Connect and Collaborate: WFSC Research Symposium 2020

Since 2016, the World Food System has held its Research Symposium every autumn to showcase the research that the World Food System Center Research Programs support as well as other food system relevant research conducted at ETH Zurich and partner institutions. This year, as the COVID-​19 pandemic threatens the lives and livelihoods of people around the world, it also has exposed dangerous deficiencies in our food systems. Sharing research working towards sustainable food systems is as critical as ever.

These times have also made us all rethink how we share and interact. We were, therefore, excited to present food systems research at ETH Zurich in a different format, namely in two distinct online events: Plant Breeding for Global Food Security Webinar and Poster Session and Networking Event.

On 10 December, panelists from Switzerland, Uganda and Colombia came together to discuss plant breeding and its implications for global food security and a planetary health diet. The importance of global collaboration and capacity building were also discussed.

First, resarchers from recently completed WFSC Research Programs projects took the stage to present findings from their researh:

• Lukas Wille, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL):
  • Talk: Pea root rot: Will understanding plant-​microbiota interaction support resistance breeding?
  • Project: ResPEAct, Mercator Research Program on Organic Production Systems
    

• Beat Keller, ETH Zurich
  
  • Talk: Advancing bean breeding through genomic selection
  • Project: IncreBean, Coop Research Program on Sustainability in Food Value Chains

Next, a panel of plant breeding experts joined the young researchers to answers questions about breeding technologies, implementation, and the challenges faced around the world. Panelsits included Monika Messmer (Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL)), Bruno Studer (ETH Zurich), Clare Mugisha Mukankusi (Alliance Bioversity-​CIAT, Uganda), Robert Santiago Andrade (Alliance Bioversity-​CIAT, Colombia) and Martijn Sonnevelt (World Food System Center, ETH Zurich). The event was moderated by Jeanne Tomaszewski from the WFSC.

We thank all the researchers and panelists for this meaningful exchange and to the over 90 participants for joining us. Read more about the event