2026 Alsea Award seeks food security research projects
Applied research is gaining ground as a tool to address food-related challenges in Ibero-America.
The Alsea Award marks five years of supporting projects on food security, nutrition, and sustainability across the region.
Research on food security and nutrition continues to gain ground in Ibero-America as a tool for developing solutions with social impact. The Alsea Award is marking five years of supporting academic projects focused on sustainability, innovation, and food systems across the region.
Since 2022, the program has allocated more than USD $600,000 to support research focused on sustainability, nutrition, technological innovation, and public policy.
Support for regional research.
Led by Fundación Alsea, A.C., with the support of World Vision, the program seeks to support academic projects with social impact aimed at strengthening food systems, reducing waste, and promoting nutritious diets.
Ivonne Madrid, Director of Fundación Alsea, A.C., recalls:
“We are marking five years of joining efforts with different stakeholders to combine capabilities, knowledge, and resources to combat food insecurity. Along this journey, we have confirmed that supporting research not only drives innovative ideas, but also opens the door to concrete solutions that can improve the lives of thousands of people and strengthen sustainable development in our communities”.
Throughout its different editions, each winning project has received support of USD $150,000 for its implementation and development, enabling projects for use across different regional contexts.
The initiative supports research aimed at addressing challenges related to food access, sustainability, and nutrition in different countries across Ibero-America.
Projects across Ibero-America.
Among the recognized initiatives is the project developed in Mexico in 2022 by Universidad Anáhuac Mayab, focused on promoting the consumption of local foods and underutilized plant species to improve nutrition in vulnerable communities and strengthen climate-resilient food chains.
In Colombia, the Center for Advanced Studies in Nutrition and Food (Cesnutral) at Universidad CES was recognized in 2023 for developing biofortified food supplements based on the use of food loss and waste, with the aim of reducing waste and strengthening local food systems.
The 2024 edition recognized in Argentina a project led by Dr. María Daniela Defagó that integrates artificial intelligence and remote sensing to design public policies aimed at improving food security in vulnerable communities affected by climate change.
In practice, this proposal incorporates technological tools to support decision-making processes with social impact.
In 2025, the recognition was awarded in Chile to Dr. Samuel Durán Agüero for the Latin American Study on Food, Nutritional Quality and Sustainability, an initiative focused on generating regional evidence on eating habits and sustainability to support the development of strategies addressing current nutritional challenges.
2026 open call.
In addition to financial support, the Alsea Award has promoted collaboration between academia, civil society, and the private sector to advance long-term solutions. Interest from the scientific community has also grown since the program’s first edition, which received 69 applications in 2022, reaching 110 submitted projects in 2025 from different countries across Ibero-America.
The Alsea Award currently has its 2026 call open for academics, researchers, and research teams from Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Spain, Mexico, Paraguay, and Uruguay. Applications will remain open until June 24, 2026, through the program’s official website.
The winning project will receive financial support of USD $150,000 for the development and implementation of its initiative. The 2026 call maintains the program’s focus on research related to food security, sustainability, and nutrition with potential applications across different countries in Ibero-America.
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