New York Academy of Sciences joins with Wageningen University to direct collaborative nutrition research

New York Academy of Sciences joins with Wageningen University to direct collaborative nutrition research across industries, academia, and funders.

Yesterday The Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science at the New York Academy of Sciences and the Division of Human Nutrition at Wageningen University and Research Centre announced a partnership to activate directed, coordinated global research around maternal and child nutrition. The partnership is one in a series of activities designed to accelerate global commitment, cooperative work, and funding to uncover and implement scientific, evidence-based solutions to malnutrition.

The partnership is centered around the June 16 -17, 2014 "Forum on International Maternal and Child Nutrition: Initiating Research through Multi-Stakeholder Collaborations" that will be held at Hotel De Wageningse Berg in Wageningen. The forum, which will be a series of invitation-only and public sessions, will seek to secure precompetitive, pooled funding for research.

The partnership is part of a series of coordinated activities to further mobilize the international community around the uptake of research recommendations issued in A Global Research Agenda for Nutrition Science, developed in 2012 in collaboration with the World Health Organization and experts from the non-profit and academic sectors. The forum provides a platform for some of the highest levels of influencers in nutrition science, industry, philanthropy, and academia to come together to further the agenda. 

The event will focus on international maternal and child nutrition, with specific research proposals on: adolescent girls; heterogeneity of response; improved dietary assessment; and scaling up.

 "The persistent high level of malnutrition combined with an alarming increase in overweight among low and middle income countries globally urges for concerted research and actions," says Prof. Frans Kok, Head of the Division of Human Nutrition at Wageningen University. "Especially, nutrition during adolescence and the pre-pregnancy period is important to ensure a healthy start for offspring with subsequent benefits later in life. Research is essential to support stakeholders providing optimal nutrition for these target groups."

"Our partnership with Wageningen UR, the first of a larger concerted effort to work with centers of excellence throughout the world, underscores the global, integrative nature of nutrition sciences. We have a key role to play together in solving malnutrition. We anticipate that the forum will create a more streamlined and coordinated system in which to identify and fund nutrition research around critical issues pertaining to maternal and childhood nutrition," says Dr. Mandana Arabi, Executive Director, The Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science at the New York Academy of Sciences.