Monika Zurek is co-leading the Foresight4Food Initiative and the FoSTr programme. She has worked on food systems, environment and development interactions and scenario analysis in research, international organizations, the philanthropic sector as well as independent consulting. Currently, she focuses on conceptualizing food systems and sustainable food and nutrition security in the EU and globally, systems’ performance metrics and using forward-looking methods to explore options for food system change and their trade-offs.

Prior to joining the ECI, Monika worked with Climate Focus, a consulting firm focusing on climate change mitigation and land use issues. Before that, she was part of the Agricultural Development Team of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation managing grants to improve the environmental sustainability of agricultural systems and risk management in agriculture. She also served as an economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and supported the Scenarios Working Group of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment.

Monika holds degrees from the University of Hohenheim (MSc equivalent/Diploma in agricultural biology) and Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Germany (PhD in agricultural economics). Monika is a Senior Researcher with the Food Systems Group at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute