Competence Area "Food Security"

While facing a rising world population, climate change, limited global resources and water shortages, one of the world’s central challenges of our time is to achieve and sustain food security. Although, a significant factor in achieving food security is sufficient crop yield, many other factors beyond plant biology are important. Thus, food security research is an excellent example of the need for interdisciplinary partnership of biological science with economics, social science, law, medicine and the humanities.

The aim of the thematically broad and interdisciplinary Competence Area “Food Security” is to foster such interdisciplinary partnerships. The Competence Area is one of six Competence Areas at the University of Cologne. We build a strong interfaculty network at the University of Cologne, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, further universities, industry, politics, non-governmental organizations and research institutions. CEPLAS as a well-established center of excellence in plant sciences serves as the focal hub for the Competence Area. Apart of interdisciplinary workshops, international symposia, public lecture series, and promoting interdisciplinary research, the Competence Area intends to increase awareness of the multifaceted challenge of food security among students and pupils.