2nd Mediterranean Forum on “Research and Innovation: Tools for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security” in Bari
20 September 2018, Bari, Italy. The International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), together with the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Centre for Mediterranean Integration (CMI) with the technical collaboration of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and Agreenium (the French consortium for research and education in agriculture, food, animal health, and the environment) organised the 2nd Mediterranean Forum for PhD Students and Young Researchers in Bari, Italy.
PhD students and young researchers met at the CIHEAM Bari (Italy), from 18 to 20 September, to participate in the 2nd Mediterranean Forum on “Research and Innovation: Tools for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security”, which gave them the opportunity to present recent research on the basis of previously selected abstracts as well as to listen to keynote speeches from invited guest speakers and panels of experts.
This event was aimed at strengthening dialogue and knowledge-sharing between young Mediterranean researchers and project leaders, in order to perpetuate them and orientate them towards the specific development needs of the countries, including the improvement of living conditions of youth, their empowerment and employment.
With 60% of the population of the Mediterranean area under the age of 30, sustainable and human development can also be achieved through research and innovation supporting the implementation of policies targeting regional young people by increasing their employability.
The MEDFORUM 2018 is part of the UfM-labelled project “Higher Education on Food Security and Rural Development” promoted by the CIHEAM and its main objectives are set in accordance to both the SGD’s (Sustainable Development Goals) and the CAPMED’s (CIHEAM’s Strategic Agenda 2025) achievement:
- To foster entrepreneurship, women and youth employment;
- To identify and share potential innovation tools geared towards integrated solutions for sustainable agriculture, food and nutrition security;
- To enhance the impact of research and innovation at national and regional levels;
- To prevent the migration of young researchers.
175 participants from 27 Countries (Albania, Algeria, Bosnia, Chile, Egypt, France, Jordan, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Palestine, Russia, Serbia, Syria, Spain, South Africa, Tunisia, Turkey) contributed to the valuable discussions held on issues related to these important challenges of sustainable development and agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin and beyond.
During the three days, the participants had the opportunity to present their PhD thesis in 180 seconds, discover success stories focused on gender and employability-entrepreneurship as well as participate in training and plenary sessions to discuss the strategical issues addressed by the Forum.
The 1st edition of the Mediterranean Forum for PhD Students and Young Researchers was celebrated in Montpellier in 2016.
