King’s Food is operated in house by King’s College London. King’s Food covers 7 kitchens, and 21 retail spaces and serves over 1,000 hot meal per day.
King’s Food are UK leaders in Higher Education Catering sustainability. Since 2019 King’s Food have worked with the Department of Nutritional Sciences to develop student research projects that bring together food, health and sustainability.
As part of the Menus of Change Research Collaborative we have developed the King’s Food Living Laboratory.
‘Dining halls as living laboratories—dynamic learning environments where applied research is bridged with operational innovation, allowing experimental science to bring far more advanced results in terms of applicability in the real world, compared with traditional academic research’
Quote from: The Menus of Change University Research Collaborative (MCURC)
Scheduled King’s Food Living Laboratory projects for 2026
Promoting Sustainable and Healthy Food Choices through Nutrition Labels and Carbon Offset: A Field Intervention at King’s Food Outlets.
This is a visiting PhD student project student project lead by Dr Sanchayan Banerjee, Senior Lecturer, Policy Institute at King's College London
A qualitative exploration of chefs' perceptions of cooking, food culture & heritage, and sustainability.
This is a MSc Dietetic student project led by Dr Fiona Lavelle, Lecturer in the Department of Nutritional Sciences.
Introduction Event for Student Research Project Supervisors
We ask all Student Research Project supervisors interested in submitting a project proposal to attend an introductory workshop to find out more about developing and proposing projects to run through the King's Food Living Laboratory. The event provides information about King's Food and the types of projects that are feasible along with topics of interest. It also provides an opportunity to meet the King's Food team to discuss ideas.
The next session will be held on 4th March 2026 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Bush House (in person only)
- If you are interested in attending the next event please complete the on-line form.
Are you interested in submitting a student research project to run with the King’s Food Living Laboratory?
Applications for Student Research Projects (2026-27) are open until 18:00 25th May 2026.
Please complete this form if you would like to propose a student research project to run within the King's Food Living Laboratory concept for 2026-27. Completed projects will be evaluated as part of a King's Education for Sustainability project. Supervisors and students will be asked to feedback on the process and experiences of applying and conducting research as part of the King's Food Living Laboratory.
For ad hoc project and education enquiries please email the team
Group leads
Senior Lecturer
Executive Chef