Innovate3X - 14
Developing an AI-supported platform for Meaningful Metrics in food and mental wellbeing
Initiator: IfM Engage, (Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge), United Kingdom
IfM Engage is a knowledge transfer organization embedded in the Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) (a division of the Engineering Department at the University of Cambridge).
IfM Engage focuses on facilitating knowledge translation from the research happening at IfM and the wider university to practice, supporting industry and government through the deployment of consulting, education and communication activities.
The group prepares and supports the implementation of innovation and transformation initiatives by connecting academic research with real-world decision-making and delivery. In general, the methods deployed are versatile and can be adapted to various contexts/sectors. IfM Engage have much experience to deploy our approaches in all the 4 sectors (Nutrition, Mobility, Energy and Housing).
IfM Engage’s work draws on interdisciplinary approaches and has run activities in a variety of sectors including Food, Energy, Mobility and Construction. Across the sectors, the focus is on innovation and operations management, sustainability and resilience management, policy studies, systems engineering and digitalization and social sciences, in the context of European and global agendas for sustainable, resilient and inclusive growth.
Research Group:
Facilitating knowledge translation from university to practice (industry/government) through the deployment of consulting/education and communication.
Link to the website: https://engage.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk
Desired Outcome:
The lead researchers at IfM Engage are currently working at the pilot / proof-of-concept stage, moving towards early implementation. The Meaningful Metrics Framework has been developed through doctoral research in France and postdoctoral research at IfM (1,2), University of Cambridge and tested through multiple workshops and beta pilots across communication evaluation, arts and culture impact, university–SME partnerships, and regional innovation ecosystems, the late one with IfM Engage. These pilots demonstrated high satisfaction, increased confidence in evaluation practices, and the emergence of shared taxonomies and causal logics.
To progress this work to impact, the next step is to translate the framework into a scalable, AI-supported digital platform for Meaningful Metrics in food and mental wellbeing. This platform will guide users through the process, support trained convenors, and enable collective learning across organisations in a closed, trusted environment. Secondments would support research and innovation activities including platform design, AI-supported guidance mechanisms, user testing, interface development, and the integration of workshops and community-building activities as data-feeding and learning mechanisms for the platform.
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Ramirez, V. (2025). Meaningful Metrics for Knowledge Exchange: Rethinking Social Value Metrics for University-Business and Community Interactions. Policy Evidence Unit for University Commercialisation and Innovation. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121347
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Ramirez-Godinez, M.-V. (2023). Trust, authority and digital metrics: The datafication of public relations, measurement disruption and the birth of a new professional expertise [These de doctorat, Université Gustave Eiffel]. https://theses.fr/2023UEFL2002
R&I Stages:
☒ Early Implementation
The I3X challenge invites research and innovation talent within the SMAR3TS project to contribute to market assessment, business case development and ecosystem analysis through secondments at Kempower (EMRC) in Finland.
This I3X is Looking for Skills and Capabilities across Disciplines for:
To move forward, several interdisciplinary gaps must be addressed. These include the translation of a socio-technical framework into robust digital architecture, the design of responsible AI that supports reflection rather than automation, and the development of interfaces that can accommodate diverse users and organisational contexts.
Required skills and capabilities include:
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software and platform architecture design to translate a socio-technical framework into a robust digital environment;
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AI and data science expertise to develop guidance, prompting, and learning mechanisms that support reflection rather than automate judgement; experience in AI/ML or data-driven platforms- The secondee should be able to build a working platform end-to-end, or at least prototype it independently (incl. Front-end/Back-end development (e.g. React, Vue / Python, Node.js), Database/GDPR management (SQL or NoSQL), NLP for interpreting user inputs and clustering qualitative data.
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methods for integrating workshops, hackathons, and community practices as structured inputs that feed and enrich the platform;
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facilitation and community-building capabilities to support trained convenors and sustain a professional community of practice.
The secondment researcher(s) would bring technical, AI, software, and interface expertise, working in close collaboration with the project leads to ensure conceptual integrity, usability, and long-term scalability across SMAR3TS domains.
Important:
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SMAR3TS Secondments are open only to SMAR3TS Consortium Partners.
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Secondments aligned to any I3X can be undertaken at either the Initiating Parter premises and/or other SMAR3TS Consortium Partner premises.
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Regardless of where you are undertaking work on an I3X, you are obligated to ensure the aligned I3X Initiator Project Contact, Lead / Responsible aligned Work Package Leader, as well as the SMAR3TS Project Management Team are kept fully up-to-date with the progress of your contribution to your secondment aligned I3X - Refer to the detailed information 'About Secondments - What are Secondments'.
