GFFA event “Think Aloud! – GFFA Science Slam”

The GFFA will take place in a virtual format on 18 – 22 January 2021.

The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA):

The Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) is an international conference that focuses on central questions concerning the future of the global agri-food industry. It will be held for the thirteenth time from 18 to 22 January 2021. The GFFA will be hosted by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) in cooperation with the Berlin Senate, Messe Berlin GmbH and the GFFA Berlin e.V..

A Science Slam will be held for the third time on the occasion of the 13^th GFFA on 21 January 2021.

The Science Slam is intended to illustrate the scientific spectrum of this year’s GFFA subject: “How to Feed the World in Times of Pandemics and Climate Change”.
Therefore, the following questions, in particular, come into consideration:

• How can food systems emerge strengthened from the COVID-19 pandemic?
• How can the agricultural sector contribute to preventing further pandemics?
• How can food systems become more climate-resilient?
• How can food systems contribute to climate change mitigation better than before?

At this entertaining event, four Science Slams lasting 10 minutes at most that relate to the main subject “How to Feed the World in Times of Pandemics and Climate Change” will be presented after a short welcome by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL) and introduction by the facilitator. The slam presentations must be held in English. Simultaneous interpretation into German will be arranged. In line with the virtual format of the 2021 GFFA, the slammers, facilitator and the audience will be virtually interconnected and the audience will decide in the end in the form of an online vote to whom the BMEL prize will be awarded.

A science slam is a science flash talk competition where the speakers, within a specified time, present their research topics to a mixed audience. The focus here is on communicating scientific concepts to a non-expert audience. The audience will assess the slams in form of an online vote. Apart from the scientific contents, the comprehensibility and the entertainment value are also rated.

For this occasion the BMEL is looking for (junior) scientists and students from relevant research institutions and universities from the agri-food sector which deal with this subject area and are interested in presenting a slam in English via live stream in front of a mixed audience. For this purpose, you will only need a laptop with camera, microphone and a safe internet connection. It is intended to carry out a joint preliminary meeting to get to know each other virtually at 11 to 13 hrs (CET) on 15 December 2020 and a further final rehearsal shortly prior to the event.

Katharina Zehfuß & Maja Clausen, on behalf of the GFFA organisation team of the BMEL