On October 16-20, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)held the 2023 World Food Day and World Food Forum (WFF) in Rome, Italy, with the focuses on strengthening sustainable water resource management, promoting the transformation of agricultural food systems, accelerating climate action implementation, and building a 'Zero Hunger' world.

During the events, the youth team guided by Prof. Xurong Mei and Prof. Enke Liu participated in the "Transformative Research Challenge (TRC)" at the WFF. Their project, "Evapotranspiration Water Reuse Integrated Technology " was honored with the Special Award for "The Role of Water in Agrifood Systems Transformation" and won the overall championship in TRC, the first time that a Chinese team has entered the finals and received an award in this event. The team consists of China-Belgium joint PhD candidate Menglu Wang, PhD candidate Peng Pan, and foreign post-doctoral fellow Saud uz Zafar. FAO awarded this honor to recognize the team's outstanding research achievements and the enormous potential for positive impacts on global and local agricultural food systems, and provided support for the team through its "Hand-in-Hand" Initiative.  FAO will further monitor the progress of the project, providing research resources and financial support to promote the implementation and development of this technology. Additionally, the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) will offer internship opportunities for the team members.

Evapotranspiration Water Reuse Integrated Technology  describes how evapotranspiration water collection technology provides a self-sustaining agricultural water source in the context of climate change, water scarcity, and threats to food security through developing nano-bio materials, metal-organic framework (MOF) water-absorbing materials, as well as a solar-powered system. This breakthrough will go beyond traditional agricultural water conservation concepts and establish a water-energy-food cycle system, with the goals to save more than 70% of irrigation water resources, offering a new approach to addressing water scarcity and ensuring irrigation water supply and food security in severely water-deficient regions worldwide.

The Transformative Research Challenge includes 5 special prizes, respectively awarded for “The Role of Water in Agrifood Systems Transformation”, “Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR)”, “Global One Health”, “Food Loss and Waste” and “Food Action Accelerates Climate Action”; and a First Place winner for Overall Championship. The project started in June with the submission of research proposals from over 500 teams around the world. After a preliminary round and semi-finals spanning 4 months, 10 teams (the top two teams in each category) advanced to the finals and received personalized guidance from globally renowned experts appointed by FAO.