The concept of FOR
One Health is a holistic approach which recognizes that food systems, health, and resilience of people do not exist independently, but are woven together with our shared environment.
The Food systems, One Health, and Resilience (FOR) approach is a valuable platform for framing complex health and food systems challenges the world currently faces. The Ben-Gurion University FOR Initiative aims to address these challenges through multidisciplinary research spanning the inter-relationship between health, food systems, environment, and resilience. BGU-FOR will explore the connections and impact of food and ecosystems on nutrition quality, equity and security, the molecular factors contributing to food systems and health, and the relationship between food systems, human and animal health, and resilience in the fact of global emergencies.
BGU-FOR Mission
Advance innovation and entrepreneurship in the Ben Gurion University for addressing the challenges facing the world in the context of food systems, “One Health”, and overall resilience, through collaborations, “out-of-the-box” thinking, targeted research projects, and dissemination.
BGU-FOR activities
• Integrate the Food systems and One Health approaches and resilience challenges into interdisciplinary actions
• Collaborate to innovate using the out-of-the-box approaches
• Convene and create platforms of BGU and global experts from all scientific disciplines
• Escort, mentor, and support for identification to implementation into a sustainable and reproductive product-oriented work of the research teams
• Promote entrepreneurship and tech transfer of successful research outcomes
BGU-FOR Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation
Through an international Steering Committee to:
• Define the annual focus of research incubators and nests
• Select the leading proposals for funding
• Define KPIs for successful achievements through the full cycle, from planning to implementation, creation of products and their sustainability.
BGU-FOR 2022-2023
Call for inter and cross-disciplinary research proposals in the areas of:
• Develop research programs addressing human, animals, plants and environment health, food systems, and resilience challenges through digital, bio-tech, eco-systems and social lenses, by diversified interdisciplinary teams (30 October 2022).
• Presentation of proposals (15 December 2022)
• Selection of leading proposal/s to be funded
• Mentoring and guiding the selected incubator teams from A to Z
• Moving to manufacturing with selected partner
Organizing a “BGU-FOR Retreat” (May-June 2023) aiming to strengthen links and create nests that would evolve to future research incubators.
Establish collaborative links and twinning with other One Health programs (e.g. IKP, India; United Kingdom, Turkmenistan, Germany, China, Ukraine, South Africa, Singapore, Turkey and other academic institutions):
• Bilateral visits
• Signing of MOUs with universities / Centers overseas
• Students and faculty exchange programs
• Joint events
• Joint research
