On the 25th of April the Wageningen University will host the event “AGROECOLOGY – bridging science, practice, movement. With key speakers Pablo Tittonell and Irene Maria Cardoso. Moreover there will be dance, local food, music and much more! AGROECOLOGY – bridging science, … Continue reading →
Category Archives: General
Possible Thesis Topics: Trends in Global Food Security Governance
We are looking for good and motivated BSc and MSc students to conduct research on the following four topics:
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Deconstructing the discourse of evidence-based policy making.
Project: Calls for evidence-based policy making are increasing evident in global food security policy processes, and beyond. For example, the follow up and review process for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to be “rigorous and based on evidence, informed by country-led evaluations and data which is high-quality, accessible, timely, reliable and disaggregated” (UN General Assembly, 2015, para. 74). Behind this push for evidence-based decision making lies a set of highly political questions about what evidence is considered appropriate? How should it be selected? Why? And by whom?
This thesis project will identify and analyse calls for evidence-based policy making made in food security policy processes at the multinational level so as to better understand the political nature of evidence and the implications this has for policies and claims to knowledge and expertise. Continue reading
Feeding the City Summer School in Brescia, Italy
Last year I taught in this Summer School and I am excited to be a part of it again this year as we explore how to feed cities.
For more information contact: segreteria_dmmt@med.unibs.it
Sacks of hope: Sack Gardening in Kibera slum (Kenya) as sustainable place-shaping
By Merel Scheltema – Msc. Urban Environmental Management, specialisation in Spatial planning, WUR.
I propose that an investment in quality public space, through urban agriculture and multi-functional land use, can improve the access of people to basic needs. According to the UN habitat executive Director of Joan Clos i Matheu public spaces are therefore a vital asset. The quality of public spaces affects the quality of private spaces and the city as a whole. A ‘good’ public space is part of the solution to create ‘healthy’ cities, by revitalizing the environment, economic development and fostering social capital. The concept of ‘sustainable place-shaping’, answers this call for healthy public spaces. It is a holistic approach to strengthen collective agency, participation and leadership of people who engage in places.
In my essay for the RSO course ‘A global sense of Place’, I applied the SUSPLACE framework, developed by the Rural Sociology Group to investigate: how urban agriculture as an investment in public space contributes positively to sustainable place-shaping. I studied this by examining urban sack farming in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, the largest Slum in Africa. I reason that urban gardening offers basic needs as well as improves social capital, environmental quality and economic opportunities. Continue reading
Podcast – civil society participation global governance of food security
As part of the perfect storm seminar series at the University of Edinburgh, Dr Jessica Duncan gave a seminar about civil society participation in the global governance of food security on the 26th of January. ‘The Perfect Storm Scholars‘ interviewed her afterwards and posted a podcast that resulted of this interview on their blog.
As part of the perfect storm seminar series (see poster), Dr Jessica Duncan, Assistant Professor in Rural Sociology at Wageningen University, The Netherlands, gave a seminar about civil society participation in the global governance of food security on the 26th of January at the University of Edinburgh.
She kindly made the time to talk to me about her seminar and research when she was in Edinburgh. You can find the result of this conversation in a podcast. Click HERE to listen to it.
Podcast structure
We talk about her seminar and research until around 24:40 min. From that point onwards we discuss the practical dynamics of undertaking empirical research in general, and specifically on global governance. At 30:00 min Dr. Duncan shares her views on interdisciplinary research.
Podcast notes:
You can find out more about Jessica’s research in her latest book: Global Food Security Governance: Civil society engagement in the reformed Committee…
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Rural Sociology Wageningen University 