An international roster of experts will serve up serious food for thought at University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) on Wednesday, Oct. 25.
The Future of Food event is billed as a “global food systems and food security conversation.” It runs from 2 to 4 p.m. in the student union building at the Abbotsford campus.
The event features UFV Canada research chair Lenore Newman and Agriculture Centre of Excellence director Garry Fehr along with Dr. Alex Awiti (Aga Khan University East African Institute) and Sharmaarke Abdullahi (UN Habitat).
While the concept might sound complex, organizer and moderator Cherie Enns, a faculty member in geography and the environment at UFV, says an open format makes information easily digestible.
“There’s no getting around the fact that food security and sustainability impacts all of us,” said Enns, who recently returned from a conference in Kenya tied to the Queen Elizabeth Scholars program.
That program is co-sponsoring the Future of Food event with UFV and Aga Khan University (which has six locations in multiple countries).
The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship program, from which UFV receives funding for some of its international initiatives, fosters a dynamic community of young global leaders who create lasting impacts at home and abroad.
Through professional experiences, the program provides international education opportunities.
During its three-year cycle at UFV, eight Africans have conducted research there, with 30 UFV students travelling to Africa as interns.
UFV’s three current African scholars – Stephen Otieno, Mariam Genes Shirima and Veronica Mwangi – will also speak about their work at Wednesday’s event.
UFV representatives will also join Queen Elizabeth Scholar partners from SFU and Aga Khan University at a Vancouver screening and panel for the film The Invisible City [Kakuma].
A bus from UFV is available for this free event, which runs Monday, Oct. 23 from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Send an email to cherie.enns@ufv.ca for more information.