Women Plus Water Lecture Series
Water as a Key Ingredient for Women and Girls Nutrition
In honour of the United Nations International Day for Women and Girls in Science (February 11), please join us for a conversation about the role that water and climate change play in ensuring adequate nutrition for women and girls. Dr. Eunice Salubi will host a conversation with Professor Gordon Zello, Professor Alison Blay-Palmer, and Melissa D. Ho on the topic which will include perspectives both locally in Canada, as well as internationally.
Thursday, February 8, 2024
12:30-1:30 pm CST
Online (Zoom)
For more information on Women Plus Water, click below to visit the website!
Host
- Eunice Salubi
Postdoctoral Fellow, Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan
Guests
- Gordon Zello
Professor, College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan - Alison Blay-Palmer
UNESCO Chair in Food, Biodiversity and Sustainability Studies
Professor, Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University - Melissa D. Ho
Senior Vice President, Freshwater and Food, World Wildlife Fund - US
More Info
Eunice Salubi
Eunice is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon. Her research interests include analysing impacts of climate change on water quality and water-related diseases, spatial patterns of diseases, and understanding social and environmental determinants influencing these patterns. She enjoys being a part of the water community and loves to contribute to its development.
Gordon Zello
Gord Zello is a Professor of Nutrition in the College of Pharmacy and Nutrition at the University of Saskatchewan. He received his PhD after completing graduate studies at the University of Toronto and The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto. Gord has an active graduate and research program in both basic and applied nutrition. His fields of specialization are intermediary metabolism and nutritional assessment. Research interests include the measurement of body composition, energy expenditure, metabolism, athletic performance, and nutrient requirements in healthy and vulnerable groups (e.g. women and children) as well as clinical populations. International work includes nutrition/food security and One Health initiatives in Africa, Bangladesh and Brazil. Gord has published over 100 scientific articles and review papers and has given over 100 conference presentations.
Alison Blay-Palmer
Dr. Blay-Palmer is the UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity and Sustainability Studies, the founding Director for the Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems and a Professor in Geography and Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her research and teaching combine her passions for sustainable food systems and community viability through civil society engagement and innovative governance. Her most recent Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funded Partnership Grant, Food Learning and grOWing (FLOW) tracks change in sustainable regional food systems with academics and practi tioners across Canada and internationally including partners in Australia, Brazil, France, Kenya, and Mexico.
Melissa D. Ho
Melissa D. Ho, senior vice president for Freshwater and Food at WWF-US, leads an integrated team working on place-based and market-based initiatives that aim to protect freshwater resources, conserve critical landscapes, and strengthen regenerative, resilient food systems.
Melissa has over 20 years of experience as a scientist, policy advisor, and development professional and takes a system's approach to address the two biggest threats to nature and climate: agriculture and infrastructure. Throughout her career, Melissa has leveraged a keen focus on the intersection of water and agriculture, and the connections to health, energy, and development. She has worked at the landscape level, with large-scale irrigation systems, agricultural value chain development, and community-based water resource management, as well as at the household level driving water technology adoption through the private sector and addressing gender inequity and child malnutrition through nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions. Melissa came to WWF-US from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), where she oversaw a $1.5 billion portfolio of public sector investments in energy, water, and agriculture infrastructure in West Africa. Prior to that, Melissa served at USAID where she oversaw the technical team responsible for strategy development and integration for Feed the Future, the US Government's global hunger and food security initiative. Melissa was an early member of the Agriculture Development team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, where she led a portfolio of grants related to agricultural water management, extension, and data systems. Melissa has also served in various capacities in the US Congress.
In 2021, Melissa was appointed to the National Academies Climate Security Roundtable. She currently serves on the board of several domestic and international organizations. She has a PhD in plant physiology from the Pennsylvania State University, an MSc in soil science (plant-water relations) from the University of California, Davis, and a BSc in environmental systems from Cornell University.
Event Details
- When:
- Time:
- 12:30 PM - 01:30 PM CST
- Location:
- Online (Zoom)