Preventing a health crisis from becoming a food crisis, learning from the COVID-19 pandemic experience:
What role can partnerships between FAO and academic institutions play?

Academia Perspectives Roundtable
1 July 2020, 14:00-15:30 (Rome time)

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has the pleasure to inform the Permanent Representatives that a virtual roundtable will be held on Wednesday, 1 July from 14:00-15:30 (Rome time) through the virtual conferencing platform Zoom.

The purpose of this virtual event is to create a forum for partners from academic and research institutions, Member representatives, and FAO staff to engage in an open dialogue to better understand opportunities for leveraging partnerships to help prevent a health crisis from turning into a food crisis, learning from the COVID-19 pandemic experience.
Participants will have the opportunity to hear from a distinguished panel of speakers, who will respond to the question: how can FAO be better prepared to assist its members achieve their goals through partnership with academia given the challenges brought on by COVID-19?

Agenda:

Marcela Villarreal, Director, Partnerships Division, FAO, Moderator

Opening remarks, Beth Bechdol, Deputy Director-General, FAO

Setting the Scene, H.E. Mohammad Hossein Emadi, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to FAO and Rome-Based Agencies

Panelists:

  • Patrick Stover, Vice Chancellor, Texas A&M AgriLife; Dean, Texas A&M University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Director, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, Texas A&M University System (United States)
  • Shenggen Fan, former DG of International Food Policy Research Institute; Chair Professor and Leader of National Innovation Team on Food Economics and Policy, China Agricultural University
  • Harold Roy-Macauley, Director General, Africa Rice Center
  • Louise Fresco, President of the Executive Board of Wageningen University & Research (Netherlands)
  • Pascal Bergeret, Director of the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Montpellier, International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM)

Register HERE