Category Archives: Research

Research

Rural regional learning in Alytus County, Lithuania

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Last week (October 21-22, 2010), I was given the opportunity to visit our DERREG project partner Emilija Kairyte (Institute NeVork) in her case study area of Alytus County in the South of Lithuania. In this blog, Emilija and I would like to share our experiences.

Like the Dutch DERREG case study region Westerkwartier in the province of Groningen, Alytus County comprises four rural municipalities. In terms of demography and economy, both areas are very different from each other. For example, the Westerkwartier has a population density of 173.4 inhabitants/ km², whereas the population density of Alytus County is estimated as 32.6 inhabitants/ km². While the Westerkwartier has witnessed an increase in citizens over the last years, amongst them a large number of young families, rural development in Alytus County is strongly affected by an increasing out-migration and an aging population. Living standards differ considerably. In the Westerkwartier, the GDP per capita was estimated as 55.400 Euro in 2006 while the GDP in Alytus County was estimated as 19.100 Litai in 2007 (equals 5.531,74 Euro, October 2010). Also in geographical terms the two regions are very different. The Westerkwartier is characterized by open grasslands in the North and small fields with framing hedgerows in the South. Alytus County is renowned for its vast forests and lakes.

During my visit to Alytus County, I accompanied Emilija to two workshops, one for the LAG and other public administration authorities on the 21st of October and one for rural initators and actors on the 22nd of October, which she organized in order to evaluate existing arrangements for support and facilitation of joint learning-by-doing activities within rural development initiatives. At these workshops, I presented supportive arrangements and benefiting rural development initiatives that we found during our investigations in the Westerkwartier and which we evaluated together with local stakeholders at a workshop organized by the Rural Sociology Group in the Westerkwartier on the 18th of October.

Meeting with rural development initiative supporters in Alytus District LAG office, Alytus

To my surprise, both regional learning supporters (including the LAG) and rural initiators did not see striking differences between the existing arrangements and support given to rural development initiatives in Alytus County and the Westerkwartier. Emilija and I however learned that there are some basic differences in the foundation and operation of the Countryside House (Plattelandshuis) in Westerkwartier and Seniūnija (NUTS5) in Alytus County. Continue reading →

PhD position: Knowledge brokerage to promote sustainable food consumption and production

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In January 2011 the project ‘FOODLINKS’ (Knowledge brokerage to promote sustainable food consumption and production: linking scientists, policymakers and civil society organizations) will start. This project is funded by the European Commission and will be carried out by a consortium of 14 partners (universities, regional and local governments and civil society organizations) from 9 European countries. The overall project aims at developing and experimenting with new ways of linking research to policy-making in the field of sustainable food consumption and production. FOODLINKS will be coordinated by Prof. Han Wiskerke and Dr. Bettina Bock of the Rural Sociology Group of Wageningen University.

Job description

Within the FOODLINKS project we are looking for a a PhD candidate who is interested in issues of science-society dialogue, science-policy collaboration and social learning in the field of sustainable production and consumption. The PhD candidate will combine the writing of a PhD thesis with hands-on participation in a EC-funded project and contribution to project deliverables. 

Within the overall FOODLINKS project,  the PhD project monitors and evaluates the processes of social learning taking place in three Communities of Practice that are established as part of the project. In these Communities of Practice researchers, policymakers and civil society organization exchange knowledge and experiences and commonly define new research questions in the field of short food supply chains, sustainable public food procurement and urban food strategies. The PhD project will evaluate the knowledge brokerage activities and processes of social learning that are taking place in the Communities of Practice as well as in the project as a whole. 

Requirements

  • A Master degree in sociology, communication science or innovation studies.
  • Knowledge of relevant theoretical concepts in science and technology studies, science-society dialogue and science-policy collaboration, such as boundary work, knowledge brokerage, multi-stakeholder participation and social learning.
  • Knowledge of and experience with monitoring and evaluating processes of (social) learning.
  • Some knowledge of or interest in agro-food research and issues of sustainable food production and consumption. 
  • Good analytical and writing skills.
  • Fluent in English
  • Willing to travel as the project will include frequent meetings within Europe.

 Appointment conditions

A PhD position for a period of 18 months, extended with another 30 months upon favourable evaluation. Gross salary will increase from € 2042 per month in the first year up to € 2612 per month in the last year based on a full-time appointment (38 hours per week). In addition, we offer a holiday bonus of 8% and an end-of-the-year bonus of 8.3% of your annual salary. 

 Additional information

Additional information about the vacancy can be obtained from:

  • Prof. dr. ir J.S.C. Wiskerke, Chair of Rural Sociology, Telephone number: +31 317 482679/4507 and
  • Dr. Ir B.B. Bock, Associate Professor Rural Sociology, Telephone number: +31 317 483275/4507 

Additional information about the FOODLINKS project can obtained through this link. The PhD position is mainly related to Work Packages (WPs) 2, 6 and 7 of FOODLINKS.

Additional information about the organisation can be obtained through one of the following:

Interested? Apply now via www.jobsat.wur.nl before November 8th 2010 (Vacancy number: SSG-RSO-0005).

Rural regional learning in the Westerkwartier (NL)

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The Westerkwartier is a predominantly rural area in the province of Groningen (NL), situated between the cities of Leeuwarden and Groningen. The Westerkwartier is one of the case-study areas in the research project DERREG funded by the European Commission (see www.DERREG.eu for more info). Capacity building and governance of regional learning and innovation is one the four research task (see also previous posts on DERREG).

Last Monday, October 18, Rural Sociology Group facilitated a group discussion in the Westerkwartier. The discussion focussed on: a) how the support rural regional learning and innovation is actually arranged in the area and b) how beneficiaries evaluate the quality of the support.

