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Headshot of Cecilia Rocha

Cecilia Rocha PhD

Director, Centre for Studies in Food Security
DepartmentProfessor and Past Director, School of Nutrition, Ryerson University
http://www.ipes-food.org (external link) 

Cecilia (PhD in Economics) is the past Director of the School of Nutrition, Ryerson University, where she is a Professor of Food Security and Food Policy.

Cecilia is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), and the Canadian Lead of the project Scaling-up small-scale food processing for therapeutic and complementary foods for children in Vietnam, funded by Global Affairs Canada and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

From 2004 to 2010, Dr. Rocha was the Director of the project Building Capacity in Food Security in Brazil, funded by the Canadian International Development Agency. Her work and publications on Belo Horizonte has brought international attention to that Brazilian city's innovative policies and programs for food security.

She has participated in research of food security conditions among immigrant populations in Toronto, and was an active member of the Toronto Food Policy Council from 2006 to 2011.

Invited to be part of the Toronto Food Strategy Steering Group, she participated in the elaboration of the 2011 Toronto Food Strategy under the leadership of the city's Medical Officer of Health.

Select Publications

IPES-Food, 2017. Unravelling the Food-Health Nexus: Addressing practices, political economy, and power relations to build healthier food systems. The Global Alliance for the Future of Food and IPES-Food (Lead Coordinating Author)

Rocha, C. (2016) Opportunities and Challenges in Urban Food Security Policy: the case of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. In Deakin, M., Borrelli, N. and Diamantini, D., eds., The Governance of city food systems: Case studies from around the world. Milan: Fondazione Feltrinelli.

Rocha, C. (2015) Work in Progress: Addressing Food Insecurity in Brazil. In Caraher, M. and Coveney, J., eds., Food Poverty and Insecurity: International Food Inequalities. New York: Springer.

Rocha, C. (2014) A Right to Food Approach: Public Food Banks in Brazil. In Riches, G. and Silvasti, T., eds., First World Hunger Revisited: Food Charity or the Right to Food. New York: PalgraveMacmillan.

Rocha, C., Burlandy, L. and Magalhães, R., eds. (2013), Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional: Perspectivas, Aprendizados e Desafios para as Políticas Públicas (Food and Nutrition Security: Perspectives, Learnings and Challenges for Public Policy), Rio de Janeiro: Fiocruz.

Updated January 2018