Science and Innovations for Food Systems Transformation

This Open Access book compiles the findings of the Scientific Group of the United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021 and its research partners. The Scientific Group was an independent group of 28 food systems scientists from all over the world with a mandate from the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.

The chapters provide science- and research-based, state-of-the-art, solution-oriented knowledge and evidence to inform the transformation of  contemporary food systems in order to achieve more sustainable, equitable and resilient  systems.

Joachim von Braun (Germany) served as the Chair of the Scientific Group. He is a Distinguished Professor at and formerly the Director of the Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn University. His research focuses on economic developmen.- t, science, and technology policy, poverty reduction, food and nutrition security, resource economics, and trade. von Braun is President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican; a member of the German National Academy of Science – Leopoldina, the Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech), the Academy of Arts and Science North Rhine-Westphalia, and a fellow of the African Academy of Science and of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences. He is Vice President of the German NGO “Welthungerhilfe”. Previously, he was Director-General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). He was elected as president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) and received honorary degrees and several other awards.

Kaosar Afsana (Bangladesh) served as a Vice-Chair of the Scientific Group. She is a Professor at the James P Grant School of Public Health (JPGSPH), BRAC University. Dr. Afsana had served BRAC in Bangladesh for over 26 years and completed her tenure as the Director of the BRAC Health, Nutrition, and Population Programme. Dr. Afsana started work for BRAC JPGSPH at its inception in 2004. She is an MD with an MPH from Harvard University, USA, and a Ph.D. from Edith Cowan University, Australia. She represents BRAC JPGSPH and BRAC at the national and global level, playing a critical role in policy-making and planning, and in providing technical guidance, particularly, regarding sexual, reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health, and nutrition and health system strengthening.

Louise O. Fresco (Netherlands) served as a Vice-Chair of the Scientific Group. Sheis the President of the Executive Board of Wageningen University & Research in The Netherlands. Louise combines a long academic career as a professor at Wageningen and other institutions with extensive involvement in policy and development, with many programs in Africa, Asia, and Latin America and teaching in Sweden, Belgium, and the US. Louise O. Fresco is a member of eight Scientific Academies and holds four honorary doctorates. Ten years of her career were spent at the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN. She is a non-Executive Director on the board of Syngenta as well as of various philanthropies while previously she served on the supervisory boards of companies like Rabobank and Unilever and on the board of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. Her successful book “Hamburgers in Paradise, the stories behind the food we eat” was translated into several languages. In total, she published thirteen books of fiction and non-fiction, and she also writes a bi-weekly column in NRC,the leading evening paper in The Netherlands. She presented a six-part documentary on food and development for Dutch public television (to be found in translation on her website www.louiseofresco.com). You may have seen her TED talk in Palm Springs in 2009.

Mohamed Hassan (Sudan) served as a Vice-Chair of the Scientific Group. He is President of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Italy; President of the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences (SNAS); Chairman of the Governing Council of the United Nations Technology Bank, Turkey; and Chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Center for Development Research (ZEF), Germany. He was Professor and Dean of the School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Khartoum; President of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP); founding Executive Director of TWAS; President of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS); founding President of the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC); Chairman of the Council of the United Nations University (UNU); and Chairman of the Honorary Presidential Advisory Council for Science and Technology, Nigeria. Among his honours: the Commendatore Grand Cross, and National Order of Scientific Merit, Brazil; and Officer, Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He is a recipient of the G77 Leadership Award and the Abdus Salam Medal for Science and Technology. He is a member of eleven merit-based academies of science, which include the Academy of Sciences of South Africa; the Pontifical Academy of Sciences; and the Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology.