With colleagues from Wageningen Plant Research and Wageningen Economic Research I have been involved in the research project ‘prosumerism’ (commissioned by AMS and Flevo Campus Almere) in which we studied the extent to which Almere citizens engage in their own food production – for example by growing it in their gardens or picking it in the wild. We used semi-structured interviews with people who can be considered ‘prosumers’ (hence: people who are involved in their food production) and conducted a questionnaire, to which we got 835 respondents.

An important finding is that most prosumers we spoke to are motivated mainly by the enjoyment they get from growing and processing something themselves – making their own wine or fruit juices, for instance. Health and sustainability are less important to most of them. Another important finding is that while a relatively large part of the questionnaire respondents (two thirds) engage in prosumption in some way, for most people these activities are very small-scale.

Jan Eelco Jansma, the project leader, wrote a blog about our work. Our report can be downloaded here. Both are in Dutch. 

The urban foodscape is in constant transition, among others due to gentrification. This has effect on options and choices of both newcomers and people who have been living in the neighborhood for longer.

Sophie Visser, MSc student Health and Nutrition, studied the gentrifying Amsterdam neighborhood ‘Van der Pekbuurt’ (see Sophie’s blog on her results) by mapping its food establishments, interviewing both older and newer inhabitants and making observations. She found that due to gentrification the number of establishments in the neighborhood increased immensely. While this has positive aspects – the increased offer leads to an increased choice – not all inhabitants feel comfortable in all these new establishments.

We are looking for a student to continue Sophie’s work on gentrification and foodscapes. Preferably the student would follow up on the previous thesis by updating the mapping of the foodscape, and executing more interviews with a broader group of people. Alternatively, the student chooses another neighborhood (in Amsterdam or elsewhere) in a further state of gentrification, in order to get a broader view on how gentrification can affect foodscapes.

Pre-requisites: completed at least two social sciences courses (preferably with RSO); keen interest in foodscapes; able to conduct qualitative research, preferably but not necessarily in Dutch

Supervisor: Esther Veen (RSO): esther.veen@wur.nl

Questions? Please get in touch!

Mapping and analysing the diversity of food systems research at WUR

MSc Thesis Project
Rural Sociology & WCDI 

Supervisors: Jessica Duncan (RSO) and Herman Brouwer (WCDI)

The topic: The concept of food systems has emerged recently as a buzzword. Across Wageningen University and Research (WUR) researchers are using the concept and applying it in different ways. This thesis will review the different ways food systems are being defined and applied across WUR.

The research process will involve:

• Literature review on food systems
• Data collection (e.g. comprehensive analysis of WUR-based activities around food systems; interviews)
• Analysis with the aim of: 1) mapping the food systems landscape at WUR; 2) categorizing the diversity of concepts and approaches; 3) analyzing points of coherence and contention across these concepts.
• Conclusions with possible recommendations

Pre-requisites: completed at least two social sciences courses (preferably with RSO); keen interest in food systems research; interdisciplinary background an asset.

Start date: ASAP

For more information: jessica.duncan@wur.nl