Scientist Specializing in Sustainable Nutrition Wins Prize

An inspiring young scientist specializing in connecting
agriculture and food systems with sustainability and
nutrition to achieve better human health and well-being has
won this year’s APEC Science Prize for Innovation,
Research and Education, known as ASPIRE.

Dr
Jessica Bogard, a dietitian and public health nutritionist
from Australia, took the victory with her research focusing
on boosting the potential of underutilized local and
indigenous food to reduce malnutrition, particularly among
pregnant women and young children.

“One in every
five deaths around the world can be prevented simply by
consuming a healthier diet, that is around 11 million lives
lost every year. It affects nearly every economy in the
world and not exclusively to lower and middle income
economies,” Dr Bogard said. “Agriculture and food
systems are facing a complex challenge of having to not only
feed the world, but to nourish people, and my research aims
to brigde this gap.”

Dr Bogard pioneered the
development of a database of nutritional quality of more
than 50 species of fish and aquatic food and found that
certain indigenous species of fish are rich sources of a
multitude of micronutrients, but their availability is
declining.

She has worked with local communities and
research partners to improve the production of these
nutritious food sources and empower communities to produce
healthy food products based entirely on local ingredients.
This resulted in the succesful development of products that
have equal or better nutritional quality, and at the same
time, provide livelihoods by building local supply chains
and promoting traditional food culture.

“Through
increasing women’s access to low-cost and simple
harvesting methods, we are able to increase the frequency
and the quantity of fish being consumed in vulnerable
households.”

“I hope I can spread more awareness
and visibility to the importance of nutrition so that we can
scale up approaches in agriulture and sustainable food
systems to reduce malnutrition globally,” she added. “I
also wish to motivate more women and girls to pursue a
career in science where we can play a part in solving some
of the world’s greatest challenges.”

Dr Bogard was
selected from a group of 12 finalists, each nominated by one
of the APEC member economies under the 2021 ASPIRE theme,
“Diverse Knowledge for a Sustainable Future.”
Nominees, all under 40 years of age, were considered based
on their commitment to both excellence in scientific
research as evidenced by scholarly publication and
cooperation with scientists from APEC
economies.

“The extent of Dr Bogard’s research is
far-reaching, providing practical solutions to improve human
health through research, the improvement of the agriculture
and food system as well as respecting local knowledge,”
said Daniel Dufour, Chair of the APEC
Policy Partnership for Science, Technology and
Innovation, which oversees the prize. “The
work of all the ASPIRE nominees this year has been inspiring
and valuable for APEC as we pursue a sustainable and
inclusive recovery and improve the region’s
resiliency.”

The winner was announced during the
APEC Policy Partnership on Science, Technology and
Innovation meeting hosted by New Zealand last week. For her
achievement, Dr Bogard was awarded a prize of USD 25,000,
supported by Wiley and Elsevier.

“We continue to see
excellence, innovation and commitment to diverse knowledge
by talented scientists in the APEC region,” said Judy
Verses, Executive Vice President of Wiley Research. “Dr
Bogard’s work represents a remarkable achievement in the
public health sector and shows the powerful impact of
scientific research on society.”

“Through her
research, Dr Bogard showed dedication, scientific talent,
and practical knowledge in solving the current issue of
malnutrition and developing sustainable solutions to public
health and challenges, in particular, working with
vulnerable communities in low- and middle-income
economies,” concluded YoungSuk Chi, Chairman of
Elsevier.

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