Wageningen University & Research: New WUR president meets FAO in Rome

Sjoukje Heimovaara, the new president of the board of Wageningen University & Research (WUR), met with Qu Dongyu, Director General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), for the first time. During their talks, Heimovaara and Dongyu reiterated the long-standing relationship between WUR and the FAO.

Both organizations have a long established collaboration and share the objective to provide healthy and sustainable diets to all.

An important topic is the urgency to prepare for emerging zoonoses and to improve antibiotic stewardship. For better control of emerging disease threats and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), it is needed to bring all health-related research disciplines together in a Global One Health approach. Prof Wim van der Poel together with experts form FAO and CGIAR discuss the topic thoroughly in a technical panel session.

The Global One Health approach is an example of how interdisciplinary policies and research are of importance to tackle the wicked problems we face and to establish the Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, both WUR and FAO actively connect with partners and stakeholders to include research on topics like climate change and biodiversity.

Their global networks provides an excellent opportunity to create impact with evidence-based policies.