About FOODPathS

FOODPathS is a project funded by the EC that aims to offer a concrete pathway and necessary tools for establishing an appropriate operational environment for the future European Partnership for Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) for People, Planet & Climate, to be launched in 2024.

If you are interested in keeping up to date with news about the Partnership SFS, join us in the Sustainable Food System Network – a platform that brings together actors across the food system to break silos and offer opportunities for dialogue.

The path towards a sustainable food system

Current discussions and perspectives regarding the characteristics and priorities of a sustainable food system are plentiful, both globally and at a European level. Providing nutritious and safe food while reducing negative environmental impact and ensuring food security has become a crucial challenge for our future. Interactions between all actors are necessary to address these challenges, overcoming the barriers that may arise due to their different perspectives and interests.

FOODPathS is a project funded by the European Commission that aims to offer a concrete pathway and necessary tools to support the establishment of the European Partnership for Sustainable Food Systems for People, Planet & Climate, to be launched in 2024 based on the experience gained during the project’s lifetime. To ensure all voices are heard, the project engages actors from across the food system to create the framework in which the Partnership will operate.

With the members, we co-design:

Future funding mechanisms and strategies that can maximise the impact of Research and Innovation towards SFS by gathering experiences and expertise of a Network of Funders.

The Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for the future SFS Partnership, inspiring diverse actors to respond to future calls for funding and innovative projects.

The concepts for co-creation and definitions that allow FS actors to share a common language and fruitfully work together.

A Hub of Food Systems Living Labs to overcome current fragmentation and show exemplary SFS cases in an accessible and interactive way.

A Food System Observatory for monitoring the sustainability performance of food systems i

Education and training programs through a network of higher education institutes working in food systems that train the experts of the future and serve as sustainable playing grounds for emerging new ideas.

Partners

Our partner’s networks

FOODPathS is relying on a wide and strong network of networks, to whom project partners belong to. Local and national governments, civil society organisations, universities, research organisations and other actors participating in these networks will be fully engaged in the FOODPathS activities.

Our Advisory Board

 

 

FOODPathS Advisory Board (AB)  is made up of 20 highly relevant organisations, each of which appoints one to two of their exceptional representatives to serve as AB members. This collaborative approach ensures a diverse and comprehensive perspective, guiding our mission to new heights.

Our AB members play a crucial role in shaping the future of FOODPathS by providing valuable insights, expertise, and strategic guidance. Together, we forge a path towards more sustainable and innovative food systems, making a positive impact on our communities and the environment.

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Stef Bronzwaer

Research Coordinator – European Food Safety Authority (EFSA)

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Stef Bronzwaer works at the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), initially on the monitoring of antimicrobial resistance and food-borne outbreaks, later to lead the scientific cooperation with the Member States, and now as EFSA’s Research Coordinator: informing research agendas, promoting food research priorities, and coordinating EFSA’s research involvement. He graduated as medical doctor at the University of Amsterdam and completed his PhD at the University of Groningen (the Netherlands).

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Minna Huttunen

Co-chair SCAR SWG Food Systems – Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MMM)

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Dr Minna Huttunen is a Ministerial Adviser at the food safety unit of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (since 2013). Her areas of work include food and nutrition policy and sustainability of food systems including food waste reduction and pesticide residue legislation. Dr Huttunen is a member of the National Nutrition Council (2014-), a national representative to the European food loss and waste platform and a co-coordinator of the food systems working group under the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR). The SCAR food systems was in charge of the proposal of sustainable food systems partnership, followed by strategic research and innovation agenda proposal. Prior to the governmental career, she had a business career in food industry. Her academic research was conducted at the University of Helsinki and the University of Michigan, USA. Her Ph.D. (2007) is on food science (major subject: human nutrition, minor subject’s: food chemistry and microbiology).

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Robert M’barek

Research officer – European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)

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Robert M’barek is an agricultural economist at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, Directorate for Sustainable Resources (Seville). He received his PhD on EU trade relations from the University of Hohenheim, Germany and worked as a post-doc at Bonn University, Germany. Since 2005 at the JRC Seville, he is coordinating and conducting economic analyses related to the Common Agricultural Policy, food system, trade and the bioeconomy.

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Jan Wollgast

Scientific project officer – European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC)

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Jan is a nutritionist by training obtaining his PhD at Giessen University (DE). Since 2002, he works as a scientific officer at the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, the Joint Research Centre (JRC). He is currently leading a team working on health promotion in the Directorate for Health and Food. In his work, Jan focuses on providing scientific and technical support to EU policy in the area of public health nutrition and prevention of chronic diseases as well as to policies in other fields affecting health determinants and health, including food policy.
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Gert Meijer

Chairman – European Technology Platform (ETP) “Food for Life”

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Prof. Dr. Gert W. Meijer is Chairman of the ETP “Food for Life”. He studied Human Nutrition at the Agricultural University in Wageningen, followed by a PhD from the University of Utrecht, in The Netherlands. In addition, Gert is Deputy-Head of Corporate Regulatory & Scientific Affairs for Nestlé, based in Switzerland. Before joining Nestlé, Gert worked at the National Institute of Public Health in The Netherlands for 2.5 years and then for Unilever R&D for almost 20 years, in the Netherlands and the USA. Since 2012, Gert is also a visiting professor at Ulster University (NI).

