CLIFOOD Block Seminar 5: Nutrition and Food Security in the Context of Climate Change 

On February 26 – March 5 the CLIFOOD Block Seminar 5: “Nutrition and Food Security in the Context of Climate Change” was implemented in the University of Hohenheim. Knowledge and experience from several external actors enriched the Block Seminar Program. The sub-themes of the Block Seminar were:

• Climate change and food and nutrition security
• Improving food and nutrition security
• Assessing food and nutrition security

External experts from Deutsche Welthungerhilfe, College of Health Sciences / Nutrition Unit / School of Public Health / Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia), College of Public Health and Medical Sciences / Jimma University (Ethiopia), Justus Liebig University Gießen (Germany), Sabanci University, Istanbul (Turkey) and an expert from Nutrition International (Canada) who was presenting through video conference contributed beside experts from Hawassa University and the University of Hohenheim to the high level outcome of the seminar. For 13 CLIFOOD scholars it was also a great opportunity to present their research work in the session “Status reports by subprojects” and get the valuable feedback from international experts and subproject leaders.

In order to reach the broader audience all lectures of the block seminar were streamed live at the Facebook page of the Food Security Center (@FSCHohenheim), thus giving the opportunity to young researchers from Ethiopia and other countries to follow presentations of high level experts.

Part of the Block Seminar was the 4th International Congress Hidden Hunger (February 27 - March 1, 2019), where CLIFOOD members also participated and shared the expertise of international experts, high level keynotes in this field. Special FSC Session “Burundi” on the Hidden Hunger Congress aroused high interest and provided opportunity for lively discussions.

Further highlights of the block seminar were the Field trip on March 3 and the Official Day on March 4 with the welcome speeches from the Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Scientific leaders and key note speeches.

This seminar is part of the qualification program for the SDG Graduate School CLIFOOD, it is the fifth of seven Block Seminars planned per generation of PhD Scholars between the Hawassa University (HU) in Ethiopia and the University of Hohenheim (UHOH) in Germany.