London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

At the 2025 Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit in Paris, the Research Consortium for School Health and Nutrition played a central role in shifting global attention to the nutrition of school-age children and adolescents—the critical but often overlooked ‘next 7,000 days.’

Key highlights of the Consortium’s engagement:

• Scientific recognition of the next 7,000 days: For the first time in N4G’s history, school-age nutrition featured in the official N4G Scientific Conference, with Consortium Director Prof. Donald Bundy contributing to two separate sessions on school meals as a key investment in improving nutrition, transforming food systems, creating human capital, and improving global health by 2050. You can watch the conference recording here.
• New evidence launched: The Research Consortium jointly released Learn to Eat Well with UNESCO GEM Report, calling for stronger integration of nutrition in education systems to improve learning and equity, and better nutrition education for improving global health.
• Spotlighting South-South collaboration: The Consortium co-hosted a side event with the Government of Brazil showcasing country-led success in scaling sustainable school meals, and the importance of leveraging regional networks to improve the quality and accessibility of school meals everywhere.
• Learning from country experience: Before the Summit, the Research Consortium co-hosted a webinar with the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on how the world can benefit from the Japanese ‘Shokuiku’ (food education) model for promoting long-term healthy dietary habits and pro-social behaviours.

Through its convening power, evidence generation, and global partnerships, the Research Consortium helped drive a new global narrative: that investment in school-age nutrition is essential not just for health and education, but for sustainable development.