Recorded on 26/06/2026

Sonja Woodcock has co-ordinated FoodWise Leeds, the city’s sustainable food partnership, since its inception in 2017. With a strong commitment to cross-sectoral collaboration, she applies a systems-based approach towards improving community food security, expanding urban agriculture, and driving awareness and action around food and the climate and nature emergency. She works closely with partners across Leeds to monitor and deliver the Leeds Food Strategy and Good Food Action Plan (2023-30).

Sonja has a longstanding interest in public procurement as a lever for food system transformation and collaborates with colleagues at the University of Leeds on action research in this area. She also works at a regional level with food partnership colleagues across West Yorkshire and is an active member within the national Sustainable Food Places Network, recently supporting the development of a strategic framework for representation and justice across the network.

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Listen to Nathan Atkinson and Kevin Mackay from Rethink Food: https://the-working-hours-podca.captivate.fm/episode/rethink-food/

Listen to Dom Charkin from Zest: https://the-working-hours-podca.captivate.fm/episode/dominic-charkin

Listen to Helen Underwood from Underwood Training: https://the-working-hours-podca.captivate.fm/episode/helen-underwood

Buy Ghost Signs here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/ghost-signs/stu-hennigan/9781910422960

You can find out more about Sonja’s work at:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonja-woodcock-3316751/

World Food Day on Oct 16: https://www.fao.org/world-food-day/en/

Find out more about FoodWise:

https://foodwiseleeds.org/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/foodwise-leeds

https://bsky.app/profile/foodwiseleeds.bsky.social

https://www.instagram.com/foodwiseleeds/

https://www.facebook.com/foodwiseleeds

https://www.youtube.com/@foodwiseleeds