National Center for Food Safety Education and Research, National Taiwan University
Meaghan Tobin is a Fellow at Meridian Institute, where she supports mediation and consensus-building processes around complex social and political issues with national and global implications. Meaghan provides support for policy dialogues, negotiations, and strategy development projects focused on food and health, agricultural development, natural resource management, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. At Meridian, Meaghan has helped to develop policy recommendations for local, state, and national policymakers to increase access to nutritious foods; assisted the U.S. government and ministries of foreign governments in evaluating results-based payment systems that reduce deforestation and environmental degradation in developing countries; and supported multi-stakeholder dialogues to inform the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiation process. Meaghan has also provided strategic support for projects targeting reduced emissions from oil consumption and production in North America, and contributed to the continued development of the Meridian Fellowship program.
Meaghan graduated in 2012 from New York University, where she studied food studies, nutrition, and public health. She also took courses in economics and international politics, and her academic work focused on understanding the relationship between political and economic forces and the global food and agriculture system. During her time at NYU, Meaghan conducted research on open campus spaces to investigate the potential of developing innovative urban agriculture systems.
She held a number of intern positions at regional agricultural development organizations, and served as President of Slow Food NYU. Prior to attending NYU, Meaghan graduated summa cum laude in 2010 with a degree in Baking & Pastry Arts from Johnson & Wales University. As part of her studies, Meaghan spent several months living in Ireland and working as a pastry chef at a resort hotel. She has also been an artisan bread baker and worked on farms in Massachusetts and New York’s Hudson Valley. Meaghan grew up in New England and is an accomplished figure skater. She has an abiding love for languages and linguistic anthropology, and has studied Spanish, French, Arabic, Irish, and Mandarin Chinese.
The 2014-2015 Luce Scholar placement for Meaghan Tobin is at the National Taiwan University (NTU) with the National Center for Food Safety Education and Research (NCFSER). With a mission to promote food safety across the food industry, NCFSER seeks to build a risk analysis model for food safety, enhancing food safety, and promoting food safety knowledge. At National Taiwan University, Meaghan Tobin will support the research and programs of the NCFSER, as well as the Institute of Food Science and Technology, the Taiwan Association for Food Protection, and the Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine.