（By Dr. Zhanli Sun and Dr. Lena Kuhn）12 December 2022 - In the face of present global food security challenges, the Global Food Security Association was formally established on 2nd December, 2022. An international conference after the launching ceremony as well as the 1st Global Food Security Forum for Young Scientists followed.
Together with Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), IAMO is one of four founding institutes. The association, as an international exchange platform, is to connect young scientists from various disciplines.
The launching ceremony of the association was hosted by Huazhong Agricultural University in a hybrid format. Zhaohu LI, president of HZAU, Channing Agndt, senior director at IFPRI, Iván Ortiz Monasterio, chief scientist at CIMMYT, and IAMO director Thomas Glauben each gave a talk to stress the importance and necessity of the establishment of the association. Young scientists are the source of innovations and play a critical role in shaping the global food systems. Representatives of the advisory board members, Shenggen Fan from China Agricultural University, Guoqiang Chen from Renmin University, Jing Zhu from Nanjing Agricultural University, Liangzhi You from IFPRI, Xiaohua Yu from University of Göttingen, and Shaobing Peng from HZAU also expressed their support of the establishment. IAMO director Thomas Glauben serves as an advisory board member and IAMO scientists Zhanli Sun and Lena Kuhn serve as members of the presidium and secretariat, accordingly.
On December 3, 2022, also the first Global Food Security Forum for Young Scientists was being held. IAMO director Thomas Herzfeld gave a keynote talk on the impact of remittance on the welfare of rural households in Moldova and more than 50 young scientists from all over the world presented their research. Two doctoral students from IAMO, Michel Kabirigi and Hui Tao, presented their research on mobile phone usage among farmers in Rwanda, and smart irrigation adoption in China, respectively, in the smart food production section chaired by Zhanli Sun.
