In spring, the German Research Foundation (DFG) published a position paper on food and nutrition research. However, despite their central importance in the research landscape, universities of applied sciences (UAS) are hardly included in this paper. For this reason, a joint paper with supplementary UAS positions has been prepared by various researchers and published in the journal Ernährungsumschau.

The topic of producing and processing sustainable, healthy food has just been strengthened at our university with the appointment of Prof Dr Marcus Schmidt. For HNEE, this step means a further expansion of the holistic view of sustainable development in the field of food and nutrition research in order to drive social transformation in this area as well. The following short, medium and long-term demands are listed in the article:

Short and medium term

1. promotion of more intensive networking between UASs, universities and other research institutions in the field of food and nutrition research

2. targeted promotion of cooperation projects between universities and UASs

3. joint work on equality between the different types of universities in order to come closer to the goal of strengthening food and nutrition research

4. equal representation of professors from UASs and universities on thematically relevant bodies (scientific advisory boards, committees, commissions, etc.) and in review processes for federal and state funding

5. transitional regulations for publication services when applying for funding, due to the lower time capacity and existing personnel bottlenecks for HAW professors

6. simplified funding opportunities with adapted, reduced reporting requirements for small projects (up to €50000/year) for innovative applied research approaches

7. prioritisation of UASs in the allocation of funding in order to balance out the currently improvable equality between university types with comparable scientific relevance

8. improvement and simplification of doctoral options for UASs

9. promotion of early career researchers through increased low-threshold funding opportunities over a period of at least four years

10. targeted funding options for the establishment or maintenance of institutes and competence centres in the field of food and nutrition research at UASs, particularly in the field of nutrition, as a fundamentally applied subject area, considerable added value could be achieved through significantly intensified funding of applied sciences. More intensive networking and increased equality between universities and HAWs could lead to a massive strengthening of the subject area within a very short space of time, utilising the combined expertise in the sense of collective intelligence

In the long term

11. reduction of the teaching load of professors at HAWs to 12 SWS, in line with the well-known demands of the Hochschullehrerbund (hlb) [7], as a signal of equality and appreciation of applied research

12. more permanent staff for teaching and research areas in the field of food and nutritional sciences at HAWs, i.e. at least 1.5 full-time equivalents per teaching area

You can find the full article here.

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