Hannah Jensen.
University of Otago Business School students Hannah Jensen, Jessica Wingate, and Taine Box, and University of Canterbury student Stephanie Post have been selected in the Team Universities of New Zealand (TUNZ) team to represent New Zealand, competing in the Global Case Competition 2021 being held 5–7 March 2021, and hosted by BI Norway, in association with Kearney Consulting, the science-based global platform for food system transformation EAT and the United Nations Food Systems Summit.
Team Universities of New Zealand (TUNZ) will compete with 85 universities from around the world.
Chef de Mission Dr John Guthrie, of Dunedin, said that it is an exciting opportunity for these New Zealand students to compete against the best universities in the world in an online environment.
The focus of the competition is on the United Nations' work to transform the way the world produces and consumes food.
Jessica Wingate.
Today's food systems require an upheaval. They render a shocking 690 million people chronically hungry, while one third of what we produce is never consumed. Unhealthy diets have become a primary source of poor health around the world, with obesity and diet related diseases skyrocketing, and with glaring disparities between rich and poor. Our diets have also become a leading contributor to global environmental degradation. The redesign of food systems is a unique and powerful opportunity to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and to involve people from around the globe in solving some of our greatest challenges.
This is a truly unique chance for the teams of students to provide input for, and influence the efforts of the United Nations to address the food distribution and consumption problems.
Team member Stephanie Post said “it is an honour to represent New Zealand, and it is exciting to work in an area that is so important to the world”.
Taine Box.
Hannah Jensen said “COVID‑19 has had dramatic effects on how we live and learn. The Global Case Competition 2021 will allow us to use our recently acquired online skills alongside our business expertise”. Presenting in the middle of the night could be a challenge, she thought.
They will have 24 hours to prepare and present their proposal on-line to a panel of judges based in Norway.
Dr Guthrie said Team Universities of New Zealand is under the umbrella of, and funded by, the NZ Student Development Society. The team has been training at the Otago Business School.
