October is World Food Prize Month at William Penn University
10/01/2019
(OSKALOOSA, Iowa) – William Penn University’s Health & Life Sciences Division welcomes all students, staff, faculty, and community members to attend the annual World Food Prize lecture on Wednesday, October 16, at 11:15 a.m. in the George Daily Auditorium. This year’s speaker is Bram Govaerts, the global Director Innovative Business Strategies with CIMMYT.
About Bram Govaerts
Bram Govaerts is currently the global Director Innovative Business Strategies for the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). In this capacity, he brings together multi-disciplinary science and development teams to integrate sustainable, multi-stakeholder and sector strategies that generates innovation and change in the agri-food systems for nutrition, nature conservation and national and international resilience and security. He is setting out an integrated approach of excellent science for impact, carried out by partnerships with strong emphasis on capacity building. Govaerts is pioneering, implementing and inspiring transformational changes for the farmers and consumers.
Govaerts has been recognized for the development of innovative business strategies, alliances, partnerships and resource mobilization, including in collaboration with country governments, the private sector, development banks and others. From 2003—2007, Govaerts was Research Associate with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium working in Mexico, Ethiopia, India and North Africa which resulted in a PhD in Conservation agriculture. He holds a Master and Bachelor of Science in Bioscience Engineering, specialization Soil Conservation in combination with Tropical Agriculture at the same university. Govaerts received the Development Cooperation Prize 2003 of the Belgian Federal Government. In 2014, Govaerts received the Norman Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application, endowed by the Rockefeller Foundation and awarded by the World Food Prize on October 2014, in Des Moines, Iowa and received from a 2500 Mexican farmer organization the 2018 Premio Tecnoagro for the development of sustainable agricultural systems.
About the World Food Prize
Since 1986, the World Food Prize has been the leading international award to recognize outstanding individuals who have made substantial contributions to improve the quality, quantity, or availability of food throughout the world. It recognizes contributions in any field involved in the world food supply including food and agricultural science and technology, manufacturing, marketing, nutrition, economics, poverty alleviation, political leadership and the social sciences. The World Food Prize emphasizes the importance of a nutritious and sustainable food supply for all people. The World Food Prize was originally envisioned by Dr. Norman E. Borlaug, winner of the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize, for his work in world agriculture. Beyond recognizing these recipients for their personal accomplishments, Borlaug saw the World Food Prize as a means of establishing role models who would inspire others.
Please join William Penn University’s Health & Life Sciences Division as it welcomes Bram Govaerts, as the keynote speaker at the World Food Prize lecture on Wednesday, October 16, at 11:15 a.m. in the George Daily Auditorium. This event is free and open to the public.
Miranda Keeler
Marketing & Communications Manager
William Penn University
641-673-1078 | keelerm@wmpenn.edu