Volume 5 | March 2020
March Newsletter
The Water-Energy-Food in Africa Initiative is excited to share with you updates on the current news and events, ways to get involved, and upcoming items to be on the lookout for
Member Registration and Collaborative Platform

If you have not yet done so, we highly encourage interested participants to join the WEF Nexus in Africa Initiative as a member of our website and the Collaborative Platform.
Featured News
Nexus Publication: The Water-Food-Energy Nexus: Insights into resilient development

This collaborative report looks at 16 countries or states, comparing the ways in which their development patterns have managed their different mixes of resources and different capacities to make use of those resources.

First Continental Report on the Implementation of Agenda 2063
The January 2013 African Union Summit adopted Agenda 2063 – “The Africa We Want” – as Africa’s blueprint and master plan for sustainable development and economic growth of the continent. It is an affirmation by African Heads of State and Government of their commitment to transform Africa into the global powerhouse

Request for Proposals: JRS Biodiversity Foundation

The JRS Biodiversity Foundation is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) for multi-year projects focused upon biodiversity data, knowledge and information services related to (1) freshwater biodiversity, (2) pollinator biodiversity, and (3) biodiversity informatics capacity development. 

Featured Events
E-Learning Course: Sustainability of Social-Ecological Systems: The Nexus between Water, Energy and Food

The course is directed toward upper-division undergraduate and graduate students from a wide variety of disciplines (environmental sciences, engineering, agricultural sciences, social sciences) as well as professionals (NGOs, think tanks) and policy makers concerned with sustainable development in both developed and developing countries.

Food Loss and Waste – Can we end it by 2030?

Building on the 2019  inaugural event , this special event will discuss whether, as a global community, we can or will end food loss and waste and presenters will share on their efforts to reach SDG 2030 targets.

AGEP Winter School: An interdisciplinary perspective on the Water-Energy-Food Nexus

Interdisciplinary Workshop for students, DAAD Scholarship Holders and young researchers.
Overall topic of the workshop is the scientific coverage of the so-called water, energy and food nexus by an interdisciplinary approach

Jobs and Internship Opportunities
Internship Opportunity: Food-Energy-Water Systems Analysis (Year-round) Graduate Student Intern

A graduate student internship position is available in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) Strategic Energy Analysis Center. NREL is the nation’s primary laboratory for research, development and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.

Two Graduate Research Assistant Positions (Food-energy-water systems (FEWS))
The Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC) at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) has openings for two graduate students to work on an NSF-funded collaborative research project, involving seven research institutes including academia and national laboratories.

Three PhD opportunities: Decision-Driven Advances in Integrated Assessment Modeling of the Food-Energy-Water Nexus
Arizona State University, Tufts University, and the University of Maryland are each offering a PhD through NSF INFEWS/T1: Decision-Driven Advances in Integrated Assessment Modeling of the Food-Energy-Water Nexus. The Graduate Research Assistant Position will focus on developing innovative approaches to integrated planning of FEW systems in the context of major international sustainability challenges in Argentina and Uruguay.

Penn State Event

Please hold Monday April 6th at noon for the second WEF Nexus in Africa Brown Bag Seminar.

I you have ideas for speakers and/or topics to cover please reach out to Miek Jacobson at mgj2@psu.edu
General Notice

Please send relevant news, events, or activities to Gracie Pekarcik to be published to site or featured in newsletter
Member Activity Updates
One Swallow Does Not Make a Summer: Siloes, Trade-Offs and Synergies in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus
Authors:  Matthew Kurian, Christopher Scott, V. Ratna Reddy, Graham Alabaster, Adelaide Nardocci, Kent Portney, Rizaldi Boer, Bryce Hannibal