BAU students achieve success in Food Systems Innovation Challenge competition

BSS

Published On: 01 Oct 2025, 14:40

Photo : BSS

BANGLADESH AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY, MYMENSINGH, Oct 1, 2025 (BSS) - Students from Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) have achieved remarkable success in the second edition of the Food Systems Innovation Challenge 2025 competition, held in the Netherlands.

Wageningen University and Research (WUR) and the Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP) jointly organized the event with an aim to encourage young minds to contribute innovative ideas toward the sustainable development of global food systems.

Spanning from April to September 2025, the six-month-long challenge brought together 24 student teams from 12 countries across four continents. Each team received dedicated funding to implement their proposed ideas in their respective countries.

From Bangladesh, BAU was the only participating institution, with two teams-"Agro Feme Septate" and "AquaFour"-qualifying for the final round, held at the Omnia Building of WUR on September 30.

Rubaiya Binte Rezwanur Purna (MS, Fisheries Management), representing Agro Feme Septate, and Shabnam Ferdous (MS, Food Safety), representing AquaFour, participated in the Grand Finale. Their mentor, Prof Dr Mohammad Matiur Rahman of the Department of Fisheries Biology and Genetics, accompanied and guided the teams throughout the competition.

In a proud achievement, the Agro Feme Septate team secured a place among the top three winning teams, earning the Grand Prize of ?3,500. Meanwhile, AquaFour won the Audience Award, receiving a ?500 prize through votes from the international audience.

The winning team, Agro Feme Septate, also received a direct entry ticket to the Youth Food Lab incubation programme, a collaboration between WUR, the World Food Forum/FAO, and IAAS.

As part of the final round, team leaders showcased their real-world projects on an international platform through several stages: a pitching round, a Q&A session with a panel of nine esteemed jurors, and a final presentation before invited guests. Winners were selected based on a multi-faceted evaluation process and audience voting.