The large volume and diversity of research sources related to the challenges affecting the efficient operations of FSCs demand a systematic literature review to explore the tools employed to address such challenges and to identify research gaps for future research. Our review of the FSC literature covered 141 articles published over the period 2010-2021. It was found that advanced technologies and optimization models were the most predominant tools for addressing FSC challenges with 40% of the articles embracing IOT-based technological frameworks and 56% of the reviewed papers deploying mathematical and computational optimization methods. The study also revealed that 73% of the reviewed articles primarily focused on addressing challenges related to sustainability, safety and quality, and traceability and transparency. In addition, about 92% of the research contributions originated from European, North American, and Asian geographic countries. Finally, 39% and about 46% of the articles were exploratory by nature and focused on addressing challenges within generic food chains, respectively. Based on a content analysis of the reviewed papers, potential research directions were suggested to fill the identified gaps. The dearth of research focusing on addressing food loss and waste, coordination, globalization, resilience, and robustness, and food-security challenges is one of the identified research gaps. Additionally, the deficiency of empirical studies validating the models/frameworks developed and the meagreness of research focus on unique types of food chains can be addressed as potential research venues.

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Based on a review commissioned by the Directorate of the UK's Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA) programme of best practice approaches to collaborative social and natural science research in developing countries, this document outlines the key lessons from ESPA in assessing ethics in the research projects it supports. Below is a summary of the key points of the review and ESPA's ethics procedures. It highlights why and how you should consider ethics in your research.The ESPA research programme is a seven year, £40.5 million interdisciplinary scheme funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), as part of the UK's Living with Environmental Change partnership. It funds high-quality, cutting-edge research which aims to improve understanding of the way ecosystems function, the services they provide and their relationship with the political economy. The programme's goal is to ensure that, in developing countries, ecosystems are being sustainably managed in a way that contributes to poverty reduction as well as to inclusive and sustainable growth.

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Modern supply chains (SC) are highly vulnerable to risks that evolve and cascade from internal or external disturbances. Additionally, resilience capabilities aid the SC to thrive against such challenges. Indeed, change management complements the resilience behaviour towards facing changes induced from SC disruptions and proactive change management strategies foster smooth transitions to facilitate faster recovery to steady-state conditions following future change events. Conversely, most SC employ a reactive approach to change management aiming at reducing the impact of disruptions already in place, consequently forcing the SC to instill, develop, and implement change capabilities in a chaotic fashion with reduced efficiency to infuse resilience capabilities for speedy and effective recovery from future disruptive events. Hence, an in-depth literature study is needed to leverage proactive change management processes for resilience enhancements within SC.