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This paper focuses on the 'knowledge society' in New Zealand It holds that the use of the term is unclear. It identifies two dominant themes in the literature: the 'knowledge society' as embedded in 'Third Way' thinking, and the 'knowledge society' as a positive response to a changing society. This paper reports on a qualitative study of the views of a small group of final year BMS students about the 'knowledge society'. The respondents had come to university directly from school. The research consisted of three one hour 'semi structured' taped interviews. Three themes emerged: "Knowledge will get me the things I want;" '' I need current global knowledge to survive out there;" and "I resent the current government'. "The findings support the literature in that the respondents acknowledge that globalisation and technology are key drivers of a changing society. They also challenge the literature in that respondents do not have a clear understanding of the concept. The respondents strongly associate market use-fullness to knowledge. The paper suggests that a 'New Right-Third Way' dichotomy still exists. The paper also presents an insight into the 'optimism' and 'individualism' embedded in the respondents' comments. Perhaps this diversity of knowledge should be celebrated and used to empower the whole of society.

The rise of food security up international political, societal and academic agendas has led to increasing interest in novel means of improving primary food production and reducing waste. There are however, also many 'post-farm gate' activities that are critical to food security, including processing, packaging, distributing, retailing, cooking and consuming. These activities all affect a range of important food security elements, notably availability, affordability and other aspects of access, nutrition and safety. Addressing the challenge of universal food security, in the context of a number of other policy goals (e.g. social, economic and environmental sustainability), is of keen interest to a range of UK stakeholders but requires an up-to-date evidence base and continuous innovation. An exercise was therefore conducted, under the auspices of the UK Global Food Security Programme, to identify priority research questions with a focus on the UK food system (though the outcomes may be broadly applicable to other developed nations). Emphasis was placed on incorporating a wide range of perspectives ('world views') from different stakeholder groups: policy, private sector, non-governmental organisations, advocacy groups and academia. A total of 456 individuals submitted 820 questions from which 100 were selected by a process of online voting and a three-stage workshop voting exercise. These 100 final questions were sorted into 10 themes and the 'top' question for each theme identified by a further voting exercise. This step also allowed four different stakeholder groups to select the top 7-8 questions from their perspectives. Results of these voting exercises are presented. It is clear from the wide range of questions prioritised in this exercise that the different stakeholder groups identified specific research needs on a range of post-farm gate activities and food security outcomes. Evidence needs related to food affordability, nutrition and food safety (all key elements of food security) featured highly in the exercise. While there were some questions relating to climate impacts on production, other important topics for food security (e.g. trade, transport, preference and cultural needs) were not viewed as strongly by the participants.