Elsevier Announces the First International Conference on Global Food Security

AMSTERDAM, February 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Conference to take place September 29 -October 2, 2013 in the Netherlands

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, announces the First International Conference on Global Food Security, taking place 29 September - 2 October 2013 in Noordwijkerhout, the Netherlands.

Organized by Elsevier and an International Scientific Committee, the conference will address food security at local and global levels with an interdisciplinary and systemic point of view. It will present state-of-the-art interdisciplinary insights and research on this topic and address the trade-offs that occur in reconciling competing environmental, economic or social objectives and outcomes at different spatial and temporal scales. In addition to the strong focus on integration across academic disciplines, ten parallel sessions will also focus on aspects of food security such as nutritional security, lost harvest and wasted food, and sustainable intensification.

Keynote speakers include Sir John Beddington, UK Government Chief Advisor, Rachel Kyte, Vice President of Sustainable Development at the World Bank, Meine van Noordwijk, World Agroforestry Centre, Indonesia, Tristram Stuart, Author & Founder of Feeding the 5000, Vaclav Smil, University of Manitoba, Canada and Este Vorster, North-West University, South Africa.

"There is a global need to better understand the economic, social, biophysical, technological and institutional drivers of current and future global food security," explained conference chairs Professor Ken Giller and Professor Martin van Ittersum, both of Wageningen University, the Netherlands. "For the first time an international conference brings together researchers from key disciplines with the aim to discuss a very daunting question we all face today: how to feed our growing global population? It is high time that the breadth and depth of our understanding is brought together to inform the political debate."

"With both the launch of our new journal Global Food Security and this conference we seek to encourage integration of knowledge among relevant disciplines and to create a platform for this new community," explained Gilles Jonker, Executive Publisher at Elsevier. "Presentations and papers are designed to be of interest to a diverse audience and aim to inspire scientists to address the global food security challenge."

More information about the conference including the full list of keynote speakers and sessions is available at: http://www.globalfoodsecurityconference.com

Abstracts for oral and poster presentations about the conference themes can be submitted via the website until 10 May 2013.

More information on the journal Global Food Security available at:

http://www.journals.elsevier.com/global-food-security

About Global Food Security
Global Food Security aims to publish papers that contribute to better understanding of economic, social, biophysical, technological, and institutional drivers of current and future global food security.

Motivation for Global Food Security arose from concern about the difficulty scientists and policy makers have in keeping up with the expanding volume of information about the challenge of meeting human food and nutritional needs while protecting environmental services.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. The company works in partnership with the global science and health communities to publish more than 2,000 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and close to 20,000 book titles, including major reference works from Mosby and Saunders. Elsevier's online solutions include ScienceDirect, Scopus, Reaxys, ClinicalKey and Mosby's Nursing Suite, which enhance the productivity of science and health professionals, and the SciVal suite and MEDai's Pinpoint Review, which help research and health care institutions deliver better outcomes more cost-effectively.

A global business headquartered in Amsterdam, Elsevier employs 7,000 people worldwide. The company is part of Reed Elsevier Group PLC, a world-leading provider of professional information solutions in the Science, Medical, Legal and Risk and Business sectors, which is jointly owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV. The ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

Media contact
Marije Hoogstrate
Elsevier
+31-20-485-2744
m.hoogstrate@elsevier.com