World Food System Center Annual Report 2016
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World Food System Center Annual Report 2016 World Food System Center World Food System Center - Annual Report 2016 Table of Contents TABLE OF CONTENTS Welcome 5 Year in Review 6 THE CENTER 8 The WFSC at ETH Zurich 8 Organizational Structure 9 Framing the Challenge 10 Food Systems Approach 11 Partnership Approach 12 Strategic Partnerships 12 Collaborative Partnerships 12 RESEARCH 14 Thematic Research Focus Areas 14 WFS Grants Platform 15 Flagship Projects 18 Collaborative Research 18 EDUCATION 22 Summer Schools 22 Courses and Excursions 22 Mentoring and Career Development 25 Student Thesis Opportunities 25 OUTREACH 26 Public and Specialist Events 26 WFSC Symposium 28 Research Dissemination and Stakeholder Participation 29 Enabling Grants 31 APPENDIX 32 Members 32 Finances 34 Selected Publications 2016 35 Cover Image: The PACKCHAIN project aims to develop a new method to Inside Cover Image: Students participating in hands-on learning at the optimize ventilated packaging design for fresh produce, such as oranges. WFSC Summer School at Gut Rheinau, Switzerland. 3 World Food System Center - Annual Report 2016 Welcome Michelle Grant and Nina Buchmann DEAR COLLEAGUES, PARTNERS, ALUMNI, AND FRIENDS, Reflecting back on 2016, we can say it has been a year of consolidation and growth, building on the solid roots established during the first phase of our operations. A total of 39 research groups are now members of the Center, 27 doctoral and postdoctoral research projects are successfully running, three flagship initiatives are in progress, and our alumni pool now includes 133 students and young professionals from 40 countries. We were very pleased to welcome two new member groups in 2016: the Chair of Sustainable Food Processing (Prof. Alexander Mathys) and the Chair of Molecular Plant Breeding (Prof. Bruno Studer). In the Executive Office, we bid farewell to Bastian Flury and Aimee Shreck, who moved abroad to pursue new opportunities, and welcomed Jonna Cohen, Jeanne Tomaszewski, Jukka Nyström, and Eduardo Perez. Our World Food System Grants Platform awarded 2.1 Million CHF in competitive research funding in 2016, allowing eight new postdoctoral and doctoral projects to commence. These projects cover a broad range of exciting topics, ranging from studies on the challenges and opportunities of organic agriculture globally, new preservation techniques for nutritious African leafy vegetables, the use of non-thermal plasma to improve safety and shelf life, to an in-depth analysis of the resilience capacity in the tef value chain. In addition to our grants platform, the Center is now running three flagship research initiatives on the topics of resilience in food systems, novel proteins for food and feed, and digitalization in the agro-food sector. We further contributed to our aim of building the capacity of the next generation of food system leaders through two intensive training programs in 2016. In April, we led a group of 20 ETH and Californian university students on a one-week study tour of the Central and Silicon Valleys to explore the role of IT innovations in tackling food system challenges. In August, we continued our successful World Food System Summer School by hosting a 14-day program at Gut Rheinau in Switzerland. 23 students from 17 countries participated in the program and went on to join our global pool of alumni. As a part of our outreach activities, we hosted two public lectures, the first on “Sustainable Proteins of the Future” and the second on “Diversification in Food Systems.” It was also the first year that we held our Annual Symposium, an opportunity for researchers to present their results to a broad range of stakeholders and the interested public. This event brought together approximately 200 guests from 60 different organizations. In addition, the Center supported a number of outreach and communication platforms, workshops, and materials with the aim of raising greater awareness of the work happening at ETH on food systems and supporting the relevant stakeholders to engage in the process. All of the above has been possible due to our wonderful network of partners and collaborators, both in Switzerland and abroad. We look forward to continuing the successful collaboration, working together for a healthy world through sustainable food systems. Nina Buchmann Michelle Grant Chair Executive Director 5 World Food System Center - Annual Report 2016 Year in Review YEAR IN REVIEW The WFSC structures its work in three main Activity Areas: Research, Education, and Outreach. EDUCATION EDUCATION & OUTREACH RESEARCH Sustainable Campus Catering final RESEARCH Agora project Resilience Stakeholder workshop ETH Studio Agro- “Edible Research” Workshop “Resilience Food