DERREG Group discussion at the Hayema Heerd

17 representatives from collective (grassroot) development initiatives in the area, from local and regional government and from knowledge institutes participated in the discussion.

Sleeping in straw beds at Hayema Heerd

The workshop was organised at an inspiring location: the barn of the former farm Hayema Heerd in Oldehove (see www.hayemaheerd.nl), now offering citizens the special countryside experiences to sleep on straw beds. In addition Hayema Heerd also offers to learn more about real-life farming at nearby farms. this has been set up jointly with local farmers and is called In-Boeren, what refers to learning about being a farmer.

Mapping the governance of rural regional learning and innovation (Source: Wellbrock and Roep, 2010)

Other collective initiatives represented in the workshop were Wichterwest, a group of women entrepreneurs setting up their own business, and the regional Agricultural Nature Association. The collaboration and joint learning-by-doing in these networks is supported by several arrangements. These arrangements can be mapped as operational interfaces between grassroot development activities in the region, supporting public policies and learning and innovation supporting facilities in the framework of what we call a learning region (see the figure), reflecting thus a map of how the support of joint rural regional learning is actually arranged (see picture).

Mapping the arrangements and personal roles of the participants

Examples of arrangements operational in the Westerkwartier are:

  • The Local Action Group (Leader);
  • The Countryside House (Plattelandshuis) serving amongst others as a window for entrepreneurs and citizens with new ideas and development initiatives;
  • An Atelier, which is under construction building on previous experiences with the aim to get public funded education and research engaged on a structural base in the support of development activities in the region;
  • Three Touristic catalysts, supporting indivudual and collective initiatives of recreational entrepreneurs in the area.

The discussion made clear that these arrangements are important to channel the various types of support to individual and collective development activities: information, financial suport, expertise, feedback, maneuvring within (public) regulations, etc. Especially the Countryside House serves well as an entry to support as it lowers the threshold for initiators, a place were people from the area can meet and find themselves someone who coaches them and get them known in the unknown, complex world of numerous subsidies, regulations and networks. Continue reading →

Fez Noz and Black Cross… – Jan Schakel in Rennes – Part 5

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Last week, I was asked to take part of a jury to assess  a thesis (‘memoire’), and it was a great experience. The classroom was filled up with many students (rather unusual), but that was due to the topic:  the performing arts in rural Brittany). The title of Alice Varagnat’s (the student) thesis was: “Le spectacle vivant dans le milieu rural en Ill-et-Vilaine” . Before I go into the ‘rural-urban’ aspect of her topic, it is good to mention that again I was too biased (or unaware) about this event. It was a real ‘defense’, even more then we are used to in Wageningen. There was a solid presentation, and after that, there was a real argument between the candidate and the committee (of 4 staff members, including me). Both took at least one hour. After that, the committee (likewise a real  PhD-thesis defense) went into ‘retraite’, and evaluated the thesis, presentation and defense. I was really pleased with the quantity and quality of the data, of her resources, findings, presentations, etc., but I had some serious comments on the structure of her report: there was no hypothesis, no methodology, no theoretical framework, no reflection, etc. But my comments didn’t make sense, because I was not participating a Master-thesis defense, but the ‘Memoires de fin d’études’, which  has more the character of an internship then from a scientific research project.  Again I had to find out that the degree of d’Ingénieur  is very different from a Masters degree. Alice’s thesis was not a scientific prove of competences, but a practical one: the report covers the ‘stage’, and shows that you’re able to organize your activities in a professional way. When I realized, that this was the context of her research (and findings), I was even more enthusiastic about it. So I proposed a high mark… just like the rest of the committee did. Finally her mark was a 17,5 (so almost belong to the best 5%), so really good!

The topic attracted many students. Rennes is a city with a lot of concerts and other cultural events. But also the rural area is famous because of an old British or even Celtic tradition: folk music, in bars and village halls, sometimes whole weekends or late in the evening. Festivals during the night, ‘feast at night’, so in Breton language called: ‘Fez Noz’ are very popular!  Alice’s study was on much more then jus this phenomenon of Fez Noz (she looked at cabaret, theater, dancing etc; see her report if you are interested), and the results of her empirical study were rather impressing: there is a vivid world of ‘spectacle vivant’ in the’ very’ rural Brittany (in areas far from the city). When I tried to compare these findings with my experiences in Holland, I couldn’t think about more or other things like the “Zwarte cross”(a multi performance and cultural motorcycle event), the “boeren bruiloften” (Farmers weddings) or “zuipketen” (no translation…). When I talked about this with the other members of the jury, they said they had the same idea before this project started. Part of the rural identity was the tradition of the ‘spectacle vivant’, and everybody thought it had disappeared, so the main goal of this project was to find out ‘why so’ and ‘what to do’ to restore this tradition (by means of infrastructural or economical or institutional arrangements), etc. But –to everybody’s surprise-, it turned out that there still is a rural identity in Brittany in terms of these cultural traditions. Maybe a topic for a thesis at the RSO-group in Wageningen?

Continue reading →

Second European Sustainable Food Planning Conference – a last reminder

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As mentioned in one of my previous blogs the  Urban Performance Group of the University of Brighton (UK) will host the second European Sustainable Food Planning Conference on 29 and 30 October 2010 under auspices of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP). Although the deadlines for submission of abstracts and selection of papers and posters have passed, there are still a few places available to attend the conference. It promises to become an interesting conference due to the diversity of disciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions and the geographical range of cases and experiences that are going to be presented. And, furthermore, it also seems to be a vary timely conference; the attention for urban agriculture, food and health, food and urban design and food governance is rapidly increasing, not only in the academic realm but also in political and societal debates.

For more information about the conference you can download the conference brochure or have a look at the conference website.