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Agrinatura Newsletter – October 2025
Agrinatura Newsletter 27/10/2025
Dear Agrinatura members, partners, and colleagues,

Welcome to our bi-monthly update, bringing you the latest news on upcoming events, project highlights, member activities, and opportunities across the Agrinatura network.
Don’t miss the exciting announcement from our President below about Agrinatura’s expansion!
We warmly encourage all members to share relevant news, achievements, and announcements. To ensure inclusion in a future issue, please send your contributions in advance to the Secretariat at secretariat@agrinatura-eu.eu.
Many thanks to all members who contributed to this edition.
Let’s continue to keep the Agrinatura community informed, connected, and growing together.
Best regards,
Isolina Boto
Secretary General
Message from the President
Dear Agrinatura members, partners, and colleagues,
We are delighted to share some key developments:
Agrinatura settles in Brussels!
Our new office is located at Av. des Arts 7–8, 1210 Brussels (Mundo Madou building, 1st floor) — near the European Commission (DG INTPA and DG RTD).
Director Sylvain Perret and our new Secretary General will manage the office, which also hosts Agrinatura-led projects. The facilities include meeting rooms and workspace.
The VCA4D PMU is already operational, with D-LIFT+ soon joining.
All members and colleagues are warmly invited to visit!
 
Welcome to our new Secretary General – Isolina Boto
Isolina joins as interim SG while we redesign the position with expanded responsibilities based in Brussels. She brings over 25 years of experience in agriculture, sustainable food systems, and development cooperation. Isolina, welcome to the Agrinatura family!
📧 Contact: secretariat@agrinatura-eu.eu
 
Welcome to our new Vice-President – Susanna Rokka (Luke, Finland)
Susanna is a Senior Research Scientist at Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). Susanna, thank you for accepting this role — we look forward to working closely with you.
Both appointments were approved by the Board.
The geographical, technical, and expert expansion we are experiencing offers great opportunities for our network and its members. I trust I can count on your continued support and engagement.
 
Best regards,
Ioannis Dimitriou
President
 
Agrinatura Activity Overview  
Agrinatura team actively engaged in a series of events during the AU–EU HLPD Senior Officials Meeting Week (20–24 Oct 2025, Brussels).
  • 20 Oct: First IRC Funder’s Working Group Meeting
  • 21 Oct: “EU–AU R&I strategies for Africa’s food future” (CEA-FIRST, AfriFOODlinks)
  • 22 Oct: Africa–Europe Innovation Platform (AEIP) Dialogue 
  • 22 Oct: AU–EU Dialogue on Science Diplomacy
  • 23 Oct: AU–EU Innovation Fair  
RUFORUM Annual General Meeting will be held on 1–5 Dec 2025, in Gaborone, Botswana. President Ioannis Dimitriou will speak on “Imperatives for strengthening Africa–Europe higher education and research agendas: Lessons learnt and new opportunities.” 
Visit the RUFORUM AGM website
     Agrinatura EEIG Projects  
    Agrinatura EEIG continues to implement impactful projects in sustainable     agriculture, education, and research. Some updates below.
Call for Submissions – Sustainable Value Chains
VC4D publishes a Call for Submissions towards a book on “Sustainable Agricultural Value Chains: How does multidisciplinary evidence-based analysis help decision-making?” 
The book will bring together lessons from VCA4D achievements, aiming to enrich the broader discussion on innovative methodologies, bridges between analytical tools and reflections on the impact of studies in agricultural value chains. 
Deadline to submit abstracts: 31 October 2025.  
Contact: heval.yildirim@agrinatura-eu.eu

More details can be found HERE
The Nutrition Research Facility (NRF) has launched an Expertconsultation survey part of the Knowledge and Research for Nutrition project (2020–2026), funded by the European Commission and implemented by Agrinatura. This survey is part of the overarching study “Impact pathways from shocks, conflicts and crises to malnutrition through changing food supply and food prices”. The study seeks to identify the pathways through which shocks, conflicts and crises affect food supply and prices, and the resulting impacts on dietary patterns and malnutrition in all its forms. It builds on a systematic review that synthesised evidence on nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions implemented during and after such events, identifying eight general pathways linking these interventions to dietary and nutrition outcomes through food system components. We are now seeking expert insights to complement and refine these findings.
Access the questionnaire HERE
 
The Sustainable Agri-Food System Intelligence – Science-Policy Interface ( SASI-SPi) | slu.se showcased its work at the Agri4D conference in Uppsala

At the recent Agri4D conference in Uppsala, the SASi-SPi team presented its midterm progress as part of the EU-funded SASI initiative in collaboration with the FAO. Project Manager Fatima Laanouni opened the session by situating SASi-SPi within the broader SASI framework, followed by Professor Kostas Karantininis, who provided a global overview of food systems—acknowledging their achievements in feeding a growing population and reducing poverty, while also addressing ongoing challenges such as ecosystem strain, biodiversity loss, food waste, and unequal diet access.

