The Future of Food: Start of the 2025 Humboldt Residency Programme

Eating is not only a basic human need but also a mirror of social developments. Climate change and water shortages are necessitating a shift in our thinking and new approaches in the production of food. However, the development of sustainable and digital solutions often meets with reservations on the part of the general public. Global nutrition trends indicate significant differences: As plant-based diets are becoming more widespread in Western countries, meat consumption is increasing elsewhere. This has impacts on resource distribution and food security. Furthermore, problems like obesity, malnutrition and the growing consumption of highly processed foods raise health-related issues. 
Led by Vânia Zuin Zeidler, Professor for Sustainable Chemistry of Renewable Organic Resources at Leuphana University Lüneburg, the participants of this year’s Humboldt Residency Programme will thoroughly examine these and other problems that revolve around the future of our food.

For example, during the get-acquainted and working phase at the Cultural Foundation Schloss Wiepersdorf in rural Brandenburg there will be, among other things, a workshop in which the participants will develop scenarios of how they envision food production in the year 2050.  Starting mid-August the participants – from the USA, Nigeria, France, the Philippines and Oman, among other countries – will switch gears and experience Berlin’s urban diversity. The group will plan networking meetings with experts from the political sector, civil society and science and organise platforms for a dialogue for the public in Berlin.

Every year since 2022 the Humboldt Residency Programme has been bringing a transdisciplinary group of researchers, journalists, artists and activists together to work on a common topic during a six-week residency in Brandenburg and Berlin. The diversity of professions, geographical origins and social background that the participants bring to the table will be conducive to producing innovative ideas and solutions that transcend borders. Using events and publications, the programme aims to provide visible impetus in academia, society and the political sector. The Residency Programme is financed by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and is conducted in cooperation with the Cultural Foundation Schloss Wiepersdorf.

This year’s participants:

• Lead: Vânia Zuin Zeidler (Brazil/Germany), Sustainable Chemistry of Renewable Organic Resources
• Nandini Agarwal (Germany/India), Sustainability Research
• Samuel Weniga Anuga (Ghana/Morocco), Environmental Science
• Abiola Awoyemi (Nigeria), International Development Research
• Annie Cheng (USA), Butcher, Cook, Author
• Muhammad Farooq (Oman/Pakistan), Agricultural Science
• Mónica Guerra Rocha (Brazil/Portugal), Sociology, Architecture
• Mark-David Pintucan (Philippines), Design, Architecture
• Lily Consuelo Saporta Tagiuri (France/USA), Art, Ecosystemic Design
• Bryant Simon (USA), History, Cultural Studies
• Carl Elliott Smith (Australia), Science Journalism
• Jack Thompson (Senegal/United Kingdom), Journalism

Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation enables more than 2,000 researchers from all over the world to spend time conducting research in Germany. The Foundation maintains an interdisciplinary network of well over 30,000 Humboldtians in more than 140 countries around the world – including 63 Nobel Prize winners.