About this Event
All members of the public are invited to attend this exclusive lecture hosted by The UWA Institute of Agriculture. It will be delivered by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) Director General Dr Bram Govaerts and focused on 'Food (and) Security: From legacy to the future of humanity' at UWA Bayliss Lecture Theatre G33.
This lecture will be held live and in-person. If you cannot attend in-person, then you are invited to watch a recording of this lecture on our YouTube following the event. Check out our channel here.
About the lecturer
Bram Govaerts is the Director General (CEO) of CIMMYT, the world’s leading agricultural research and development organisation dedicated to advancing global food and nutrition security.
A champion of science for impact, Dr Govaerts leads a global team of approximately 1,300 staff across 17 countries. Under his leadership, CIMMYT is shifting from traditional R&D to a systems innovation engine—moving ideas from the lab into the hands of millions of farmers across emerging markets in more than 80 countries.
He brings together ecosystems of partners across governments, business, research, and farmers to drive transformation where it matters most—in the fields and communities of smallholder farmers in the Global South. A leading voice on global food security, he positions agriculture as strategic infrastructure central to geopolitical and economic stability, reimagining food systems to withstand global shocks, from pandemics and climate stress to conflict.
A PhD bioscience engineer, Dr Govaerts joined CIMMYT in 2007 as a doctoral student in cropping systems management and rose through its ranks to become Director General in 2021. A widely published scientist, Dr Govaerts has built an international career focused on scaling impact—from pioneering the MasAgro innovation hubs in Mexico to cementing CIMMYT’s position as a center of excellence and a global public good.
He serves on several global boards, including the Kellogg Company’s Science Advisory Board and Grupo Ceres, and holds the Andrew D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University (2019–2026). His contributions have been recognised with major international honors, including the Norman E. Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application (2014), the Tecnoagro Award presented by an organization of 2,500 farmers in Mexico, and recently the Commander of the Order of the Crown, conferred by the King of Belgium for his service to international development.
About the lecture
Food security has always been about more than food. Agriculture provides livelihoods, anchors communities and economies, and can help build stability and cooperation even in times of profound political tension. CIMMYT's own history illustrates this connection: born from an international partnership during the Second World War, its science helped avert looming food crises in Mexico, India, and Pakistan and sustained scientific collaboration across political divides during the Cold War.
In the 2026 Hector and Andrew Stewart Memorial Lecture, CIMMYT Director General Bram Govaerts will explore what this history can teach us about the challenges ahead. At a time of conflict, geopolitical competition, extreme weather, and disruption to energy, fertilizer, and global trade, he will argue that the task is not simply to respond to the current food security crisis, but to adapt forward, building food systems capable of withstanding the next shock.
Drawing on innovations in drought- and heat-tolerant crops, nitrogen management, artificial intelligence, pest and disease surveillance, and early warning, Govaerts will examine how science can help build this resilience. But technology alone is not enough. Farmers and consumers must be at the center of innovation, and stronger systems are needed to connect scientific discovery with the people, markets, and communities it is intended to serve.
The lecture will have particular resonance for Australia. CIMMYT germplasm sits in the pedigrees of most Australian wheat varieties, while Australia's world-class capabilities in agricultural science, biosecurity, and climate adaptation have implications well beyond its borders. As food security, supply chains, and agricultural resilience become increasingly important to stability across Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Australia has an opportunity to help shape a new era of international agricultural cooperation.
Ultimately, the lecture will make the case that agriculture is not simply a development concern. It is strategic infrastructure and a foundation for economic and national security. And at a time when the international system is under growing strain, the shared necessity of feeding people can also provide something increasingly scarce: common ground.
About Hector and Andrew Stewart
This year marks the 32nd Hector and Andrew Stewart Memorial Lecture.
The inaugural event was held in 1966. The lecture is held in honour of the late Hon Hector J Stewart, MLC and his son, the late Mr Andrew M Stewart, both Wagin wool growers. Mr Stewart Jr was President of UWA’s Guild of Under- graduates in 1929 and twice Dean of UWA's Faculty of Agriculture.
Event venue & nearby stays
Bayliss Lecture Theatre G33 at The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Australia
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