Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
Building Community Resiliency through Horticultural Innovation
Food insecurity directly impacts a third of the world’s population and perpetuates a cycle of hunger and malnutrition that is inherited through generations. Previous relief efforts have largely been donor-focused, providing only temporary solutions. To break the cycle of food insecurity, poverty, and hunger, relief efforts must empower communities and facilitate real transformative changes. Professor James Simon of Rutgers University and colleagues have developed a transferable horticulture model that builds upon local ecosystem knowledge and cultural infrastructures while embedding science-driven, market-first, and value chain methodologies. Introduced into several countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the model includes agribusiness and technical skills training to strengthen the participation of farmers and local entrepreneurs, particularly women and youth, in profitable value chains. Using this novel approach, the Rutgers team and their African colleagues have successfully demonstrated how horticulture can contribute to a real reduction in poverty and malnutrition, while fostering job creation, pride and creativity.
Dr Hannah Gosnell – Regenerative Agriculture: Putting the Heart and Soul Back in Farming
Modern industrial agriculture has helped farmers meet rising food demands, but these practices are contributing to a range of environmental problems. Regenerative agriculture holds promising solutions that could help to restore and maintain healthy ecosystems and contribute to climate change mitigation, while keeping pace with food demands and enhancing farmers’ resilience to environmental stressors. Through her research, Dr Hannah Gosnell aims to understand what motivates cattle and sheep farmers – also known as ranchers – to adopt and sustain the use of regenerative practices and what challenges must be navigated. Her work is informing efforts that encourage farmers to transition to these methods.
Dr Ramu Govindasamy – Ethnic Foods in the Recipe for Farming Success
Farmers in the East Coast of the US are struggling to compete against the larger farms of other regions. Coupled with rising production costs and increasingly difficult growing conditions, producing conventional commodity crops is no longer viable for these farms. Switching to speciality and niche ethnic crops could help these farmers break into a growing market, improve profitability and future viability – and help fulfil the needs of ethnic communities. Dr Ramu Govindasamy from Rutgers University uses a market-first approach to investigate and develop opportunities for farmers to transition to ethnic crop production.
The Canadian Association for Food Studies
The Canadian Association for Food Studies allows researchers from diverse disciplines to meet regularly to share their findings and collaborate on diverse issues relating to food systems. In this exclusive interview, we speak with CAFS President Dr Amanda Wilson, who describes how the Association facilitates interdisciplinary scholarship in the areas of food production, distribution and consumption, towards addressing social, environmental and economic challenges within our food systems.
The Association for Women in Science
Founded almost 50 years ago, the Association for Women in Science (AWIS) is a global network that inspires bold leadership, research, and solutions that advance women in STEM, spark innovation, promote organisational success, and drive systemic change. In this exclusive interview, we speak with AWIS president and world-renowned biomedical innovator Dr Susan Windham-Bannister, who describes the barriers that women face in the STEM workplace, and the many ways in which AWIS supports women in science and works towards eliminating inequality through systemic change.
Professor Muireann Quigley – Everyday Cyborgs: How Ought the Law to Deal with Implanted Medical Devices?
Attached and implanted technologies are now part of everyday life for many millions of people. Yet as the capabilities of these devices have advanced rapidly in recent years, lawmakers have struggled to keep pace. Professor Muireann Quigley at the University of Birmingham believes that it is now more critical than ever that the law catches up with the technological and social change wrought by attached and implanted medical devices, especially ‘smart’ ones. Through the Everyday Cyborgs 2.0 and DIY Diabetes projects, she and her colleagues hope to bring law, regulation, and policy regarding these technologies into the 21st century.
Dr Thomas Gray – Cooperative Structures: Finding a Way Forward for Mid-size Farms
More than 80% of agricultural land in the US is managed by farmers whose operations fall between small-scale farms with direct access to local markets, and larger industrialised farms. These farmers in the ‘middle’ increasingly struggle to find a place within the larger food production system. Through his work as part of the ‘Agriculture of the Middle’ Initiative, Dr Thomas Gray of the Rural Business-Cooperative Service at the US Department of Agriculture has been studying different types of cooperative structures for best adaptability to socio-economic and food consumption patterns for mid-size farm survival.
Dr Sadguna Anasuri – Exploring the Impact of Media Usage on Obesity among Young Adults
In the US, the number of children and adults with obese or excess weight has increased exponentially over the past few decades, causing concerning effects on public health. Identifying factors that may play a role in this rise is of crucial importance, as they could help in devising effective strategies that promote healthier lifestyles. With this in mind, Dr Sadguna Anasuri at Alabama A&M University has carried out research exploring the possible impact of mass media on overweight and obesity in young adults, gathering valuable insights that could inform public health policies.
Cultivating Health-Conscious High School Students through Nutrition Education
Providing high school students with nutrition-related knowledge enables them to lead healthier lives by selecting foods that are both tasty and nutritious. Researchers at Middle Tennessee State University and Lipscomb University have created a course designed to offer high school students the opportunity to become acquainted with the field of nutrition, allowing them to apply this knowledge to improve their personal lives, earn college-level credit and prepare for future careers.
