On the occasion of the UN International Year of Rangelands and Pastoralists, our senior researcher Tina Beuchelt joined a local event organized by the German Federal Association of Professional Shepherds.

At the annual Tropentag, which took place in Göttingen, Germany, September 16-18, 2026, around 15 ZEF researchers presented their work, moderated panels or gave talks.

It is with deep regret that we have learned of the passing of Professor Oded Stark, an outstanding economist who was a Distinguished Fellow at ZEF for many years.

ZEF held its annual  International Advisory Board at ZEF on September 8-10, 2026. ZEF wants to express its gratitude to our highly esteemed Board members for their valuable inputs, insights, impulses, inspiration and interest in ZEF's research activities and researchers!

Matin Qaim was invited as key note speaker at the Agrarforschungstag Nordrheinwestfalen (Agricultural Research Day North Rhine-Westphalia) 2026, which took place in Bonn on September 3, 2026. The topic of his talk was "The Importance of Agricultural Research for Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture". The annual event is hosted and organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (Ministerium für Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, MLV-NRW).

There has been a rapid increase in cardiovascular and metabolic conditions in sub-Saharan Africa. What is the link between sustainable diets that are nutritious, environmentally friendly, economically affordable, and socioculturally acceptable, and cardiometabolic conditions? An international research team led by Prof. Dr. Ina Danquah, Hertz Chair for Innovation for Planetary Health in the Transdisciplinary Research Area “Sustainable Futures” and Director at Center for Development Research (ZEF) at University of Bonn, investigated this question among Ghanaian adults living in Ghana or Europe.

From August 24-28, 2026, Prof. Dr. Ina Danquah, Hertz-Chair for Innovation for Planetary Health and Director at ZEF and Prof. Dr. Ute Nöthlings, Head of Nutritional Epidemiology at the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science of the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, hosted 20+ participants and six facilitators for an engaging summer school on Nutritional Epidemiology at ZEF.  

The Right Livelihood Campus (RLC), which is based at ZEF, University of Bonn, Germany, offers scholarships for PhD students from Africa, Asia and Latin America to participate in the Transdisciplinary RLC Workshop on "Rural Development and Smallholder Agriculture”, October 6-7, 2026, in Bonn. Who can apply? PhD students from Africa, Asia and Latin America who currently study at a University in Germany, from disciplines in natural sciences, social sciences, economic sciences, development studies, and environmental sciences. Fluent English is mandatory. Applications by women are particularly welcome.