XXXVIII Congreso Asepelt 2025

CONFERENCIA PLENARIA

💫GUEST SPEAKER: Sir Richard J. Roberts

«Fact and Fiction about GMOs and the Future of Biotechnology«

When Monsanto first tried to introduce GMO seeds into Europe there was a backlash by the Green parties and their political allies, who feared that American agro-business was poised to take over their food supply. Thus began a massive campaign to discredit GMOs and scare people away from them. This has had disastrous consequences for one of the most promising technologies ever developed for improving food supplies. The success of the campaign has been particularly harmful in the developing world where GMO solutions for crop improvement are either being stymied or overly-regulated if not totally prevented. I will briefly describe the history of agriculture and plant breeding to show that the methods of GMO technology are safer, if anything, than traditional breeding approaches, which the Green parties would have us believe are perfectly safe. I will describe some of the GMO crops that can be beneficial to poor people in developing countries including the development of Golden Rice, which can help combat Vitamin A deficiency a nutrient problem that currently kills or physically impairs one to two million children every year. Finally, I will give some examples of how GMOs can solve a variety of problems facing humanity.

MESA REDONDA

💫GUEST SPEAKER: Viviane Naimy

Notre Dame University at Louaize (Beirut, Lebanon)
«The solution to the multifaceted problem of world hunger. Not only applied economics…»

Viviane Naimy is a Professor of Finance and Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics at Notre Dame University, Lebanon. An expert in financial econometrics and risk management, she has an extensive publication record in these fields. As Dean, she successfully led the AACSB and other programmatic accreditation processes. Passionate about poverty reduction, Naimy co-founded and presides over the Sustainable Farming Technology Association (SFT) with Nobel laureate Sir Richard Roberts, focusing on sustainable agriculture and actively working on poverty reduction through the SFT initiative in Lebanon. She also initiated the establishment of the Journal of Sustainable Economies in collaboration with Northeastern University, dedicated to addressing poverty and hunger. Additionally, Naimy leads the Beta Gamma Sigma chapter at Notre Dame University, Lebanon, and is a piano composer.

MESA REDONDA

💫GUEST SPEAKER: Justus Wesseler

Wageningen University & Research (The Netherlands). President of the International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research
«The solution to the multifaceted problem of world hunger. Not only applied economics…»

Prof. Dr. Justus Wesseler holds the chair in Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy at Wageningen University, The Netherlands. He has a degree in agricultural, environmental and natural resource economics from the University of Göttingen, Germany. His research work is on bioeconomy economics and policies. The major focus is on the contribution of value chains to improve sustainability and the impact of new technologies and regulations on the value chain in this respect. His research work has been widely published in peer-reviewed journals and books. He is the president of the International Consortium of Applied Bioeconomy Research (ICABR). He has been involved in several small and large-scale international research projects as team member and/or coordinator and has been invited to serve as an adviser in academia, policy, and research.

MESA REDONDA

💫GUEST SPEAKER: José Vicente Die

University of Córdoba, Spain
«The solution to the multifaceted problem of world hunger. Not only applied economics…»

Dr. José V. Die is a Ramón y Cajal fellow at the Department of Genetics at the University of Córdoba. His professional career, focused on plant genetics, has been dedicated over the past decade to the application of genomic tools for gene expression analysis and the study of large-scale genomic and transcriptomic data. These efforts aim to support and optimize crop improvement programs.

He holds a degree in Agricultural Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Córdoba. Dr. Die worked for five years at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and has carried out research stays at prestigious institutions such as the Institute for Plant Genetics at the University of Hannover, the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology, and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he participated in the Visiting Scientist Program.

Since joining the University of Córdoba in 2017, he has combined his research activity with teaching responsibilities in the undergraduate programs of Science, Agricultural Engineering, and Biotechnology, where he teaches courses related to his area of expertise. He is also a faculty member in the Master’s programs in Agricultural Engineering and Biotechnology.

Dr. Die has participated as a team member in several international research projects and is currently coordinating one national and one regional project. Both projects focus on the application of genomic technologies and bioinformatics tools to support plant breeding programs.

MESA REDONDA

💫GUEST SPEAKER: Padre Ángel

Fundador y presidente de la ONG Mensajeros de la Paz
«The solution to the multifaceted problem of world hunger. Not only applied economics…»

Ángel García Rodríguez, better known as Father Ángel, is a Spanish Catholic priest and philanthropist. He is the founder and president of the NGO Mensajeros de la Paz, which was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Concord in 1994. His philanthropic work began in 1962, after a visit to the Oviedo Orphanage, after having just been ordained a priest. He was assigned there to take care of the chaplaincy. That year he founded his NGO together with Ángel Silva Sánchez. Based in Madrid, from his parish, San Antón, he has undertaken various solidarity initiatives. The church remains open 24 hours a day, to house homeless people and offer them breakfast. In 2016 he opened the Robin Hood restaurant, which has the peculiarity of being a normal establishment during the day but which, from 7 pm, offers free dinner to disadvantaged people.

He has been awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Labor in 2014, named Honorary Member of KM Solidarity in 2018 and awarded the Beato de Liébana Prize for International Cohesion in 2019 and the Fernando de los Ríos Prize in 2024. For more detailed info in Spanish click here

PAUSA PARA COMER

Conoce Business Leaders Education: Formación superior en negocios, emprendimiento y finanzas con conexión directa al mercado

Microeconomías Circulares: Tecnologías de Big Data y Machine Learning para luchar contra la Contaminación en los Océanos

Ponente:
– María Fernanda González Gutiérrez Ph.D. Doctora en Física Cuántica y Experta en Machine Learning y Big Data. CEO & Founder at FREGATA SPACE

Presenta:
– D. Sergio Reyes. Coordinador de pensamiento verde de la Fundación Philippe Cousteau “Unión de los Océanos”

ASAMBLEA GENERAL DE ASEPELT -Aula Magna Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales