Growing Together

Fruit & Nut Village recently attended the Growing Together: A Transdisciplinary Forum on UK Urban Food Systems, held on 17th - 18th September 2025 at the Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA), University of Sussex.

This two-day forum hosted by Sussex University was designed for “UK researchers and stakeholders from across the social and natural sciences working on urban agriculture (UA), with the aim of mapping the current extent of UA research across the UK, identifying knowledge gaps and synergies between disciplines and facilitating collaboration on future research and funding applications.”

One of the speakers during the first morning of delightful presentations.

The first day consisted of morning talks on Diversity from experts invited from around the UK, but after lunch there was the chance to walk to the campus Food Forest Garden, created as part of an elective module led by Dr Perpetua Kirby, School of Education & Social Work, which was incredibly inspiring to see. After the second panel on Governance and before the third, there was an opportunity to look at Bitesize Biodiversity Photovoice Exhibition, led by PhD student and IDS researcher Leah Salm, an incredible way to showcase some of the research they have undertaken during their studies.

University of Sussex Student Food Forest Garden.

During the third panel session on Community, Fruit & Nut Village’s Dr Rob Tilling showcased some of the amazing projects and work we have undertaken in Birmingham alongside our devoted volunteers. Being able to contribute to this room full of inspirational talks and people was a humbling experience we are most grateful for, and Rob truly captured the community-based spirit behind everything we do at Fruit & Nut Village; without our ‘Villages’, we couldn’t do what we do, and is a true testament to the power of people when we come together with a shared idea and love of nature.

Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project

The second day was just as packed and interesting as the first, with a facilitated workshop focusing on collaboration and priorities for the future of urban agriculture research in the UK. After the exciting morning, we spent the afternoon at Moulsecoomb Forest Garden and Wildlife Project, designed to connect people to gardening and nature through collaboration with schools, social services and pupil referral units, their 30th anniversary was celebrated last year in 2024. Lunch in the forest garden gave us the opportunity to network (and a later option to spend some time working in the garden) with other like-minded stakeholders and academics attending the conference, getting to know other incredible people in our green world.

Many thanks to the University of Sussex for having us, and we certainly look forward to doing so again in the future. Please scroll through our photos to see the beautiful forest gardens we visited!