Welcome back to the IUNS 80th anniversary series, “Nutrition Without Borders: 80 Years of IUNS”.
Task Forces in Focus: How IUNS Tackles Emerging Nutrition Challenges
One of the distinctive ways the IUNS advances nutrition science is through its Task Forces. Bringing together experts from different countries and disciplines, these groups provide a platform for international collaboration on emerging or under-addressed nutrition challenges. By connecting researchers, clinicians, educators and practitioners, Task Forces help translate scientific knowledge into practical action while strengthening global research networks.
Over the past eight decades, IUNS Task Forces have addressed a wide range of topics reflecting the changing priorities of nutrition science. Some have focused on disease prevention and treatment, others on sustainable food systems, Indigenous knowledge, nutrition capacity development or new scientific methodologies. While it is not possible to highlight every Task Force in this story, the examples below illustrate the breadth of approaches through which IUNS supports global nutrition research and collaboration.
Some of the Task Forces highlighted below have now completed their formal IUNS mandate. Several continue their work independently, reflecting how IUNS‑initiated collaborations often evolve into long‑standing scientific networks.
Building international research networks
Some Task Forces create global scientific communities around emerging areas of nutrition research.
The International Collaboration on Nutrition in relation to Cancer (ICONIC) Task Force is one such example. ICONIC brings together researchers, clinicians, dietitians and public health professionals working at the intersection of nutrition and cancer. Building on earlier international collaborations, ICONIC aims to strengthen research, education and professional networks across countries.
Its activities have included supporting nutrition education and research capacity in Africa and other resource-limited settings, encouraging collaboration between oncology and nutrition professionals, and promoting the integration of nutrition throughout the cancer care pathway from prevention and treatment to survivorship. Through workshops, collaborative projects and international partnerships, ICONIC demonstrates how coordinated scientific networks can accelerate progress in an increasingly important area of health.
Originally established as an IUNS Task Force, ICONIC continues its collaborative work independently.
Connecting science with culture and traditional knowledge
Nutrition science is strengthened not only by laboratory research, but also by understanding how people eat within their cultural and environmental contexts.
The Traditional and Indigenous Food Systems and Nutrition Task Force has worked to document and promote the nutritional value of traditional food systems around the world. Its work highlights the importance of biodiversity, Indigenous knowledge and locally adapted food practices in supporting healthy and sustainable diets.
The Task Force has produced a series of publications documenting diverse Indigenous food systems across different regions, organised international symposia and webinars, and developed policy briefs that encourage governments and international organisations to recognise Indigenous food systems within nutrition and food policies. In doing so, it demonstrates how scientific research and traditional knowledge can complement one another in addressing contemporary nutrition challenges.
Although no longer an active IUNS Task Force, the Traditional and Indigenous Food Systems group has continued publishing and convening internationally.
Developing new approaches for emerging challenges
As nutrition science evolves, so too do the questions researchers seek to answer.
The Sustainable Diets Task Force explores how dietary recommendations can support both human and planetary health. Its work recognises that healthy diets should also consider environmental sustainability, cultural acceptability and local food systems. By developing indicators and methodological approaches, the Task Force contributes to a growing evidence base for integrating sustainability into nutrition research and policy.
The Sustainable Diets Task Force completed its formal IUNS term but its methodological work remains influential.
Innovation also extends to how nutrition outcomes are measured. The Towards a Multidimensional Index of Child Growth Task Force is developing broader ways to understand children’s growth and development. Rather than relying solely on traditional anthropometric indicators, the initiative explores additional dimensions of child well-being, participation and equity. This work reflects the evolving understanding that child growth is influenced by multiple biological, social and environmental factors.
The Multidimensional Index of Child Growth initiative began as an IUNS Task Force and continues to develop its framework beyond the formal Task Force period.
A collaborative model for advancing nutrition science
Although each Task Force has its own objectives, they share a common purpose: bringing together expertise from different countries and disciplines to address complex nutrition challenges that no single institution or nation can solve alone.
Some Task Forces generate new scientific evidence. Others strengthen research capacity, develop methodologies, facilitate international partnerships or help translate knowledge into practice. Together, they demonstratehow IUNS serves as a global convener of nutrition science.
The examples highlighted here represent only a small selection of the many Task Forces that have contributed to the work of IUNS over the years. They include both current Task Forces and former groups whose collaborations have continued beyond their formal IUNS mandate. This ongoing activity reflects the Union’s role in catalysing scientific networks that often persist long after IUNS funding ends. Collectively, current and former Task Forces demonstrate IUNS’s enduring commitment to international scientific collaboration and its ability to respond to emerging nutrition priorities as they evolve.
As global nutrition challenges become increasingly interconnected, this collaborative model remains as important today as it was when IUNS was established nearly 80 years ago.
To learn more about current and past IUNS Task Forces, visit the IUNS website.