Dr Colleen Carney – The DOZE App: A Unique Approach to Overcoming Sleep Problems in Young Adults
Poor sleep is a common difficulty issue for teenagers and young adults worldwide. Unfortunately, the impact of poor sleep is substantial with clear links to mental health difficulties. Dr Colleen Carney, an Associate Professor and the Director of the Sleep and Depression Laboratory at Ryerson University, Canada, is committed to helping people sleep better. Dr Carney has recently turned her expertise to the development of an innovative app to alleviate sleep problems in teenagers and young adults.
Dr Paul Curtis | Dr Peter Smallidge | Dr Bernd Blossey | Kristi Sullivan – Protecting the Future Health of Forests in New York State
The white-tailed deer is an important part of North America’s forest ecosystems. However, large deer populations are now causing wide-scale habitat changes and threatening biodiversity, economics, and human health. Dr Paul Curtis, Dr Peter Smallidge and Dr Bernd Blossey from Cornell University have developed new protocols for evaluating deer impacts on forest ecosystems and the ability of different forest areas to regenerate and retain their diversity. Where current methods for managing deer are failing, they consider how data related to deer browsing could provide the rationale for novel methods of reducing deer impacts to retain healthy forests.
Dr Stefan Rieger | Dr Ina Bolinski – Beyond the Anthropocene: Are We Entering a ‘Multispecies Turn’?
A multispecies approach to scientific, cultural and anthropological studies is in direct opposition to traditionally held anthropocentric views of human superiority. However, Drs Stefan Rieger and Ina Bolinski from the Ruhr-University Bochum are working to scrutinise the collaborations between species as diverse as humans, animals, plants, fungi, insects and microbes, and believe that we could be at the beginning of a ‘Multispecies Turn’ in our history. Through their research in media studies, they show that exploring such collaborations could become a necessity in solving many societal challenges, in areas ranging from farming to human health.
Dr Shannon Westlake | Dr Kevin Hunt – Human Elements of Pollinator Conservation
The alarming decline of pollinating insects in recent years has garnered a wave of interest from the media, scientists and the public. This has resulted in a wealth of research into pollinator conservation, but despite this, adoption of beneficial practices that support pollinators has been low amongst private landholders. Dr Shannon Westlake and Dr Kevin Hunt of Mississippi State University have been investigating the human elements behind pollinator conservation, with the aim of developing targeted outreach and support programs to improve the uptake of conservation efforts amongst landholders.
The HoChunk Harvest Project: Restoring Sustainable Food Sovereignty
The HoChunk people of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska traditionally enjoyed a close connection with their environment, which has gradually become fractured due to increased urbanisation. The community has become reliant upon external producers for nearly all of its food requirements, and the health of its members is suffering as a result. In an effort to reconnect people with the land, a project coordinated by former Tribal Council member, Vincent Bass, and Brian Mathers of the HoChunk Community Development Corporation, aims to maximise the use of local resources to produce healthy, sustainable, culturally-appropriate food. Their ultimate goal is to achieve food sovereignty for the Winnebago Tribe.
Dr Yan M Yufik – From Machine Learning to Machine Understanding
Despite dramatic advances in neuroscience and biology in the 20th and 21st centuries, our understanding of the brain remains very limited. Dr Yan M Yufik, Head at Virtual Structures Research Inc, USA, is a physicist and cognitive scientist who has spent over 20 years combining experimental findings and theoretical concepts in domains as diverse as neuroscience and thermodynamics to form a theory of the brain. His focus has been on elucidating the mechanisms underlying human understanding and applying the results to the design of machines that can not only learn but understand what they are learning.
Dr Melinda Frye | Dr Noa Roman-Muniz – A Holistic Approach to Advancing the Rural Veterinary Population
Within the agricultural community, there is a great shortage of veterinary professionals. This lack of ‘Food Supply Veterinarians’ (FSVs) creates risk for economic loss, public health concerns, and a decline in animal welfare. Dr Melinda Frye, Dr Noa Roman-Muniz and their colleagues at Colorado State University have developed a program that aims to increase the number of practising FSVs. As part of the program, these highly-trained professionals can more easily integrate into the agricultural community, ultimately enhancing animal welfare, food safety and farm profits.
Dr Michelle Schelske Santos – Nutri-Vías: Creating Pathways for Diversified Nutrition Education
Worldwide obesity has almost tripled over the past 50 years. This alarming statistic calls for new initiatives aimed at promoting better weight management, in order to prevent and treat obesity and associated diseases. Dr Michelle Schelske Santos, professor and former director of the Nutrition and Dietetics Program at the University of Puerto Rico, has been working on an academic initiative designed to enhance nutrition and dietetics education in Puerto Rico, forming professionals who are better equipped to deal with the obesity epidemic.
