ST11 - Science with ambition: accelerating early career impact on food security.

 

The "ST11 - Science with ambition: accelerating early career impact on food security" is a highly collaborative mentoring and strategy session held as part of the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) World Food Forum (WFF) Flagship Event in Rome.
The primary objective of this session is to tackle a critical bottleneck in global agricultural research: helping early-career researchers effectively translate raw scientific innovation into real-world policy and societal impact to combat food insecurity.

Core Focus & Structure
The event bypasses traditional, rigid lecture formats in favour of dynamic, short mentoring conversations pairing emerging researchers with senior scientists. The cohort moves systematically through five core dimensions of career impact:

1. Articulating scientific ambition – Pushing for bold, solution-oriented research.
2. Building meaningful collaborations – Fostering interdisciplinary connections.
3. Engaging with policymakers – Knowing how to frame research so it influences public policy.
4. Communicating science effectively – Breaking down data into compelling narratives for the general public and stakeholders.
5. Navigating a research career with purpose – Aligning professional milestones with systemic planetary and human benefits.

Interdisciplinary Representation
Rather than working in isolation, early-career scientists are treated as active contributors who challenge traditional systems. The session draws perspective from a diverse set of critical fields: 

• Nutrition and dietary health
• Agroecology and sustainable food practices
• Digital innovation and tech-driven farming
• Fisheries and aquatic resources
• Water management and agricultural resilience

Ultimately, the session works toward establishing a shared set of actionable strategies that both scientific institutions and young researchers can adopt together to expedite real-world food security solutions.

Watch the ST11 - Science with ambition: accelerating early career impact on food security

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