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Dear Friends of the World Food System Center,
We have an exciting year ahead of us. We are celebrating 10 years of the Center: 10 years of solution-oriented research by our members tackling food system challenges, 10 years of educating future leaders, enabling them to play a vital role in the transformation, and 10 years of constant exchange with a wide audience sharing knowledge and insights. We will use this year to reflect on the work we have done that has solidified our idea that the food system approach is the right one. But we will also look to the future and start intensive dialogues with multi-stakeholders and partners to increase research and collaborations with emphasis on a systems-based approach, that is inclusive and transdisciplinary. We invite you to join us in these dialogues and celebrations over the year.
Kind regards,
Ivonne Blossfeld and the team of the World Food System Center |
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| Center News |
Celebrating 10 Years of Collaboration  |
Our Inauguration event in 2012 marked the official launch of the World Food System Center. Members, partners, and the public had the opportunity to learn about the strategy and activities of the Center and get involved. In the 10 years since, our member groups, networks, programs and initiatives have grown and evolved, but our vision remains unchanged: A healthy world through sustainable food systems.
From March through November this year, we are planning events for our members and the public to celebrate 10 Years of Collaboration and to increase dialogue about the continuing challenges in our food system. Watch for the launch of our celebrations in March. |
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New Executive Office Staff  |
Jan Streit joined the office in January as Student Project Staff. In his role, he supports several outreach, science communication, and education projects. Jan is currently completing his master studies in Environmental Science at ETH Zurich. He previously worked at Eawag and KWR Water Research in the field of inter- and transdisciplinary research. We welcome Jan to the team.
We also sadly said farewell to our Project Manager Braida Thom and intern Charlotte Kaufmann In December. We wish them all the best in their new career endevours.
Please see the Executive Office page to learn more about our team. |
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| New Members |
| We are pleased to welcome Máté Bezdek, Nicholas Bokulich, Stefano Mintchev, and Renato Zenobi as new members! Our member groups represent eight departments at ETH Zurich, four groups of Eawag, and one group of Empa. |
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| Máté Bezdek leads the Functional Coordination Chemistry Group in the ETH Zurich Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences. The group carries out research at the intersection of inorganic chemistry and sensor science and develops stimuli-responsive materials. Their goal is to make low-cost and distributable chemical sensors for real-time soil health monitoring and thereby help inform sustainable agricultural practices.
Visit the group website |
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| Nicholas Bokulich heads the Food Systems Biotechnology Group in the ETH Zurich Department of Health Sciences and Technology. The group develops and utilizes computational and experimental approaches to study microbial ecosystems at the interface of foods and human health. Their ultimate goal is the engineering of microbial communities to promote food quality and security and to optimize functional roles in human digestion and health.
Visit the group website |
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| Stefano Mitchev heads the Environmental Robotics Group in the ETH Zurich Department of Environmental Systems Science. The group investigates the challenges and opportunities of robotics in the areas of climate change, environmental degradation, and sustainability. Taking inspiration from nature, they study novel design, manufacturing, perception, and control paradigms to create versatile and robust machines to explore complex and unpredictable natural environments.
Visit the group website |
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| Renato Zenobi heads the group of Analytical Chemistry in the ETH Zurich Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences. The group focuses on the investigation of human exhaled breath in relation to nutrition and diet to understand the impact of nutrition on metabolism in real-time and in a non-invasive way. The studies provide multidimensional analytical insights into the effects of nutrition on human health. Other work includes tandem mass spectrometry for compound identification.
Visit the group website |
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| Research |
| Flagship Project Enhancing Resilience in Food Systems |
In 2021, despite the significant challenges presented by the ongoing global pandemic, the diverse and dedicated collection of community members, municipal leaders, and researchers that are the RUNRES (Rural-Urban Nexus: Establishing a nutrient loop to improve city-region food system Resilience) project continued their efforts to improve the resilience of the city region food systems in Arba Minch, Ethiopia, Kamonyi, Rwanda, Bukavu, DRC, and Msunduzi, South Africa. This project, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, seeks to enhance resilience by capturing and processing sources of local organic waste into sustainably produced organic fertilizers.
