The big data revolution is here, but what does it mean for creating a life-supporting sustainable food system? Can technological innovation help us feed the world and protect against biodiversity loss? IIASA hosts this special episode of the Prophets, Wizards & The Quest to Value Nature podcast.
IIASA Strategic Initiatives Program Director Steffen Fritz, Juan Carlos Laso Bayas, researcher with the IIASA Novel Data Ecosystems for Sustainability Research Group, and Tamme van der Wal, Information Management expert with a special interest in the data revolution from Wageningen University and a commercial manager at Akkerweb, take part in this roundtable discussion looking at issues touching on global agri-food systems and how technology can help feed the growing population of the world without harming Earth systems.
This special episode is part of the Prophets, Wizards & The Quest to Value Nature podcast series sponsored by the FRAMEwork research project which enables research and empowerment initiatives for farmers and local communities to tackle biodiversity loss.
News
27 October 2026
IIASA and Kazakhstan strengthen scientific cooperation through new agreement
IIASA and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to advance joint research, academic exchange, and capacity development.
20 October 2026
How are nutrition, the gut microbiome, and mental health connected?
Mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression affect millions of people across Europe and are increasingly recognized as closely linked to diet, nutrition, social inequalities and broader lifestyle factors. IIASA researchers are collaborating on new Horizon Europe-funded research project, NUTRIMIND (Understanding Mental Health and Nutrition in Europe), which aims to explore how nutrition, dietary choices, the gut microbiome, and lifestyle factors might interact with mental health.
15 October 2026
MowingQuest system-test campaign 2026 concludes, data collection continues
IIASA’s MowingQuest citizen-science campaign has wrapped up its August–September 2026 system test, with 25 pioneer users submitting almost 800 observations across eight countries. The results will help improve the app and data-quality workflows ahead of the main 2027 campaign. Two participants have also won Garmin GPS watches in the campaign raffle.