Research Consortium Project: Towards a Health-oriented Transformation of Agri-Food Systems
Press Release No. 102/2024
12 September 2024
Baden-Württemberg Science Ministry finances the establishment of a research network coordinated in Heidelberg
An interdisciplinary network launched recently is concerned with using research to drive a health-oriented transformation of agri-food systems. The Health-oriented Agri-Food Systems Transformation Network (HEAL) is coordinated by Dr Susan T. Jackson, a researcher at the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health, which is located at the Medical Faculty Heidelberg of Heidelberg University and at Heidelberg University Hospital. The purpose of this network is to set up consortia for designing and implementing research projects. The Baden-Württemberg Science Ministry has allocated about 792,000 euros to fund the project for two years as part of its program “BEGIN – Participation in major European projects and initiatives”.
Transforming agri-food systems is meant to reduce the costs arising each year through greenhouse gas and nitrogen emissions, unhealthy nutritional habits and food wastage. The HEAL network is based on the World Health Organization (WHO)’s approach to establishing health as a cross-cutting topic in all areas of policy. HEAL’s long-term aim is to close research gaps and initiate cross-sectoral cooperation, linking different dimensions of global health with questions of agricultural and food policy and embedding them in research, practice and policy-making.
To devise projects, the interdisciplinary HEAL project team will conduct various exploratory activities using expertise in the fields of health, political science, agronomy, information science, logistics, data analysis and simulation. They include workshops to model and simulate agri-food systems in cooperation with expert practitioners, or contact with “Living Labs”. In the context of these research and innovation platforms, the potential of application-oriented developments is explored in cooperation with academia and civil society. The HEAL activities are then to feed into European and international grant applications, for example to Horizon Europe, the EU’s framework program for research and innovation.
One of the exploratory projects located at the Heidelberg Institute of Global Health under the leadership of Dr Jackson concerns developing sustainability strategies along the lines of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals. A workshop is planned to address central aspects of a health-oriented transformation of agri-food systems in Baden-Württemberg. In addition, Dr Jackson and her team will analyze the work of Living Labs in Europe in order to gain an overview of current research activities and funding in the field of food systems research and identify potential gaps or overlaps.
Partners in the HEAL network are the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences and Reutlingen University. With the BEGIN funding line, the Baden-Württemberg Science Ministry wishes to secure the state’s top position in the funding of European research and innovation. Universities in Baden-Württemberg that are already involved in European third-party funding projects can apply for additional support in the context of this program.