established starts of the Palm Oil Value Chain in Sabah, Malaysia” RESEARCH EDUCATION OUTREACH EDUCATION Resilience Stakeholder Workshop Excursion Course Workshop “To WFS Summer “Assessing the Resilience of the Cocoa “The Role of Value Meat or Not to School “Organic Value Chain in Ghana” Chains in the Meat” at eco. Agriculture and World Food naturkongress Food Systems” System” JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER RESEARCH OUTREACH OUTREACH RESEARCH Collaborative Partnership Workshop Launch of Food Special issue of Resilience report “South Africa Meets ETH Zurich” System Stories Sight and Life with ”Guidelines to blog for WFSC focus on food assess and design Alumni systems interventions for food system” published RESEARCH EDUCATION OUTREACH WFS Grants Platform funds eight Course on Food Security and Resili- Fall Public Lecture “Diversification in new projects ent Food Systems at FAO Food Systems” Keynote: Dr. Emile Frison OUTREACH EDUCATION OUTREACH OUTREACH Spring Public Lecture “Sustainable ETH Meets California Study Tour Delivering Food Security on Limited WFSC Proteins of the Future” “Tackling Food System Challenges Land Annual Project Meeting Annual Keynote: Prof. Alexander Mathys with IT Innovation” in Beijing Symposium & Partners Meeting 6 7 World Food System Center - Annual Report 2016 The Center THE CENTER STRATEGIC FOUNDATION ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE WORLD FOOD The core of the WFSC is formed by the member group, SYSTEM CENTER which in 2016 comprised 39 research groups from seven different departments of the ETH Zurich and three different groups of eawag. Vision “A healthy world through sustainable food The Steering Committee, formed by a group of ten systems.” elected members and led by a Chair, oversees the strategy and operational functions carried out by the Mission “To be a leader in scientific research, educa- Executive Office. tion, and outreach across the food system that con- tributes to the key challenges of food and nutrition se- The Scientific Advisory Board of six external advisors provides strategic advice to the Steering Committee curity and environmental and social well-being. We do and connections to key external organizations. this by working across temporal and spatial scales and Field testing for the ImproBuck project in collaborative partnerships with key stakeholders.” The Partnership Council is a networking platform formed by foundations and industry partners who Thematic Focus Areas The WFSC defines the scope of make substantial donations to the programs of the Center through the ETH Zurich Foundation. WFSC Executive Office in Zurich 2016 its research work by three overlapping thematic focus areas that are paramount to food and nutrition securi- ty. They also exhibit a high potential for cross-discipli- THE WFSC AT ETH ZURICH nary collaboration and encompass the expertise of the World Food System Center members: “Effective Food Value Chains,” “Appropriate Nutrition for Health,” and The question of how to feed the world in a way that “Sustainable Food Production.” Inter-linkages among ensures human health, environmental sustainability, themes and work at the intersection of these areas are and social well-being is one of the defining and most complex global challenges of our time. In order to play especially encouraged. a leading role in addressing this challenge, ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) established the Activity Areas The WFSC supports the mandate of ETH World Food System Center (WFSC) in 2011. Zurich with regard to food system challenges by imple- General Assembly and Membership 39 members from ETH Zurich and eawag menting activities in three Activity Areas that mutually The WFSC directly implements the mandate of ETH support and complement each other: Research, Edu- Zurich - Education, Research, Knowledge and Tech- cation, and Outreach. nology Transfer and Service to Society - with regard to Scientific Advisory Board tackling food system challenges. We focus our work 6 nominated members from academia, industry and the public sector in three Activity Areas: Research, Education, and Out- Values The Center’s seven core values guide its organ- Steering Committee reach. Using these areas, the WFSC acts as a platform izational conduct. These outline the (1) importance of 10 elected members that brings members together to collaborate across academic independence and include a commitment Chair: Nina Buchmann Partnership Council disciplines and with a variety of external partners. Our Foundation and industry partners to (2) sustainability, (3) transparency, (4) objectivity, work builds on an understanding that solutions to food of the WFSC system challenges require collaboration from stake- (5) inter- and trans-disciplinarity, (6) real world im- holders across