Examples of Challenges that Need to be Addressed
Several unresolved challenges remain, spanning technology, methodology, adoption, and ecosystem development. These challenges are central to the Innovate-3X logic and require experimentation across domains. Key challenges include:
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Technology & methods: translating qualitative, deliberative processes into digital and AI-supported workflows without flattening meaning or nuance;
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Data & knowledge integration: structuring inputs from diverse projects into reusable thematic repertoires of indicators that can inform, but not standardise, metric co-construction;
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Ecosystem & community development: sustaining engagement across so that workshops and pilots continuously enrich the platform rather than remain isolated activities;
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Data ethics and trust: developing a closed, ethical data environment that nurture partnerships and collective intelligence while ensuring trust;
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Market & adoption: designing a membership-based model that balances openness, trust, and scalability across sectors. It needs to take into account different organisational workflows and maturity levels
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Impact & evaluation: demonstrating value and learning across domains while resisting reductive or compliance-driven metrics.
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Platform development –with AI-guided co-design workflow. This would help schools define their goals, stakeholders, intervention activities, and intended outcomes.
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An AI-supported Meaningful Metrics Platform prototype tailored to school food and mental wellbeing interventions.
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A thematic indicator library: This would contain possible indicators linked to the food–mental health evidence base. For example, it could offer indicators related to plant diversity, fermented food availability, UPF exposure, oily fish or plant-based omega-3 provision, micronutrient-rich options, or reductions in refined sugary drinks.
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A pilot-tested KPI framework for assessing success in school food practices related to mental wellbeing.
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A policy brief setting out practical recommendations for schools, local authorities, and relevant government and education stakeholders.
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A draft academic paper on the co-production of meaningful metrics for food and mental wellbeing in school settings, with particular emphasis on AI-supported measurement and scaling.
Outputs
Initiator Institution (IfM Engage @ the University of Cambridge) Contact for this I3XS
Initiator Institution (IfM Engage @ the University of Cambridge) Contact for this I3X
Contact: Dr David Lott (CEO). Email: dl362@cam.ac.uk
NOTE:
Click here for instructions on how to plan for a secondment.
Alignment to Work-Package/s
SMAR3TS domains that are relevant to the work of IFM organization and research and innovation team are: Energy, Mobility, Nutrition, Housing.
SMAR3TS Nutrition Work Package Lead Contact: Assoc. Prof. Letizia Mortara, University of Cambridge, lm367@cam.ac.uk
Alignment to Resilience, Restoration, Regeneration (R3)
This work aligns strongly with resilience, restoration, and regeneration, primarily at the organisational and ecosystem level. It focuses on the often-overlooked infrastructures that enable partnerships to learn, adapt, and coordinate over time: shared language, evaluation practices, and evidence cultures. The Meaningful Metrics framework (1) sits at the core of this approach.
From a resilience perspective, the framework strengthens organisations’ capacity to navigate uncertainty and complex ecosystems by making assumptions, priorities, and trade-offs explicit. Through the development of an AI-supported platform, this capacity is operationalised in practice, enabling actors such as schools, catering providers, and community partners to define, track, and adapt context-relevant indicators over time.
From a restoration lens, the work addresses misaligned or fragmented measurement systems that can undermine trust, collaboration, and long-term decision-making. By co-producing indicators with practitioners, the programme helps restore coherence between evidence, practice, and purpose. In the context of food and mental wellbeing, this includes reconnecting scientific insights (e.g. dietary diversity, reduced reliance on ultra-processed foods) with everyday institutional practices.
From a regeneration perspective, the framework supports the co-creation of forward-looking metrics that value capability-building, inclusion, and systemic change, rather than short-term outputs alone. The platform enables continuous learning across sites, allowing successful practices — including those related to healthier food environments — to be adapted and scaled, contributing to more regenerative organisational and ecosystem dynamics. (1)Ramirez, V. (2025). Meaningful Metrics for Knowledge Exchange: Rethinking Social Value Metrics for University-Business and Community Interactions. Policy Evidence Unit for University Commercialisation and Innovation. https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.121347
Background Work
Emerging evidence suggests that mental wellbeing is shaped not only by individual food choices but by the wider food environment in which those choices are made. Diet quality is influenced by societal production patterns, community access to nutritious food, policy and regulation, and the practices of organisations such as schools. In this context, school environments are especially important because they structure everyday eating habits, social norms around food, and access to meals and snacks during formative years.
The programme proposes to develop a Meaningful Metrics Framework to improves food practices in ways that support mental wellbeing, while simultaneously building an AI-supported Meaningful Metrics Platform capable of helping schools identify, monitor and refine the indicators that matter most for their unique environment, opportunities and constraints. The intention is not simply to measure activity, but to co-create realistic achievable milestones and KPIs that reflect the singularity of ecosystem needs, while being a practical and scalable framework through which schools, caterers, after-school groups, pupils, families, and policy stakeholders can understand what is changing, why it matters, and how improvement can be sustained.
Related Keywords
Nutrition Science; Food Systems; Mental Health; Young People Wellbeing; Public Health; Sustainable Diets; Food Environments; Health Innovation; Evidence-to-Impact; Knowledge Translation; Policy-Informed Innovation; Preventive Health; Societal Resilience; Sustainability; Systems Thinking; Social and Economic Concerns; Technology; AI