Category Archives: RSO-student

Great course | Climate Sociologies of the Everyday

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How do climate change and societal transformation actually unfold in everyday life? Think about what we eat, how we travel, how we heat our homes, where we go on holiday, and how people move across borders.

This September–October, we invite BSc and MSc students from all backgrounds to explore these questions in Climate Sociologies of the Everyday (ENP33506) in Wageningen.

In this course, we look at climate change not only as a global environmental challenge, but as something deeply embedded in everyday practices across four key domains:

>> Food – from diets and consumption to plant-based transitions and food systems
>> Energy – from households to communities in the energy transition
>> Tourism – from high-carbon travel to climate-vulnerable destinations
>> Migration – from mobility and immobility to climate-driven displacement and adaptation

The course connects sociological theory (including social practice and mobilities perspectives) with real-world climate transformations, offering critical and applied insights into sustainability transitions.

📅 Period 1 (Sept–Oct)
📍 Wageningen University & Research
🎓 Open to BSc & MSc students
📘 Part of the national minor Climate Sociology

More information: contact course coordinator Machiel Lamers (machiel.lamers@wur.nl) or check the WUR Study Handbook.

Join us in rethinking climate change through the lens of everyday life.

Exploring thesis opportunities within RSO: Meet our supervisors

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Are you a WUR student looking for a thesis topic that engages with urgent social, political, and environmental questions in food systems, rural transformations, and global change?

The Rural Sociology Group offers a wide range of research opportunities across three key themes: Agrarian Change, Food Provisioning, and Rural Development. Each theme brings together a diverse group of supervisors working on critical issues shaping contemporary rural and food system transformations.

Across these themes, students are invited to engage with research that does not only describe change, but also critically examines power relations, inequalities, and possibilities for more just and sustainable futures.

In Agrarian Change, researchers explore the interconnected social and environmental crises shaping agrarian life, agricultural practices, and rural livelihoods. This includes questions around land, labour, ecological transformation, and alternative pathways for agrarian communities. Students interested in political ecology, rural inequality, and agricultural transitions will find a strong intellectual home here.

The Food Provisioning theme focuses on how food is produced, distributed, and governed in both rural and urban contexts. It brings attention to alternative food economies, food justice, and the politics of food systems transformation. This is a space for students interested in food governance, sustainability transitions, and the everyday practices that shape how food systems function.

The Rural Development theme examines ongoing transformations in rural areas and emerging rural–urban relations. It pays particular attention to power dynamics, governance processes, and the lived realities of rural change. Students working on questions of inequality, policy, and rural futures will find rich opportunities for engagement here.

Within these themes, students can connect with supervisors whose work spans critical social science perspectives on food and rural systems. Supervisors bring expertise in areas such as agrarian political economy, food governance, rural transformation, and environmental change, and are open to supporting students in developing tailored thesis projects.

We encourage students to explore individual supervisor profiles and ongoing research projects to identify topics that align with their interests.

If you are considering a thesis within RSO, we welcome you to reach out and discuss possibilities. Engaging with our research community is an opportunity to shape your own academic path while contributing to urgent debates on food systems, rural change, and social justice.

For more information, students can consult the supervisor profiles below or via Brightspace (WUR-only access) or contact the education coordinator at thesis.rso@wur.nl

Labor in Agroecology

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Agroecology is often presented as a holistic alternative to industrial agriculture, yet the organization, valuation, and lived meaning of labor within agroecological farms remain underexplored. This blog post draws on a qualitative study by master’s student Thomas Jongelings that addresses this gap by examining how labor organization shapes the expression of social agroecological principles and everyday experiences of work.

The central question guiding the research is: How is labor organized, valued, and made meaningful, and how do these labor experiences relate to the social principles of agroecology?

Continue reading →

Ada Korteknie wint de CollectieveKracht Masterscriptieprijs 2025

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Tijdens de CollectieveKracht-eindejaarsbijeenkomst op 8 december zijn de winnaars van de Masterscriptieprijs 2025 bekendgemaakt. Met deze jaarlijkse prijs stimuleert CollectieveKracht vernieuwend academisch onderzoek dat bijdraagt aan het begrijpen en versterken van burgercollectieven.

Dit jaar werden maar liefst 38 scripties ingezonden, afkomstig uit verschillende disciplines en landen. De jury beoordeelde een breed en kwalitatief sterk veld van studies over thema’s als commons, collectieve actie, zelforganisatie, bewonersinitiatieven en maatschappelijke samenwerking. De variatie in theoretische invalshoeken en methodologische keuzes liet duidelijk zien hoe rijk en dynamisch het onderzoeksveld rondom burgercollectieven momenteel is.

Uit dit indrukwekkende aanbod selecteerde de jury drie scripties die zich onderscheidden in originaliteit, analytische kwaliteit, maatschappelijke relevantie en de mate waarin ze nieuwe perspectieven op collectief handelen bieden.

1e prijs voor Ada Korteknie

De eerste prijs ging naar Ada Korteknie (MSc Student Resilient Farming and Foodsystems, Wageningen University & Research) voor haar scriptie:

“On curiosities, nostalgia & futurities: A study on the practice of conserving heritage crops and varieties in the Netherlands”

In haar onderzoek richt Ada zich op het behoud van oude gewassen en rassen in Nederland, en op de cruciale rol die lokale communities spelen bij het ontwikkelen en onderhouden van commons-praktijken. Door een combinatie van interviews, participerende observaties en een experimentele focusgroep creëerde zij een rijk en toegankelijk verhaal dat inzicht geeft in hoe verschillende werelden – van boeren tot beleidsmakers – samenwerken aan gedeeld erfgoed en collectief beheer.

De jury prees met name de originaliteit, de methodologische creativiteit en de bijdrage die Ada’s werk levert aan het bredere denken over collectieve organisatie en gemeenschappelijk beheer.

De volledige scriptie is hier te lezen.

Bron: CollectieveKracht, 2025

New article co-published with RSO thesis student on the politics of food loss in Indonesian value chains

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!!New publication based on the RSO thesis of Astrid Olaerts!!

Food loss in horticultural values chains is a key challenge for regional development in Global South. Yet, existing literature tends to focus on the instrumental factors behind food loss, posing technical interventions. In this new article published in Australian Geographer, we argue that we need to understand food loss through a socio-political lens. Applying such a lens to a case study of horticulture values chains in Lembang, Indonesia, the article argues that food loss is shaped by the power dynamics between different actors in interconnected market channels, including the unfair quality standards and trading practices imposed by powerful firms like supermarkets. Producers and other less powerful actors demonstrate resilience in navigating these power imbalances, however they also struggle to mitigate food loss. The article suggests several strategies that could be adopted to empower marginalised actors and reduce and prevent food loss.

You can find the article here https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00049182.2025.2597081

Congratulations to Astrid for the publication of this important work!