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Maria Gernert

TP Organics Coordinator – European Technology Platform for organic food & farming (TP Oganics)

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With a background in nutrition, health and food industry studies, specialised in communication, and a Master’s degree in Sustainable Service Management and Food Industries, Maria is advocating for the transition towards organic and other agroecological approaches that contribute to sustainable food systems at IFOAM Organics Europe, the European umbrella organisation for organic food and farming, as Coordinator of the European Technology Platform TP Organics, by shaping research and innovation and networking the organic actors.

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Raymond Kelly

Head of research – Teagasc: Agriculture and Food Development Authority

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Raymond works across all parts of the research funding landscape, from contributing to national and European policy, through running funding calls, acting as evaluator, assisting with applications and managing the contracting process. He represents European Member States on the International Bioeconomy Forum and is a member of SCAR Plenary and FACCE JPI Governing Board. Raymond is actively involved in the preparation of Partnerships on Agroecology and Agriculture of Data and has been active in ERA-NETs, coordinating FACCE ERA-GAS until its recent completion.

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Nicolas Tinois

Project Manager – Project Management Jülich (JÜLICH)

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Nicolas is working in the bioeconomy at the Project Management Jülich. While on a mission in the German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture (BMEL), he became chair of the new Strategic Working Group on Agroecology under SCAR, responsible for preparing the candidate EU partnership “Accelerating farming systems transition: agroecology living labs and research infrastructures” under Horizon Europe. He is currently coordinating the preparation of this partnership.

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Johannes Pfeifer

Coordinator ICT-AGRI-FOOD ERA-NET Cofund – Federal Office for Agriculture and Food (BLE)

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Johannes Pfeifer is an agronomist and holds a Ph.D. in Science (Crop Science) from ETH Zurich, where he worked for 4 years until 2017 as a postdoc in the field of precision farming, image processing, and crop phenotyping. Since 2017 he works at BLE as a project manager for the ERA-NETs ICT-AGRI-FOOD and SusCrop. Currently, he is also involved in the preparation of the new Horizon Europe Partnership “Agriculture of Data”.

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Miguel Angel Gilarranz

Vice-Chair of Governing Board – Water4All Partnership

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Miguel A. Gilarranz is Full Professor of Chemical Engineering at University Autonoma de Madrid. Research interests in the field of water include water treatment processes and valorization of pollutants. He is scientific and technical advisor for the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI).
He was involved in the launch and coordination of the Water JPI, where is serving from 2018 as Vicechair. He has participated actively in the works to implement the Water4All partnership, where he is now involved as Vicechair and in technical work packages.

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David Bassett

Secretary General – European Aquaculture Technology & Innovation Platform ASBL (EATiP)

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Working in aquaculture representation since 2005, at a regional, national, European & international level. As General Secretary of EATiP the role is to focus on supporting sustainable aquaculture through research & innovation actions to inform strategic policy decisions alongside the communication & dissemination of knowledge & information to multi stakeholder audiences across the aquaculture value chain including industry, academia, the research community, NGOs & civil society groups.

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Celia Nyssens

Senior Policy Officer for Agriculture and Food Systems – European Environmental Bureau (EEB)

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Célia leads the EEB’s work on agriculture and food systems policy. In that role, she advocates for better EU policies and laws to promote the transition to sustainable food production and consumption based around the principles of agroecology. She holds a B.Sc. in Political Sciences from KULeuven and an M.Sc. in Global Environmental Politics from the University of Edinburgh. Before joining the EEB in 2019, she worked on agricultural and climate policy in Scotland.

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Brent Loken

Global Food Lead Scientist, Food Practice – World Wide Fund International (WWF)

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Brent is the Global Food Lead Scientist for WWF. His work focuses on using food as a lever for improving human health and environmental sustainability. He has a broad and varied background that includes rediscovering what was thought to be an extinct monkey species, helping to protect one of the most biologically rich forests on Borneo, educating future environmental leaders, and working to amplify and accelerate food system transformation around the world. His current work focuses on connecting top down and bottom up processes by ensuring a food system approach is adopted in UN Conventions while simultaneously stimulating action at national and individual levels. Rarely patient, Brent believes to tackle climate change, protect biodiversity and improve human health in the short time that is available, it will be because of fast moving and innovative organizations and people that disrupt the status quo and actively show the world a better way.

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United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

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EIT Food (European Institute of Innovation & Technology – EIT)

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ERA-Net ICT AGRI Food Systems

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Blue Economy Partnership

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Animal Health and Welfare Partnership

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Circular Bio-based Europe Partnership (CBE)

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Association for European Life Science Universities (ICA)

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