MSc Food Security

This course focuses on the analytical and communication skills needed to contribute to the achievement and sustaining of food security in the 21st century. It can be studied full time over one year or part time over two years.

Location: Edinburgh
Study mode:
Subject area: Agriculture, Animal and Biological Sciences, Food
Start date: September 2025
Agency code: Z906

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Course overview

Food security has become a critically important issue for societies around the globe. With rapid growth in the area, there's an increasing demand for qualified experts to help create the policies and legislations that protect and govern food production and the supply chain.

This unique MSc has the scope and multidisciplinary approach to address the multiple issues surrounding food security, as well as offering an understanding of the technical, agronomic, environmental, economic and socio-political factors that influence it.

Theoretical studies are given a practical backdrop through day visits to farms, food banks or food factories around Scotland and a study tour, which allows applying some of the principles to real-world scenarios. This study tour has previously visited places such as Italy, Malaysia, Kenya, and Peru. The purpose of the study tour is to see, in person, how the food system works in different countries and to identify how stakeholders and international institutions engage with the food security challenges explained in the classroom. Typically, it is an intense experience full of excitement, enthusiastic discussions, and personal growth. See a description of the 2023 field trip to Peru here (written by Professor Cesar Revoredo).

The MSc Food Security degree is awarded by the University of Edinburgh.

Virtual Experience

Take a look around the SRUC Virtual Experience for lots of great student videos and examples of what it’s like to study our courses, along with campus and facility tours.

SRUC holds open days regularly. Visit our listings page for details of our up-coming events.

Got a question? Get in touch

Dr Montse Costa-Font, Programme Director
Phone: +44 (0) 131 535 4225
Email: montse.costafont@sruc.ac.uk

Entry requirements

Preferably a UK honours degree (2:1) or equivalent, in agricultural or environmental sciences, engineering or social sciences, or other relevant subject.

Evidence of English competence.

What you'll learn

This programme is comprised of:

4 compulsory courses:
1. Frameworks to assess Food Security
2. Interrelationships in Food Systems
3. Sustainability of Food Production
4. Data Collection and Analysis for Food Security
a field trip (as part of Data Collection and Analysis for Food Security);
2 optional courses; and
a dissertation project which can have fieldwork (UK based or international) or be desk-based.

Meet the lecturer

Dr Montserrat Costa Font

Senior Lecturer

Montserrat is an agricultural and food economist studying the organisation of the food system with a particular interest in food supply chains and food security. She is the programme director of the Food Security MSc.

Her background is in Agricultural Economics and Environmental Policy, and she has been teaching and researching the food supply chain field for around 15 years.

Montserrat’s research interests and areas of specialism refer to the whole agri-food supply chain and how it influences the food system in the U.K., Europe and worldwide. She focused on food supply analysis, consumer behaviour, food innovation, food security, market structure and environmental issues related to food production and consumption.

PURE Profile

Dr Faical Akaichi

Lecturer

Faical is an applied economist with a specialisation in behavioural economics, food marketing and econometrics. He is the deputy programme director of the Food Security MSc.

Faical’s research is in the areas of behavioural economics, experimental economics, food marketing, food security and quantitative methods. Faical’s research work aims to further understand individuals’ behaviour, its determining factors, and how policy can best use this understanding to promote more sustainable and healthier food production and consumption. Whereas some of this work encompasses qualitative methods, the main thrust has been towards quantitative methods.

PURE Profile

A career in food security

Read this 2019 interview with Dr Joyce Luma, the Human Resources Director in the World Food Programme. Dr Luma’s trajectory is an excellent example of a career in food security.

The interview was carried out by Professor Cesar Revoredo-Giha (SRUC)