- processed foods in Sub-Saharan Africa. Innovative Methods and Metrics for Agriculture and Nutrition Actions (IMMANA). PI.

2021-present: Strengthening African Food Systems in the face of climate change and food insecurity (SAFOODS). FOSC ERA-NET Co-fund on Food systems and Climate. Co-I.

2020-present: UK Food Systems Centre for Doctoral Training (UKFS-CDT) – Partnership for a Sustainable Food Future. UKRI Strategic Priorities Fund Programme - Transforming the UK food system. Co-I and Co-manager.

2023-present: Samuel Wairimu, UKFS-CDT, NRI, University of Greenwich. Primary supervisor.

2022-present: Leah Salm, UKFS-CDT, NRI, University of Greenwich. Primary supervisor.

2022-present: Olive Zgambo, UKFS-CDT, Centre for Food Policy, City University, London. External supervisor.

2021-present: Ebunoluwa Awotunya, NRI, University of Greenwich, UK. Secondary supervisor.

Chris leads the Food Systems and Nutrition research group at NRI. He also co-manages the UK Food Systems Centre for Doctoral Training (UKFS-CDT) and is the innovation and impact theme lead on Food Systems for Improved Nutrition.

• Chris was awarded a studentship in Epidemiology and Population Health in 2015, funded by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the London Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health (LCIRAH).
• Chris was the recipient of a Newton Bhabha Placement Grant in 2016, funded by the British Council, leading to a 3-month placement at the National Institute of Nutrition in Hyderabad, India