Keynote Speaker and Academic Advisor – Professional Education Programme on Food System Resilience and Food Security

Food security and the resilience of food ecosystems are pressing concerns globally, with heightened urgency in regions such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which relies heavily on imported food and operates within a climate-challenged environment. The UAE’s current food systems face significant risk in the event of border closures or global supply chain disruptions. While pockets of innovation exist, the broader system lacks the capacity, literacy, and collaborative structures needed to respond quickly and effectively to crises.

This professional education programme will address the urgent need to build resilience by fostering cross-sectoral collaboration, developing decision-maker food literacy, enhancing capabilities in data use and agritech, and identifying scalable solutions through challenge-based learning.

The food system resilience and food security UAE programme continues to place EIT Food education at the cutting edge of excellence in cross-sectoral teaching and challenge-based learning through alignment with the EIT Food Competency Framework, integrating technical and underpinning capabilities for a holistic programme.

Objective of the Procurement

EIT Food is seeking to procure a qualified and highly experienced global expert and academic advisor on food safety and security with deep expertise in food security, sustainable agriculture, and climate resilience to support and guide a national programme focused on enhancing food system resilience in the UAE to provide the keynote and to lead in the delivery and ongoing development of our food system resilience and food security UAE programme alongside our lead facilitators and local facilitation team.

The primary objectives are to:

• Provide expert advisory input to shape the academic and strategic direction of the food system resilience and food security UAE programme
• Deliver keynote addresses and thought leadership sessions that contextualize global food security challenges and solutions within the UAE's specific socio-economic and environmental context.
• Offer insights on best practices, emerging research, and innovations in sustainable agriculture, climate adaptation, and food systems transformation.
• Support knowledge exchange between international and regional stakeholders, including government bodies, academia, private sector, and NGOs.
• Help position the UAE as a regional leader in resilient food systems through academic collaboration, public engagement, and strategic thought leadership.

Scope of Work

The academic advisor will be a distinguished academic or thought leader in food security, with international recognition and strong understanding of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region’s agrifood systems. They will contribute to four inter-related areas:

1. Keynote Presentations and Thought Leadership
2. Academic and Strategic Advisory
3. Stakeholder Engagement and Capacity Building
4. Policy and Research Recommendations