17. Partnerships for the goals
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) will host the international conference ‘Towards Zero Hunger: Partnerships for impact’ at Wageningen Campus on 30-31 August 2018. The conference objective is to build bridges between the global challenges and local solutions, and between the various stakeholders (policy, science, business, civil society) to work in new partnerships on achieving the Zero Hunger targets in 2030 (SDG2).
With sessions on evidence base for food & nutrition security, balancing synergy and trade-offs between SDGs, and policy-making & governance to achieve the SDGs, pathways for transformative change will be identified. The invited target groups for this conference include government, business, civil society and research, including young professionals and students.
Involving the next generations
Our next generations have a key role to play in solving the challenges of today and tomorrow. With their open-minded, bold and novel ideas, students and young professionals can challenge leaders in the industry, research and policy and societal organisations to think and act differently. Wageningen University & Research invites youngsters to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and calls them to come up with solutions.
Examples of WUR projects involving the next generation
Future food heroes
This is the online youth platform aimed at the transformation of our food systems. Use this group to post your questions, brainstorm, share events and activities, information, opportunities and to reach out to peers and organisations. The transition to the food systems of the future is the central theme, viewed transcendently from different perspectives, to find answers together. The community is actively moderated to start valuable dialogue and to make the content of the platform comply with the guidelines, both in terms of topic and decency. The spoken language in this group is English.
The central theme in this group is food systems and their transition. Content needs to be related to ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all; shifting to sustainable consumption patterns; boosting nature-positive production; advancing equitable livelihoods; or building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks and stress.
Read more about the project
Wageningen Borlaug Youth Institute
In 2018, Wageningen University & Research organizes Europe’s first Borlaug Youth Institute, named after the Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Norman E. Borlaug. With this programme, secondary school students are challenged to come with creative, innovative and scientific solutions ‘how to feed the world through science’. With appealing research questions and guidance by Wageningen students and professors, these youngsters will play a starring role ‘to feed the world’ – now and in the future to come. At the Wageningen Borlaug Youth Institute on 31 August 2018, they will get the chance to speak with world leaders, captains from the industry and great scientists to convince them about their original and ground-breaking ideas. A select group of students will even take their knowledge and creativity to the Global Youth Institute in the United States in October 2018 to talk with youths and world leaders from the rest of the world ‘to feed the world’.