Hillsborough-based Dr Vanessa Woods has won the inaugural RDS Sustainable Agri Start-Up Award 2022 for her novel Science Communications Consultancy business ‘Vanessa B Woods Communications’.
With a company mission statement to ‘communicate complex science simply’ and a vision to ‘marry the science of farming, food and health’, Vanessa’s business translates science into accurate and engaging messages and stories for both B2B and B2C.
The business operates at local, national and international level and it was established over three years ago at a time when the importance of science to underpin messages was only beginning to be recognised
Vanessa spotted the gap and turned the opportunity into a unique and successful business.
She comes from a strong scientific and consumer engagement background, having worked as a senior scientist at AFBI; as a lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast; and as chief executive of consumer engagement body Agri Aware, winning its first and only European communications award since the organisation was established in 1996.
Vanessa has also authored two science-based books called ‘Irish Food, From A-Z’ and ‘Northern Ireland. Our Food, Our Story’ to engage the next generation of purchasing consumers in the importance of soil, plant, animal, dental, human and environmental health as
key and interlinked components of the food value chain.
Her books are now in every primary school on the island of Ireland as part of curriculum-linked education on sustainable farming and food, with the support of her project partners.
Vanessa’s books are also used to promote food tourism in Ireland and to sell Ireland’s sustainable food story to countries across the world.
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