Written by: Dinesh Panday
Last year, I attended the World Food Forum (WFF) Flagship Event at the headquarters of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome, Italy, from 17 to 21 October 2022. The global event's theme was "Healthy Diets, Healthy Planet," which aimed to raise young people's awareness on the connection between climate change and access to safe and nutritious food and healthy diets to spark action. I was honor to represent this event as one of the members of Young Scientists Group (YSG).
Young Scientists Group is a global initiative of the FAO and the WFF, who will provide scientific evidence and technical knowledge to the various initiatives of the WFF as well as develop an annual WFF Young Scientists report on specific policy issues that are of particular concern to youth, related to agrifood systems transformation. There are 20 young scientists in first YSG cohort. I serve as Coordinator at YSG Report Writing Working Group.
Recalling this event, it was a very fruitful to me- the most exciting part was to meet our YSG colleagues face to face and organize our event, 'Young Scientists Group Session' on 19 October 2022. During the session, I talked about 'A fresh perspective- How young scientists bring a new perspective to research?' On behalf of YSG, we also organized a side event, 'How to fund your research? Where to start and how to go about it?' on 18 October 2022, where I served as Moderator and one of the Speakers.
It was another exiting opportunity to participate as Speaker in 'FAO Science and Innovation Forum 2022 - Innovations on Soil and Plant Nutrient Management' on 20 October 2022. I was invited to deliver my research experience on 'How to improve fertilizer recommendations for farmers.' Besides this, I met with the finalists of Transformative Research Challenge, where I served as Proposal Reviewer. It was also good time to meet the YPARD Director and other colleagues where we are working together since a long time. Overall, I attended many dialogues and sessions, also met with many people who are truly willing to help and support youth initiatives. I was motivated and inspired from the flagship event. Thanks to the organizer for providing this good time.
Call for Second Young Scientists Group Cohort
After the launch and first year of activity of the YSG in 2022, currently, it is accepting applications from all interested young professionals for the second YSG cohort for a two-year period (2023-2025). The deadline for applying is 15 March 2023.
Only completed applications of eligible candidates will be considered. Application materials include sending the Commitment Form and required information to Youth-Action@World-Food-Forum.org. The new cohort will be officially announced in May 2023.
Please read call details at https://www.world-food-forum.org/youth-action/young-scientists-group/en.