Read more about updates and publications from this project and others focused on resilience for cocoa and banana global food value chains, tomato producers in Morocco, and the Swiss Food System in the Center’s news.
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| Flagship Project Novel Proteins for Food and Feed |
The ‘Urban Microalgae-Based Protein Production’ project, led by the Singapore-ETH Centre, together with the National University of Singapore and Agency for Science Technology and Research’s Singapore Institute of Food and Biotechnology Innovation kicked off in January, and ETH Zurich postdoctoral researcher Iris Haberkorn relocated to Singapore to help lead the project. The research team, including the the lead principal investigator, Alexander Mathys from ETH Zurich, recently visited the newly opened Protein Innovation Centre, a collaborative project between Bühler Group and Givaudan in Singapore.
Efficient production of microalgae is one of four innovation areas of the Flagship Project Novel Proteins for Food and Feed. Another innovation area is using insects to turn waste streams into feed. Moritz Gold was recently awarded an ETH Zurich Medal Award for Outstanding Doctoral Thesis, entitled Towards more efficient biowaste utilization with black soldier fly larvae to produce more sustainable animal feed. Find more recent publications from both innovation areas on the project website. |
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| Enhancing Biodiversity & Resilience in Agriculture |
In a new blog "Feed the Microbes," Jaboury Ghazhoul from ETH Zurich comments on the importance of soil health to agricultural sustainability and how agribusiness can help feed microbes as well as people.
This blog is an output of the Enhancing Biodiversity & Resilience in Crop Production project, led by ETH Zurich and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and funded by Bayer AG. The partners are collaborating to develop nature-based solutions that counteract biodiversity loss on farms. |
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| Education |
| Designing for Food Systems Resilience: A Circular Approach |
Applications are in, and we are happy to announce our upcoming professional short course from 3-8 March 2022 is full with participants from all over the globe.
We look forward to teaching this diverse group how to use systemic and transdisciplinary approaches to transform waste into resources, close loops, create shared value and leverage interconnections to design interventions that build resilience. We are passionate about creating engaging and inspiring learning environments where the particiapants play an active role in contributing to their own learning. |
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| World Food System Center Summer School |
This year's World Food System Summer School will take place in Rheinau, Switzerland in August. For two weeks, students and young professionals will come together to experience food systems and production first-hand, living and working in a sustainable, socially integrative food system. In the program focusing on 'Food Systems in Transition,' participants explore food system challenges and solutions and learn to better understand their own role in driving a sustainable transformation.
Applications to open in February. |
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| Outreach |
From March through November, several events for our members and the public will celebrate 10 Years of Collaboration at the World Food System Center and bring all together to discuss continuing challenges in our food system.
Here are some teasers. Watch for the launch in March.
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| Treffpunkt Science City |
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| Zu Tisch: A program on food
13 March – 03 April 2022
Treffpunkt Science City is ETH Zurich’s public science program for all ages. The spring program will focus on how what we put on our plates every day affects the world around us. Several lectures and workshops will be led by World Food System Center members.
Full program to be published in mid-February. |
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| Mühlerama Museum |
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| Exhibit exploring food systems
11 May – 25 June 2022
The Mühlerama museum unites an over 100 year old industrial mill and a museum for eating culture. The Center will present a special exhibit this May, allowing visitors to walk through the food system, highlighting pressing challenges and solutions from research along the way.
Exhibit opens to public on 11 May 2022. |
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| Food Day @ETH |
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| Celebrating Collaboration
11 November 2022
To celebrate our 10 Years of work, our annual public research symposium will be expanded to a half-day event. Workshops, poster sessions, and panel discussions will focus on the importance of collaborative and participatory approaches in food systems research.
Save the date: 11 November 2022. |
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