At last year’s conference, from left, Lyndon Estes, lecturer at Princeton Environmental Institute and associate research scholar, Woodrow Wilson School-STEP; Rob Socolow, emeritus professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and senior research scholar; and Tim Searchinger, co-founder of Princeton Studies Food, lecturer at Princeton Environmental Institute and Research Scholar, Woodrow Wilson School-STEP.

The Princeton Studies Food conference last fall proved standing-room-only interest in all things food at Princeton University and seeded creation of our umbrella group of the same name.

Now, it’s time to get to work. In this second conference, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Nov. 13 at Wallace 300 (with an uncommonly delicious lunch provided!), we plan to organize and prioritize Princeton’s areas of expertise and programs and the University focus – in the service of all nations – for maximum leverage in addressing problems in the global food system critical to the welfare of our societies, humanity and the planet.  And we aim to do this with full awareness that preparing and eating food sits at the core of our humanity – it connects us to each other and to the world around us.

General topics:

Scope & Scale of the Problem & Our Role in Solutions

Preparing and eating food sits at the core of our humanity and is the livelihoods of millions. But humanity is rapidly approaching Earth’s natural resource boundaries and our food system is imperfect. What is the University’s highest and best use?

Society, Culture & Ethics

How can our strengths in humanities and social science address our unequal food system, with its roots in how we think, what we value and the kind of world we want to leave for the next generation? What changes to individual, social and cultural norms and systems will  contribute to these solutions?

Finance & Entrepreneurship

Business as usual has made companies sustainable but has imperiled humanity and the environment. But how we make and spend our money reflects our thinking and values. What are ideas and startups from entrepreneurial alumni that reflect the prerequisites of a sustainable food system and/or the funding for it?

Politics & Policy

With food, water, agriculture and energy, politics and campaign contributions create policy. What effect can our strengths in policy, politics, economics, operations research and financial engineering have in shifting this framework toward the good of the commons – more equal distribution of natural resources? What arguments resonate with our polarized electorate?

Nature & Technology

We haven’t yet managed a truly sustainable food system. What gaps can Princeton strengths address, across disciplines? What new data, new tools, and new understandings do we need to develop to address global food issues? What part can our community or other institutions play?

Please mark your calendar and clear your schedule; the agenda and registration will be available in the coming days and there’s no time to waste.