The paper highlights the significant socio-environmental challenges associated with the overproduction and consumption of animal-based foods, including climate change, ill-health, and hidden hunger. Global meat consumption has quadrupled in the last 50 years, leading to substantial environmental impacts. The authors argue that reducing animal-based foods is crucial for mitigating these challenges and achieving food security and good health. This is considered a 'societal grand challenge' requiring system transformation and coordinated research across disciplines. However, existing research within social sciences and humanities is often fragmented and lacks sufficient influence on food policy. The authors address this by presenting a research prioritisation exercise that brings together European academics to define key research questions.

The paper reviews existing literature on consumption patterns and production of animal-based foods within social science and humanities. This includes work on vegan/vegetarian motivations and behaviors, identities, institutional dimensions, structural and ideological reproduction of animal-based food systems, governance and politics of transitions, and the cultural and moral economies of alternative proteins. While acknowledging the existing rich body of scholarship, the authors point to its dispersed nature and emphasize the need for a more holistic, systems-based approach to address the societal grand challenge.

The research prioritisation exercise used a modified 'Sutherland Method', involving six stages: (1) an online survey gathering research questions; (2) a first deliberative workshop in Nottingham, UK; (3) rewording and thematic grouping of questions; (4) a second deliberative workshop in Tampere, Finland; (5) further refinement of questions; and (6) collaborative writing. The survey generated 100 research questions, which were initially grouped into three themes (eating and consumption, food system transformation, governance and politics) before further refinement and regrouping across the workshops. The workshops involved discussions, scoring of questions by participants, and iterative refinement. The final selection was collaboratively written up by a large group of authors.

The exercise resulted in 15 prioritized research questions organized under five themes: 1. **Debating and visioning food from animals:** This theme focuses on analyzing societal debates and future visions regarding animal-based food, exploring stakeholder involvement and the ethical implications of different scenarios. Key questions explore the nature of these debates, stakeholder engagement and exclusion, and how future visions interact with broader sustainability goals. 2. **Transforming agricultural spaces:** This theme explores the transformations needed in agricultural spaces to support a move beyond animal-based food systems, addressing the challenges and opportunities for plant-based protein production and vegan agricultural systems. Key questions explore farmer responses, challenges of plant-based protein production, and the development of vegan agricultural systems. 3. **Framing animals as food:** This explores how animals are understood and performed within various food system actors, research, and education. It addresses the need for less human-centric approaches. Key questions cover how actors understand animal roles, how animals are framed in research across disciplines, and how they are presented in education. 4. **Eating practices and identities:** This explores how socio-economic factors and identities influence eating habits and how plant-based eating is incorporated into daily practices. The need to go beyond consumer behavior studies is stressed. Key questions examine the role of social categories in eating choices, the integration of plant-based eating into daily life, and the role of communities in supporting reduced meat consumption. 5. **Governing transitions beyond animal-based food systems:** This theme examines the role of public policy, national dietary guidelines, behavior change programs, and local partnerships in supporting transitions to more plant-based food systems. Key questions analyze supportive and restrictive policies, the effectiveness of interventions like national dietary guidelines and behavior change programs, and the role of multi-sector partnerships.

The 15 prioritized research questions and their organizing themes offer a comprehensive framework for future research in the social sciences and humanities on transitioning away from animal-based food systems. The study highlights the importance of addressing the ethical and ideological tensions surrounding animal use in food production, proposing that this tension itself become a research object. The process underscores the value of collaborative, iterative research prioritization involving diverse expertise to address complex, controversial societal issues. The findings have implications for research funding agendas and the development of inter- and transdisciplinary research collaborations.

The research prioritisation exercise successfully identified key research questions within the social sciences and humanities, focusing on the complex transition away from animal-based food systems. The reframing of the research area as 'beyond animal-based food systems' proved beneficial in fostering open discussion. Future work should engage a broader range of stakeholders, including researchers from underrepresented disciplines and non-academic actors, to build more inclusive and impactful research agendas.

The study's limitations include its focus solely on European academics within the social sciences and humanities. This limits the diversity of perspectives and potentially overlooks valuable insights from other disciplines and geographical regions. Future exercises should include more diverse participation to broaden the scope and relevance of the research agenda.