This year marks five years of the Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition, a dedicated evidence initiative of the School Meals Coalition. To mark the occasion, our 2026 Annual Showcase will bring together researchers, policymakers and practitioners from across our Global Academy to reflect on what we have learned about school meals — and explore where the field goes next.
Across three virtual sessions over three days, the Showcase will look back at the evidence and experience built over the past five years, explore new frontiers in school meals research, and consider new approaches for accelerating progress towards 2030 and beyond.
With 500 million children now receiving a school meal globally, there is growing momentum and investment in school meals. The Showcase will examine how research and evidence can help ensure this investment delivers lasting benefits for children, communities and food systems.
Dates
Tuesday 6 to Thursday 8 October, 13:00 to 14:30 GMT+1 each day (Online via Zoom)
Programme and speakers
- Day 1 (6 Oct) – Looking Back
Looking Back: Everything We Know About School Meals So Far
The first day will reflect on the evidence built over the past five years and what it tells us about the wide-ranging impacts of school meals. We’ll explore their contribution to education, health, social protection and agriculture, alongside lessons from countries expanding their programmes and insights from value-for-money research.
Confirmed speakers
- KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Ilaria Dettori – Director of Nutrition, School Meals and Social Protection, World Food Programme
- Manos Antoninis – UNESCO Global Education Monitoring
- Prof Sylvie Avallone – L'Institut Agro Montpellier
- Dr Biniam Bedasso – Center for Global Development
- Dr Drew Bremer & Dr Dan Raiten – National Institutes of Health
- Prof Juliana Cohen – Harvard University
- Dr R. Gopinath – M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
- Dr Stéphane Verguet – Harvard University
More speakers will be confirmed soon.
Programme overview
- Keynote address: Ilaria Dettori
- The State of the Evidence: Impacts Across Sectors
- Impacts on education
- Impacts on health
- Impacts on agriculture
- Impacts on social protection
- Comparing systematic reviews on impacts of school meals
- Learning Through Doing: What’s Happening in Countries?
- Emerging Good Practices Across National Case Studies
- Country perspective: Lebanon
- Value-for-Money Analyses Across countries
- Country perspective: TBC
- Day 2 (7 Oct) – Where We Are Today
Where We Are Today: Emerging Frontiers in School Meals Research
Day two will explore emerging questions at the forefront of school meals research.
Could school meals help prevent diet-related illness in later life? We’ll also examine how school meals could help unlock more resilient food systems, including through regenerative agriculture and new decision-support tools for more sustainable programmes.
The day will close with reflections from Kenya, bringing a country perspective to these emerging areas of research and practice.
Confirmed speakers
- Dr Jean D’Amour Manirere – University of Rwanda
- Dr Patricia Eustachio-Colombo – London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- Dr Fatima Hachem – UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
- Uliana Holovata – Ukraine School Nutrition Reform Team
- Dr Esther Kariuki – Kenya
- Dr Silvia Pastorino – London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- Dr Samrat Singh – Imperial College London
More speakers will be confirmed soon.
Programme overview
- Keynote address: TBC
- Challenge 1: Preventing diet-related illness
- Could school meals prevent diet-related illness in middle age?
- Challenge 2: Building more climate-resilient food systems
- Using school meals to drive regenerative agriculture across Africa
- Decision-support tools for more sustainable programmes
- Tool spotlight: Food Systems Transformation
- Reflections: School meals for improving nutrition & food systems
- Country perspective: Kenya
- UN perspective: FAO
- Challenge 3: Maintaining education and wellbeing in times of war
- Country perspective: Ukraine
- Country perspective: Somalia
- Day 3 (8 Oct) – What's Next
What’s Next: Future Directions for School Meals Research
The final day will look towards the next five years and beyond. We’ll consider how better data and monitoring can support stronger school meal programmes, including the new Government Self-Reporting Mechanism for School Meals, alongside perspectives from the European Union.
We’ll also showcase new regional approaches for global progress, featuring networks and initiatives from Africa, the Nordic-Baltic region, Central Asia, Brazil and India, with a perspective from the African Union. Finally, we’ll turn to the local level, exploring how cities are driving change through municipal school food programmes.
Confirmed speakers
- KEYNOTE: Prof Dean Jamison - Co-Chair, Lancet Commission on Investing in Health
- Dr Robert Akparibo - African Nutrition Society
- Dr Noam Angrist - Oxford University What Works Hub for Global Education
- Dr Sarah Burkhart - Pacific School Food Network
- Filippo Gavanezzi - Cities Feeding the Future Initiative of the School Meals Coalition
- Dr Kristiina Janhonen - University of Helsinki
- Marekh Khmaladze - Data and Monitoring Initiative, School Meals Coalition
- Dr Mohan Kumar - M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation
- Prof Alessandra da Silva Pereira - UNIRIO
- Mathis Porchez - European Union Commission
- Cristina Sossan - Municipality of Milan
More speakers will be confirmed soon.
Programme overview
- Keynote address: Prof Dean Jamison
- It’s All in the Data: Improving How School Meals are Monitored
- DMI Government Self-Reporting Mechanism for School Meals
- A perspective from the European Union Commission
- New Regional Approaches for Global Progress
- African Nutrition Society Technical Working Group on School-Age Children
- The Nordic-Baltic School Meals Network
- The Central Asia Regional Platform on Partnership and Capacity-Building in Nutrition
- REDPAE Brazil
- Indian Medical Research Council Research Group on School-Age Children
- A perspective from the African Union
- Staying Local: Learning From Cities
- Municipal case studies
- City perspective: Milan
- Closing remarks: Future of school meals for education