The session highlighted SASi-SPi’s unique approach, which combines scientific rigor with stakeholder engagement through a structured “checklist” of internal consistency, policy dialogue, stakeholder input, and peer review. Tristan Le Cotty emphasized the importance of science-policy interfaces as collaborative spaces where researchers and decision-makers can co-develop viable solutions. The team also shared updates on its “rapid response” reports, thematic studies, and participatory Science Policy Labs (SPoLs), as well as country-level work in Colombia, Sierra Leone, and Bhutan, focused on identifying local transition challenges and promoting inclusive, sustainable pathways for food systems transformation.

More information HERE
 
A joint CEA-FIRST and AfriFOODlinks event on From Policy to Practice: Strengthening EU–AU Collaboration on Food Systems Innovation brought together stakeholders from African Union and European Union (DG RTD and DG INTPA) to explore how research, innovation, and governance can transform food systems and deliver the renewed FNSSA Roadmap (2027–2036).
🔹 Session 1 – AfriFOODlinks Policy Dialogue
Collaborative governance and living labs, like the Esta Living Lab, are essential to bridge the urban–rural divide and align food system innovation with the Horizon Europe Programme.
🔹 Session 2 – Stakeholder Co-Creation for the IRC FWG Strategy
The International Research Consortium (IRC) can act as a broker between public research and private sector investment, helping scale innovations and de-risk private engagement in agricultural value chains.
🔹 Session 3 – CEA-FIRST Policy Forum
Strengthening the research–policy interface is critical: African research must be validated, visible, and embedded into EU–AU policy frameworks to ensure real impact on food security and sustainability.
News from Our Members

SLU
Book of Abstracts of the Agri4D 2025 – Nurturing Regenerative Food Systems (23–25 Sept, SLU Uppsala)
A global conference exploring how science can drive transformation toward sustainable, climate-resilient food systems.
Book of Abstracts HERE
WUR   

Mansholt Lecture 2025 (17 Nov, Brussels)
Theme: “Amidst a global race: how the EU’s food system can be competitive and sustainable.”
More information HERE

BFH-HAFL 
Vacancy announcement BFH Communications Manager.
Applications close 9 November.
More information HERE
NRI 
Two current job vacancies at NRI:
Webinars/events
  • 15 Oct: Neglected and Underutilised Crops – EC/JRC. Neglected and Underutilised Species (NUS) – overlooked crops and edible plants – hold great potential to enhance food security, farmers’ income, and livelihoods, particularly in the Global South. They can also contribute to women’s empowerment and healthier diets and the production of local, accessible Ready-to-Use therapeutic foods to combat acute malnutrition. Webinar organised by EC/JRC with contributions from EC Directorate-General INTPA and ECHO, GFAiR, FARA, FAO, CIHEAM, JRC. Check the Knowledge Review on NUS of the Knowledge Centre for Global Food and Nutrition Security (19 pp). More information HERE
 
Global & Policy Events
Resources & New Publications 
EAT–Lancet Commission 2025 Report: Healthy, Sustainable & Just Food Systems with the participation of researchers from AGRINATURA members (CIRAD, WUR)
This research aims to unpack the relationship between household income and child labour and identify and map evidence for high-potential approaches for simultaneously addressing poverty and child labour.  It provides practical guidance for companies in the cocoa, coffee and cashew sectors, and beyond, on how to reduce child labour and close living income gaps in their supply chains.
NRI – Women driving Africa’s agrifood systems – and why equality matters
A new report by the FAO, the Natural Resources Institute (NRI) and African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) provides a comprehensive analysis of the status of women in agrifood systems in sub-Saharan Africa, highlighting their vital yet often undervalued roles. Building on FAO’s 2023 Status of Women in Agrifood Systems global report, this regional report explores how gender inequality intersects with climate change, environmental degradation, and socio-economic factors to affect women’s livelihoods, food security, and access to natural resources.

Overview of the report prepared by NRI Lora Forsythe, co-author of the report HERE
Full report HERE
Contributors to this newsletter:

Jelle Maas, International Liaison Officer, WUR; Francesca Bellino, Policy Officer, FiBL Europe; Joshua Muhumuza, Communications Coordinator, NRI. Lauranne Cox, Communications Advisor, KIT Institute.
Angela Wade, Communications Manager, HAFL Hugo P. Cecchini Institute.

CEA First and VC4D teams.
AGRINATURA brings together European universities and research organizations united by a shared commitment to advancing sustainable agricultural development and improving people’s livelihoods. The network focuses on initiatives that create new opportunities for farmers, strengthen food security, and foster innovation across the agro-food sector — all while reducing the environmental footprint of agricultural activities. Through their collective expertise and experience in agricultural research and education for development, AGRINATURA members actively contribute to building more resilient and sustainable food systems worldwide. https://agrinatura-eu.eu
 
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