As a part of the pilot launch of SLU Youth Institute, high school students gathered at SLU’s campus in Uppsala 24 September to present their Global Challenge reports.
The students have investigated problems and proposed solutions on how to reach food security globally. SLU Youth Institute is a collaboration between SLU and World Food Prize Foundation to create interest among youth for the global challenges related to food security.
To start the day, an introduction was given by Sara Gräslund, Head of SLU Global, about SLU’s work with global development and food security issues, as well as how SLU is committed to contribute to Agenda 2030.
After a short coffee and mingle break, the students presented their Global Challenge reports in round table discussions to both the other students and a panel of experts. Keegan Kautsky from World Food Prize Foundation also held a workshop segment with the students where global development issues related to food security was in focus. At the end of the day, Gunnar Larsson, researcher at the Department of Energy and Technology, showed the group some self-driving agricultural machines, highlighting future possibilities in the agricultural areas.
The winner of this SLU Youth Institute pilot, Rebecka Törnfeldt, was revealed at the end of the day.
"I worked with agriculture in Costa Rica where I investigated sustainable solutions to promote both biodiversity and the economy and society. I was motivated to write about sustainable agriculture since I value the environment and our planet. Costa Rica’s ambitious climate goals and their large biodiversity needs protecting, and that inspired me to write about Costa Rica."
SLU Youth Institute is one of many Youth Institutes all over the world and the first one in Sweden. All winners of the different Youth Institutes are invited to attend the Global Youth Institute’s 3-days event hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation. The date for the event is right in time for World Food Day, 16 October. This year the event will be held online, but usually the Global Youth Institute winners are invited to Iowa in the United States where they interact with World Food Prize laureates and other experts to discuss different agriculture and food-related issues.
On 7 October the first SLU Youth Institute will be launched for all interested high school students in Sweden. We asked Rebecka what she would say to students interested in joining SLU Youth Institute.
"Of course you should do it! It has been super fun, educational and evolving for me and I would guess all of my co-participants would say the same."
The SLU Youth Institute (SLU YI) aims to create interest among Swedish youth for global food security and to find sustainable solutions to the global challenges based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The SLU Youth Institute is a Swedish part of the many Youth Institutes coordinated by the World Food Prize Foundation. To participate, students write a short report about a global challenge of their own interest.