FAO Brussels Director visits the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering of KU Leuven

FAO Brussels Director, Raschad Al-Khafaji, was invited by the dean of the Faculty of Bioscience engineering of KU Leuven, Professor Jos Van Orshoven to present FAO’s work to students and faculty. The visit was also an opportunity to explore future areas of collaboration with this top–ranked Belgian university.  

The visit began with a round of presentations by the three research departments of the faculty. Professor Gabrielle De Lannoy from the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences talked about the ongoing collaboration between the university and FAO regarding the AquaCrop crop-water productivity model. Professor Ann Van Loey of the Department of Microbial and Molecular Systems highlighted their partnerships with universities worldwide on food technology-related research, whereas Professor Hervé Vanderschuren of the Department of Biosystems talked about their expertise in postharvest technologies in the fruit sector.  

Director Al-Khafaji presented the work of the Organization, including key initiatives such as the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, the Green Cities Initiative and the 1000 Digital Villages Initiative. He emphasized the importance FAO attributes to collaborating with academic institutions and explained the procedures that are in place to formalize such partnerships. The Director exchanged with the attending students, who were eager to find out more about research and career opportunities within FAO. 

The visit ended in the world’s largest banana gene bank: a collaboration between KU Leuven and Bioversity International that aims to preserve the genetic diversity of all existing banana species.   

You can read more about FAO Brussels work with Belgian academic institutions here. 

More about FAO’s partnerships with academia and research institutions worldwide can be found here.