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Strategic direction
Sustainable development
Monash University Sustainable Development Goals Progress Report
Monash Progress Report 2020
Monash Progress Report 2020 – Goal 2

Monash Progress Report 2020 – Goal 2

Monash University Progress Report 2020 on the Sustainable Development Goals

End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

Research

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Determinants and dynamics of food insecurity during COVID-19 View

The Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability conducts rigorous, policy-relevant research on issues of global concern.

In 2020 the Centre initiated a series of major and rapid research and policy activities to address the global and local issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. This CDES working paper discusses how COVID-19 has threatened the food security of the poor due to the lockdown of markets amidst poor institutions and lack of social safety nets in the developing world.

Research shows that food security has already worsened since the crisis hit and would presumably worsen further in the future unless rapid measures are taken to attenuate it at the earliest.

Land use futures View

The Land Use Futures program at the Monash-hosted Climateworks Centre is engaging with stakeholders across the food, land and oceans system to find and support pathways towards a sustainable food and land use system in Australia. Working as part of the global Food and Land Use Coalition, the team contributed to the identification of the ten critical transitions that are necessary to make the way we use land and produce food more sustainable.

In 2020, it published ten papers looking at the state of play in Australia, including the challenges and opportunities, in relation to each of these transitions.

Translating evidence into policy action for healthy and sustainable food systems View

Researchers from Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food looked to the United Nations to identify diet-related practices which optimise both human and planetary health. Recommendations on how to source food, what to eat, and how to consume food can inform the decisions of citizens and policy-makers to contribute to food system transformation.

2020 Publications Performance View

Mean Field Weighted Citation Impact of Monash Outputs: 2.6

Number of Monash Research Outputs: 66

Education

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Master of Food Science and Agribusiness View

In 2020, Monash University offered one of the first Master's degrees of its kind on food: the Master of Food Science and Agribusiness.

One of the enormous world-wide challenges we face in the coming decades is to achieve an adequate supply of food under sustainable conditions. Through SDG 2, 'zero hunger', the United Nations has called for a rethink on how we produce, process and consume food.

This course covers all aspects of food science, supply chain and marketing, including the future of food production and supply.

Unit statistics and highlights View

In 2020, 76 units directly related to SDG2 were offered across Monash University, with a total enrolment of 7,257 students.

The units highlighted below are a small sample of the units at Monash relating to food security and nutrition:

BIO2030 Food security in a changing world
FSC5070 Future food supply and security
NUT3082 Public health nutrition

Engagement

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AgTech at Monash View

AgTech at Monash brings together multidisciplinary teams of researchers, together with industry, to develop sustainable solutions for food and nutrition security.

It uses a strong Community of Practice approach to facilitate the exchange of ideas and knowledge, access to state-of-the-art technologies and the development of multidisciplinary projects to directly address major food and agriculture needs and develop the next generation of sustainable agricultural technologies.

It draws on capabilities from across the university in areas including robotics, data visualisation, soil and water chemistry, plant science, and nanotechnology.

Monash Food Innovation View

Monash Food Innovation is a 7-year-old pioneering initiative is an industry-shared facility operated by industry and innovation practitioners. It connects food businesses with Monash science, research and technology, to co-create solutions to help feed 9 billion people in a growing and hungry world with a healthy and sustainable diet within planetary boundaries.

Monash-Industry Palm Oil Education and Research Platform View

Based at Monash Malaysia, the Monash-Industry Palm Oil Education and Research Platform (MIPO) is a platform for university-industry-government cooperation aimed to improve the sustainability of the palm oil industry in the country and beyond.

The palm oil industry is a significant contributor to the socio-economic growth in southeast Asia. However, the large scale production of palm oil has become a global issue because it has been linked to deforestation, loss of habitat, and other social issues.

With a team of outstanding researchers and the state-of-the-art research and education facilities, MIPO aims to promote cross-disciplinary collaborations and university-industry linkages in developing sustainable solutions for the production of palm oil through research, education and training.

Using food as medicine in healthcare practice View

At a time when food and nutrition information is at an all-time high, there is a lot of confusion and misinformation about food based recommendations for health. This set of courses aims to provide healthcare professionals (including GPs, nurses and midwives) with improved knowledge of nutrition and health topics, and give them practical skills for providing simple nutrition and food based advice to patients.

Operations

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Monash permaculture View

Monash Permaculture brings together students, staff and members of the local community with an interest in permaculture, sustainability and gardening. It allows people to get their hands dirty, learn, skillshare and collaborate with each other about the tips and tricks of growing sustainably delicious food, while building dynamically resilient and vibrant communities.

Monash Permaculture runs workshops, lectures, working bees, day trips and other activities designed to promote and educate about permaculture, sustainability and gardening.

Healthy food choices View

Monash Wellbeing provides a range of resources, services and programs to assist staff and students to improve their eating habits and ensuring a range of healthy food, drinks and catering available at work.

The Monash catering webpage supports Monash retailers to provide healthy, sustainable and COVID safe catering to staff. The Monash Healthy Food Procedure outlines the University’s ongoing efforts to create a healthy food environment.

Sustainable food choices View

Wholefoods is a student-run, not-for-profit, vegan & vegetarian restaurant, cafe & grocery located at Monash University in Clayton. Established in 1977, it has long history of providing affordable and healthy food to students, facilitating workshops and social events, and bringing people together to create a community on campus.

Campus food waste View

Monash has committed to implement a food organic waste program to divert our organic waste from landfill by 2025. The rollout of organic bins in staff kitchens and retails outlets commenced in 2019, however the program was paused during 2020 due to ongoing lockdowns and significantly reduce activity on our campuses.

Organic waste collection was introduced to our residential halls in 2020 and reused in their community gardens.