Professor Navin Ramankutty, who is jointly appointed in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs (SPPGA) in the Faculty of Arts and the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES) in the Faculty of Science at the University of British Columbia (UBC), was announced today as a renewed Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Data Science for Sustainable Global Food Systems. Prof. Ramankutty is one of 15 new and renewed CRCs across UBC and one of four in the Faculty of Arts. The 15 UBC chairholders represent an investment of $15.1 million by the Government of Canada through the Canada Research Chairs program.
Prof. Ramankutty stated: “I am grateful to my research group and to my colleagues for making work so fun, meaningful, and rewarding.”
Prof. Ramankutty’s research is focused on transitioning to a sustainable global food system, a major challenge for the 21st century. We need to reduce hunger and malnutrition while also feeding two billion more people by 2050, reducing the environmental footprint of farming and making agriculture more climate-resilient. But experts are divided on how best to do all of this: some favour sustainable intensification, precision agriculture and genetic engineering. Others argue for food sovereignty, a system in which the people who produce, distribute and consume food also control the mechanisms and policies of its production and distribution.
Dr. Ramankutty believes this debate continues because conversations about food production are too global, abstract and lacking in local context. He and his research team are developing data and analytical tools to explore food system sustainability solutions that embrace a diversity of options and are context-dependent. They hope to identify pathways toward sustainable, climate-resilient food systems that consider local and regional contexts, embrace diverse farming and food system solutions, and examine integrated solutions.
The CRC Program enables UBC to achieve the highest levels of research excellence while chairholders such as Dr. Ramankutty improve our depth of knowledge and quality of life, strengthen Canada’s international competitiveness, and help train the next generation of highly skilled people through student supervision, teaching, and collaboration.
