Keynote Speakers
The symposium features keynote speakers from Southern Africa and Europe who bring expertise from agronomy, agroecology, crop diversity, climate resilience, and food systems research.
The list below will be updated as speakers are confirmed.
Prof. Dr. Christine Wieck is the Chair of the Agriculture and Food Policy Department at the University of Hohenheim. She is a researcher focused on developing and analysing policy options for achieving sustainable, resilient agricultural and food systems in an increasingly globalised market environment. Her research, teaching and outreach centers on the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the sustainable transformation of food systems in open and global markets. Since 2020, she is a member of the scientific advisory board of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. She is the principal investigator of the project INCrease (together with Prof. Ndiko Ludidi) and of the project UKUDLA (together with Prof. Thomas Dimpfl, Prof. Julian May and Prof. Clement Nyrienda)
Prof. Ndiko Ludidi is the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Sciences (FANS) at the University of Mpumalanga (UMP) and an Extraordinary Professor in the Department of Biotechnology at the University of the Western Cape. He served as a Professor of Biotechnology at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa before joining UMP. He is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and has extensive university-level teaching experience in biochemistry, biotechnology and plant physiology.
Among his various academic leadership roles are internationalization efforts focused on research, innovation and engagement to develop climate-smart regenerative agricultural systems to produce climate change resilient crops and develop crop production systems that promote environmental sustainability in agriculture and ensure food security. He is a Senior Editorial Board Member of Scientific Reports, an Associate Editor of BMC Plant Biology, a Review Editor of Frontiers in Plant Science. He is a member of the Management Committee of the DSTI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security, the Advisory Committee (GMO Act) of the Directorate Genetic Resources of the Department of Agriculture, the Management Committee of the Africa-Europe Cluster of Research Excellence in Sustainable Food Systems (CoRE-SFS), a member of the Management Committee of UKUDLA and the Steering Committee of the International Consortium for Research and Applications of Legumes.
Prof. Dr. Simone Graeff-Hönninger holds the Chair of Agronomy, Institute of Crop Science at the University of Hohenheim since October 2022. Interdisciplinary and the targeted creation of synergies and innovations in the areas of innovative cropping systems, and digitalization in agriculture, plant based proteins as well as the sustainable bioeconomy are among her core research areas. Her research is always methodically complemented and accompanied by processed-oriented crop models (2D, 3D). Simone Graeff-Hönninger received her Ph.D. in 2000 from University of Gießen in Agriculture in the discipline of Plant Nutrition, and her Diploma degree in Agricultural Biology from University of Hohenheim in 1998. She finished her habilitation on the topic of “Precision Agriculture and Crop Simulation Modeling – combining two approaches to design a new, evolutionary, holistic farming concept for the 21st Century” in May 2006 at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Hohenheim and received the Venia legend of Agronomy and Modelling. She is currently leading multiple research projects on chickpea and hemp covering different research areas for potential end-applications like food (TASTINO, EAT-Protein, Minor+, MYBELKID, CICERO), fiber (Bio-Fiber, Multihemp, Think) and pharmaceutica. Since 2019, she is leading the BMWK funded international network “Cannabis-Net
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Heß holds the Chair of Agricultural Markets at the University of Hohenheim and has served as Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs since April 2024. He is also Head of the Research Center for Cooperatives in Hohenheim. His research focuses on agricultural markets and price formation, product differentiation and contractual relationships in value chains, the role of cooperatives, and international agricultural trade and price policy.
Sebastian Heß received his doctorate in Agricultural Sciences (Dr. sc. agr., summa cum laude) from the University of Göttingen in 2007 and completed his habilitation (Docent) in Economics at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, in 2013. He has held academic positions at SLU, the University of Göttingen, Kiel University, and the University of Hohenheim. Alongside his academic work, he has provided policy advice to institutions including the World Bank, FAO, and the German Bundestag.
Professor Unathi Kolanisi is a Full Professor in the Department of Consumer Sciences at the University of Zululand, South Africa, and an Honorary Research Fellow in the Food Security Programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. She holds a PhD in Consumer Sciences from North-West University and has close to a decade of academic leadership experience, having served as Head of the Department of Consumer Sciences for approximately ten years, as well as Acting Deputy Dean of Teaching and Learning in the Faculty of Science and Agriculture.
Prof. Kolanisi is a leading scholar and practitioner in food and nutrition security, food innovation, and community-engaged scholarship, with a particular emphasis on underutilised crops. She champions Amaranthus (leafy vegetable) food innovation, spanning value-chain research, product development, and consumer acceptability. Her work advocates for the inclusion and optimisation of underutilised crops within school feeding scheme menus as a sustainable strategy to improve dietary diversity and nutrition outcomes. This work has received significant public attention, with features across local newspapers, television platforms, and radio stations. She is the founder and champion of the Siphila Kanje Climate-Smart School Gardens Initiative and the Siphila Kanje Edutainment Festival, which integrate underutilised crops, climate-smart agriculture, youth engagement, and curriculum innovation to address food insecurity and promote sustainable livelihoods. Prof Kolanisi has led and contributed to nationally and internationally funded projects on biofortified crops, food innovation, and community-based food systems.
