News

Pick and choose from the list of 10 studentships on the ropics of agroecology, plant biology and crop science, sustainable soils and grassland systems. Rothamsted has a long history of successful doctoral training and we have a diverse portfolio of exciting projects for prospective students.

Tarbi toitu targalt (“consume food wisely”), co-led by SEI Tallinn and the Estonian Food Bank, seeks to raise awareness of the problem while offering tips and solutions to help consumers make smarter choices.

Don’t you think it is amazing that joint replacement operations are possible? Or that pneumonia and tuberculosis are not a death-warrant diagnosis? Anyone who has ever had a bad gastro-intestinal infection would agree: the discovery of antibiotics is one of the most extraordinary achievements in medical science.

Ever heard of Kibera vertical farms?  These are not perhaps the designer skyscraper greenhouses you might imagine, but rather sacks filled with soil. However, Kibera dwellers are able to grow tomatoes, spinach and kale in those sacks which, together with ugali and eggs, from Kibera-kept chickens, make a nutritious meal.

Policy recommendations provided by the World Committee on Food Security (CFS) are not legally binding; implementation is up to country members. But let’s skip the talks about why this should be done at all and imagine that all politicians agreed to actively take the CFS recommendations forward.

Many development initiatives have limited impact. Educational curricula are developed, but children do not learn. Nurses are trained, but clinics lack staff. Governments adopt reforms, but institutional practices remain the same and citizens experience little change.

Lisa Westholm, Focali member and PhD candidate in rural development at Swedish Agricultural University (SLU), will organize a panel at next year’s IUFRO forestry congress in Freiburg, Germany. The theme for the 2017 congress is “Interconnecting Forests, Science and People”.

Matthew Fielding is the Communications Manager at the Swedish International Agricultural Network Initiative (SIANI). Established in 2008, SIANI aims to enhance collaboration among international development actors with a focus on reducing poverty through sustainable agricultural production.

Is it OK to keep eating meat? Or even milk, cheese and eggs? It’s almost guaranteed that this topic will come up whenever dinner table conversation turns to sustainability. Livestock production has been implicated in many of our biggest environmental challenges, from climate change to deforestation to the critical state of many coastal ecosystems.