Shiology
Shiology is an emerging interdisciplinary knowledge system that holistically studies human "eat + food" affairs. It centres on the needs and perspectives of eaters, prioritising survival, health, social harmony, and sustainability, while examining interactions between eaters, food supply chains, and global governance structures.
Unlike traditional disciplines such as agronomy, food science, or fragmented food policies and food systems approaches, Shiology integrates these into a unified, eater-centric framework. It addresses root causes of interconnected crises—like hunger, malnutrition, waste, and ecological impacts—by revealing objective laws of "shiance" and advocating holistic governance to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Promoted through the biennial World Shiology Forum and supported by research centres, Shiology has gained recognition as a public knowledge system for systemic food challenges.
Shiology places a great importance on food education with policies inspired by Shiology implementing greater food education in schools, from cooking lessons to eating etiquette.
Creation and Background
Shiology was established from scratch by Liu Guangwei, founder and director-general of the World Shiology Forum, in February 2019. “Shiology” is a combination of the Chinese pinyin “shi” and English suffix “-ology”. The character “shi” in Chinese has two meanings including the verb "eat", as well as the noun "food".The 4th World Shiology Forum concluded, in the Hainan Initiative, that, “We need a new knowledge system - shiology - that covers all the 'eat and food' issues related to the SDGs, to comprehensively recognise the issues and holistically govern them, setting the eaters at the centre of the approach, and thus promote the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,"
World Shiology Forum
Previously known as 'the World Food Forum', the World Shiology Forum is hosted every two years. The most recent of which was hosted in Haikou, Hainan from the 28th of October to the 31st of October 2025. The next World Shiology Forum is expected to be hosted in 2027, but the location and date have yet to be announced.| Forum | Host City, Country | Host Date |
| 1st World Food Forum | Beijing, People's Republic of China | 21–24 May 2017 |
| 2nd World Food Forum | Beijing, People's Republic of China | 20–22 May 2018 |
| 3rd Wold Shiology Forum | Osaka, Japan | 24–26 June 2019 |
| 4th World Shiology Forum | Haikou, People's Republic of China | 10–11 October 2023 |
| 5th World Shiology Forum | Haikou, People's Republic of China | 28–31 October 2025 |
Each World Shiology Forum Covers a different shiance topic.
The 5th World Shiology Forum
The theme of the 5th World Shiology Forum was "Addressing Facts in Sustainability through Shiology," highlighting the number of ways shiology can make the food process more sustainable and deliver the UN's SDGs.Talks were provided on how indigenous populations are being impacted by climate change, how education can play a crucial role in Shiology and sustainability and how governing systems should be reformed to improve the sustainability of food systems. The conference culminated with a tour of Shiance industries in Hainan.
The Forum announced the opening of a new Shiology Research Institute at the University of Pisa
, the second such centre to exist, and the first in Europe.
The forum ended by publishing the 'Global Food Systems & SDGs Report', outlining the importance of food policies in the realisation of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
United Nations Recognition and Engagement
Shiology and the World Shiology Forum have received endorsements from United Nations leadership, highlighting the discipline's alignment with global efforts to transform food systems and advance SDGs.At the 4th World Shiology Forum in 2023, UN Secretary-General António Guterres sent a written message, greeting participants and urging the international community to address the global food crisis by making food systems more sustainable, equitable, and resilient and ensuring that "the men and women who bring food systems to life" must be supported. He emphasised the need for scientific and technological innovations to improve healthy food access while reducing water consumption and carbon emissions.
For the 5th World Shiology Forum in October 2025, Secretary-General Guterres again provided a written message, read on site, stating that the holistic principle of Shiology "points the way for exploring the path of human coexistence" and stressing the interdependence of society, ecosystems, and the economy for building resilience.
Additionally, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon contributed a foreword to the 'Global Food Systems and Sustainable Development Goals Report 2025', released at the end of the 5th Forum. Moon highlighted the complexity of food system challenges and explicitly endorsed Shiology, stating that "Shiology is such a knowledge system" needed for comprehensive coverage of the entire food system.