Dr Korbinian Moeller – The Brain, the Body and Mathematics
Dr Korbinian Moeller and a team of researchers at the Leibniz-Institut für Wissensmedien are endeavouring to identify the cognitive and neuronal processes underpinning an individual’s mathematical ability, by exploring the concept of embodied numerical training.
Dr Jean-Luc Patry | Dr Angela Gastager | Barbara Fageth – Improving Education Through Cultivating Pedagogical Tact
Pedagogical tact is broadly defined as a concept that addresses how teachers transfer educational theories to their teaching practice, in order to achieve their educational goals (which include students’ learning) most successfully. Although this concept has been widely referred to in past research, it remains very complex and difficult to define. To better delineate this concept, researchers at the University of Salzburg and the University College of Teacher Education Styria have developed a new theory of pedagogical tact and explored its validity in school and university settings. By better conceiving this concept, the researchers hope to help educators to cultivate pedagogical tact, enhancing the academic development of their students.
Dr Kai Sebastian Gehring – Politics at the Intersection of Identity and Economics
The UK’s recent decision to exit the European Union has shone a spotlight on the role of identities in shaping people’s economic and political decisions. Dr Kai Sebastian Gehring is a senior researcher in Economics at the University of Zurich, who investigates group identities and the distribution of resources, and how they affect political stability and conflict.
Dr Daniel Gallardo Albarrán | Professor Herman de Jong – Health and Wealth in the 20th Century: Implications for Today
The 20th century brought significant improvements in income and health of citizens across many countries worldwide. Dr Daniel Gallardo Albarrán (University of Wageningen) and Professor Herman de Jong (University of Groningen) have used a comprehensive framework addressing many dimensions of human development, to take a new and closer look at changes in economy and health during the first half of the 20th century.
The SETI Institute’s Earthling Project
An exciting new endeavour at the SETI Institute, the Earthling project, aims to connect humans around the world through the universal language of music. Charged with the task of creating music that represents us as humans, composer Felipe Pérez Santiago aims to foster...
Dr Jerrod Henderson | Ricky Greer – It’s Full STEM Ahead in After-School Programs
Underrepresented is not often the thought that comes to mind when describing males in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). However, there are striking gender and ethnic disparities across STEM fields as white males disproportionately occupy the...
Cancer Care Ontario – Addressing Disparities in Access to Cancer Screening Experienced by Indigenous Peoples in Ontario
Persistent health inequities, rooted in colonialism, continue to impact Indigenous1 peoples in Canada. The trend is no different for cancer, which has emerged as a leading cause of death among Indigenous peoples. Although cancer screening is widely recognised as an...
Professor Christiane Solte-Gresser – Using Dreams to Depict the Nightmare of the Holocaust
It began with a boycott of Jewish shops and it ended in the gas chambers, as Adolf Hitler attempted to exterminate the Jewish population in Europe. Six million victims were annihilated and their voices and stories lost forever. Professor Christiane Solte-Gresser from...
Professor Akemi Kanazawa – The Language of Koizumi Yakumo – From the Standpoint of Japanese Language Education
Koizumi Yakumo, formerly known as Lafcadio Hearn, spent his final decades in Japan, a country that fascinated and inspired him. As he was unable to fully acquire Japanese language, he coined an interlanguage referred to as ‘Hearn-san Kotoba’. Professor Akemi Kanazawa,...
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation promotes academic cooperation between excellent scientists and scholars from abroad and from Germany. To this end, it grants more than 700 research fellowships and research awards annually. These allow researchers from all over...
The American Historical Association
As the largest organisation of professional historians in the world, the American Historical Association (AHA) represents more than 12,000 members and serves historians representing every period in global history. The AHA promotes the study of history in myriad ways,...
Professor Francesco Audrino – Using Big Data to Improve Financial Forecasting
Hookah smoking is the least regulated tobacco form. It is rapidly gaining in popularity to the extent that we are now facing a contemporary epidemic of tobacco abuse. Of particular concern is the level of usage among youth and young adults. Professor Mary Rezk-Hanna from the University of California, Los Angeles works with a group of scientists who aim to drive policy regulation of tobacco and alternative tobacco products, including hookah smoking, by investigating their health effects on the cardiovascular system.
Professor Ingrid Miethe – The Workers’ Faculty: The Globalisation of Soviet Education
The borrowing and lending of educational models between nations has a long and interesting history. However, much of modern literature focuses on transfers between capitalist societies. Professor Ingrid Miethe of the University of Gießen studies the global transfer of...
Dr Henning Kroll – Sustainable Innovation for an Equitable World
Frugal innovation is the art of using limited resources and ingenuity to sell products that are affordable for more people. Alongside his collaborators, Dr Henning Kroll of the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research explores the many benefits of this...
Project VALOR – Exploring PTSD Risk Factors and Outcomes in Combat-exposed Veterans
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent and often debilitating condition that follows exposure to a traumatic experience and can result in depression and increased suicide risk in vulnerable individuals. Researchers at the National Center for PTSD at the...