Former strategic themes
With our research we forge strong links between fundamental knowledge on the one hand and scientific and scalable practical knowledge on the other, both within and across scientific fields. Investment themes help us accelerate the development of knowledge and innovation within our domain.
Every four years, new strategic themes are selected to dovetail with the Strategic Plan.
Strategic themes 2015 - 2018
Global One Health
Controlling the risks of disease outbreaks and reducing endemic infectious diseases are crucial to food security, public health, climate change and biodiversity. We use the phrase ‘A Global One Health’, as it reflects the interconnectedness and global nature of health care for humans, animals, plants and the environment. Many health risks can be controlled through effective interventions consisting of an adequate and varied food supply, hygiene, medicines, vaccines, vector control and crop protection.
Resource Use Efficiency
A more intensive use of natural resources places increasing pressure on biological systems and on production and consumption systems in agriculture. Due to increasing global urbanisation, the distribution of the flow of energy, materials and waste is shifting on a large scale, and the quality of ecosystems (for example soil and water) is under pressure. The flow of nutrients, residue and waste is becoming concentrated in prosperous, densely populated urban areas, while elsewhere the soil is becoming depleted.
Resilience
Resilience is an important property not only of natural ecosystems, agro-ecosystems, and economic and social systems, but also of biological systems such as humans, animals, plants and microbes. The resilience of a system determines its response and adaptation to sudden, non-linear changes such as rapid technological progress, climate change and socio-economic changes. Likewise, the degree to which a system can adapt is also determined by its resilience. The reactions in the systems are complex and determined by interaction with other systems and reactions between different scales.
Metropolitan Solutions
By 2050, 70% of the world’s population will live in cities. As a result, cities will to an increasing degree face issues concerning the sustainability and quality of life. This concerns aspects such as food security, mobility and logistics, the availability of water, dealing with raw materials and waste, health and well-being. The metropolitan city is simultaneously an incubator for creative solutions, a precursor of social and technological innovations in sustainability, an important player on the world stage and a specific social and ecological system. In this way, the metropolitan city also serves as a ‘living lab’ to design, test and disseminate solutions to these problems.
Synthetic Biology
Acquired knowledge on genetic material as a building block for life has increased drastically. We can use this knowledge to design new biological systems. This offers a world of possibility for improving the quality of life. However, the application of synthetic biology is still in its infancy. At present, work is taking place only with biomolecules and single-cell organisms, such as bacteria and yeasts.
Strategic themes 2011 - 2014
Mapping for Sustainable Intensification
The overall aim of this strategic program of Wageningen-UR is to develop, apply and exploit innovative methods to reveal opportunities for sustainable intensification in order to realize 70% increase in production by 2050. We label this as a Benchmarking Atlas for Sustainable Intensification of agricultural Systems (BASIS).
Customised 'Protein' Nutrition
Future trends in nutrition for both humans and animals show that the formulation of food and feed products will face an increasing challenge of a global protein shortage.
TripleP@Sea - Coastal and Marine resources
TripleP@Sea: Smart use of marine ecosystem services providing sustainable Profit of the Planet for People.
Biorefinery
Biorefining is the sustainable processing of biomass into a spectrum of marketable biobased products for food, feed, chemicals, materials and bioenergy.
Systems Biology for Food, Feed, and Health
Wageningen University & Research has chosen Systems Biology as one of its focal points and invests considerably in this emerging research field. The Wageningen Centre for Systems Biology (WCSB) for Food, Feed, and Health is the condensation point of all Systems Biology developments at Wageningen University & Research.
Informational Governance
Informational Governance for Sustainability focuses on governing by information and the role of information in governance.
Complex Adaptive Systems
The major environmental and agricultural challenges of the 21st century – such as dealing with climate change, feeding nine billion people, and increasing land and resource use efficiency – require a holistic approach that integrates social with life and environmental sciences. This is the core focus of the IPOP theme Complex Adaptive Systems.