Youth
Action
#worldfoodforum
Young Scientists Group
01 - Objective
The main objective of the World Food Forum Young Scientists Group ( YSG) is to provide scientific evidence and technical knowledge to the various initiatives of the Forum, and to develop an annual WFF Young Scientists report on specific policy issues of particular concern to youth, related to agrifood systems transformation.
Leveraging FAO areas of expertise, and engaging with partners and relevant academic networks, the Group will play a critical role in providing the WFF with the necessary science-based direction, and allow for formal scientific opinions related to documents, statements or action-oriented proposals generated by the participating youth. Eventually, the YSG will support the formalization and institutionalization of the WFF, with a particular focus on the Youth Action, Innovation and Education tracks.
02 - YSG Cohort
The initial composition of the WFF YSG mirrors scientific areas relevant to the various scientific issues related to the transformation of agrifood systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including looking at the outcomes of the UN Food Systems Summit – and in particular the work of its Scientific Group.
The Chief Scientist of FAO, together with the WFF Advisory Board, appointed the Group members for an initial term of one year. Terms can be extended one time only. One YSG member will be selected as YSG Chair and two others as YSG Vice Chairs, with the main responsibility of coordinating the work of the Group.
youth action
YSG - Kim ANASTASIOU
Kim ANASTASIOU
(Australia)
Scientific expertise: Sustainable development, climate change adaptation, smallholder agricultural systems, climate change education, food security
youth action
YSG - Dr. Peter ASARE-NUAMAH
Dr. Peter ASARE-NUAMAH
(Ghana)
Scientific expertise: Sustainable development, climate change adaptation, smallholder agricultural systems, climate change education, food security
youth action
YSG - Craig CHIBANDA
Craig CHIBANDA
(Zimbabwe)
Scientific expertise: Inclusive and sustainable food systems, responsible investments in agriculture, family farming, sustainable rural development
youth action
YSG - Shulang FEI
Shulang FEI
(China)
Scientific expertise: Food policy, urban food system dynamics, food system sustainability and resilience assessment
youth action
YSG - Imad Antoine IBRAHIM
Imad Antoine IBRAHIM
(Lebanon)
Scientific expertise: Sustainability, resources management, policy, technology
youth action
YSG - Shangchuan JIANG, PhD
Shangchuan JIANG, PhD
(China)
Scientific expertise: Plant Sciences (Plant resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, molecular genetics and cell biology, Plant-microbe interaction), Sustainable Agriculture and Mechanization, AMU/AMR and plant health
youth action
YSG - Alice KARANJA
Alice KARANJA
(Kenya)
Scientific expertise: Food choice, food environment, regenerative agriculture, agroecology, adoption and impact assessment
youth action
YSG - Pacem KOTCHOFA
Pacem KOTCHOFA
(Benin)
Scientific expertise: Food and nutrition security, resilience measurements, economic impact and participatory disease modelling
youth action
YSG - Lethicia MAGNO
Lethicia MAGNO
(Brazil)
Scientific expertise: Crop production, climate change, agroclimatic indicators, crop modeling, market analysis, innovation
youth action
YSG - Clarity ROPAFADZO MAPENGO
Clarity ROPAFADZO MAPENGO
(Zimbabwe)
Scientific expertise: Sustainable packaging, food product development, food waste, consumer behaviour
youth action
YSG - Dr. Sarah I. MURPHY
Dr. Sarah I. MURPHY
(USA)
Scientific expertise: Food quality, food waste, food safety, digital technologies, modelling and risk assessment
youth action
YSG - Ram NEUPANE
Ram NEUPANE
(Nepal)
Scientific expertise: Crop protection, international agriculture and development, agriculture policy
youth action
YSG - Dinesh PANDAY
Dinesh PANDAY
(Nepal)
Scientific expertise: Biogeochemistry, soil carbon and nitrogen cycling, cropping systems, regenerative agriculture, speciality crops, machine learning
youth action
YSG - Elisa QUARANTA
Elisa QUARANTA
(Italy)
Scientific expertise: Nutrition, food technology, sustainability, environmental indicators, food systems
youth action
YSG - Andrea ROSSO
Andrea ROSSO
(Italy)
Scientific expertise: Women’s rights, inclusion of marginalized groups in agriculture
youth action
YSG - Michael RUGGERI
Michael RUGGERI
(Italy)
Scientific expertise: Climate finance, ecosystem services (assessment of), value chain mapping and development, carbon sequestration, climate change, conservation
youth action
YSG - Abdulkareem RAHEEM
Abdulkareem RAHEEM
(Nigeria)
Scientific expertise: Crop cultivation, agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation, cropping system adaptation to climate change (extreme temperature)
youth action
YSG - Joanna TREWERN
Joanna TREWERN
(United Kingdom)
Scientific expertise: Nutrition, sustainability, consumer behaviour, food environment, corporate social responsibility/ business transformation, policy & advocacy, sustainability transitions, food systems
youth action
YSG - Edy TRIHATMOKO
Edy TRIHATMOKO
(Indonesia)
Scientific expertise: GIS, Geoinformatics science, agroecology, disaster risk
youth action
YSG - Ambrogio ZANZI
Ambrogio ZANZI
(Italy)
Scientific expertise: Agroecology, ecosystem services quantification, sustainable agriculture, territorial planning; youth involvement and formation
03 - Tasks
The WFF YSG will work closely with the WFF Coordinator on the following tasks:
- Participate actively in youth dialogues or events organized by the WFF Youth Action track to provide scientific and technical evidence to the discussions held by and with global youth;
- Revise and amend, if necessary, any document, statement or similar output, produced within the context of WFF events (including selected partner events), online consultations, webinars, youth engagement processes or statements;
- Engage specifically with the WFF innovation and education tracks, including the related sub-tracks and working groups generated within the above, in various scientific expert roles, such as judging and reviewing applications to the Transformative Research Challenge;
- Coordinate and establish an annual WFF Young Scientists report on specific issues of special concern to youth, related to agrifood systems transformation;
- Provide guidance and proposals for key messages and thematic areas to be highlighted in WFF marketing and communications materials;
- Attend regularly scheduled YSG meetings;
- Engage in any other matter of the WFF requiring scientific evidence.
04 - Eligibility criteria
- Age 35 or younger;
- Post-graduate or PhD student, or postdoctoral researcher;
- Experience as a principal investigator, group leader or early-tenure track researcher;
- Endorsed by academic supervisor, senior department faculty member or similar (please include as reference contact in your application);
- Excellent command of any of the FAO official languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian or Spanish), and at least conversational English;
- Experienced or familiar with inter/trans-disciplinary research in fields related to global agrifood systems, and enthusiastic about joining a young, multidisciplinary team;
- A recognized record of academic excellence;
- Demonstrated commitment to serve society at large.
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