Fruits of internship labor

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IMG_0168Last week I visited Clara, a Master of Organic Agriculture student at her internship with the PeerGroup in Donderen near Groningen. This theatre group located at an old ammunition depot advertised a while ago that they were looking for a student who could set up their farming activity (see earlier blog). Over the past few months she worked hard to design and construct the first step, a vegetable garden near the communal and office spaces. At the same time of building a greenhouse and raised beds she kept a nursery going and when the weather (finally!) got better, planted the seedlings. Now the water pump is working, it will go fast.

This is just step one of a long-term plan to integrate more farming in the area, in collaboration with the community in the village and the care farm nearby. The PeerGroup is open to future students with skills to develop other parts of their unique location which inhabits rare species and special biotope, and is at the same time military heritage, creative work space and publicly open and connected to nearby recreation forests.

Food at the battefields

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This 6th and last lecturing period of the year, I run a capita selecta course on Food Culture with some of the students from the regular course in February in which we read and discuss classics in food culture together. Like two years ago, there is a small but dedicated group of students eager to read entire books rather than the usual scientific papers. We just finished ‘Paradox of the Plenty’ by Harvey Levenstein, a very dense but easy and often funny to read social history of eating in the U.S. spanning from 1920s to about the 1990s. One of the stories to which we awed with amazement is about the abundance, diversity and quality of the food supply and diet of American soldiers during World War II. Continue reading →

Job opening: Assistant / Associate Professor in Food Sociology (tenure track position)

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The Rural Sociology Group of Wageningen University is looking for an assistant or associate professor in food sociology. As an assistant / associate professor you will teach and coordinate Bachelor and Master courses for the Bachelor and Master program International Development Studies (specialization Sociology of Development), the Master program Health and Society and for the Master program Food Technology (specialization Gastronomy), and supervise Master thesis research for these programmes. You will undertake independent research and participate in (and coordinate) international research projects, specifically focusing on food provisioning in urbanizing societies and on the relations between food and public health, social equity and sustainable urban and regional development. Other aspects of the job include project acquisition, training and supervision of PhD students and participation in various research and/or education committees.

 

We ask

  • A PhD degree in (rural) sociology, food policy, social/human geography or related social science discipline;
  • An inspiring vision on sustainable food provisioning in urban and metropolitan regions;
  • Considerable experience with agro-food research, proven by publications in key international journals, and preferably in the fields of food culture, alternative food networks, urban food strategies and/or public food procurement;
  • A relevant international network;
  • Good didactic qualities and the capacity to motivate students (candidates will be required to follow the Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Programme (LTHEP, in Dutch referred to as BKO), a system adopted by all Dutch universities);
  • Excellent writing skills;
  • Good management skills;
  • Fluent in English;
  • Preferably a proven record in acquisition of research projects;

To be considered for an Associate Professorship, substantial teaching experience, proven didactic qualities, publications in leading journals and a proven record in acquisition of research projects and supervision of PhD students are prerequisites.

 

We offer

A challenging career trajectory called Tenure Track. From the position of Assistant Professor or Associate Professor you can eventually grow into the position of a Professor holding a Personal Chair. Of course training and coaching are provided and interdisciplinary (international) cooperation is stimulated. You will also be given the chance to build up your own research line.

We offer you a temporary contract for three years (0.8 – 1.0 fte), which can lead to a permanent employment contract. Gross salary:

  • Assistant professor: from € 3227 to € 4418 (Scale 11 CAO Dutch Universities), based on full time (1,0 fte) employment and dependent on expertise and experience.
  • Associate professor: from € 4472 to € 5444 (Scale 13 CAO Dutch Universities), based on full time (1,0 fte) employment and dependent on expertise and experience.

For more information about Tenure Track within Wageningen UR look at http://www.wageningenur.nl/en/Jobs/Tenure-Track.htm

 

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 E-mail address: han.wiskerke@wur.nl

 

Application

To apply, please upload your letter of motivation and your CV, including a list of publications via the online application button on the Wageningen University vacancy webpage before June 17 2013. You will receive an automatic e-mail confirmation within 24 hours.

Outstanding impact on public policy

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Professor Kevin Morgan and Dr Roberta Sonnino from Cardiff University are winners of the Public Policy category of the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize 2013!

Watch this video to learn more about the impact of their work on school food.

Sense of place in a neighbourhood in Groningen: request for a master student

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The Rural Sociology Group is looking for a master student who is willing to do his or her master student in the city of Groningen. In Groningen an urban working group of citizens aims to establish an ecological walking route in their neighbourhood Helpman/Wijert. This working group needs support in their process. A group of students from Larenstein has already helped them with a plan and communication.

The aim is to involve the neighbourhood in an action-based explorative research approach, gain insight in the sense of place, values and motivations of the citizens and analyse if this can lead to agency and participation in the green development of this urban area.

This project is part of the wider programme of KIGO, ‘Green education in the city’, aimed at cooperation between educational institutions to enhance green knowledge and green education in the city. This means that the plan is to combine the work of the student with complementary research and implementation activities by other students from for example AOC Terra in Groningen. For this research one or more master students in social sciences are requested. The implementation and starting date of the project is flexible and can be further discussed with the local commissioner, chairman of the Working Group and with Frans Traa, coordinator of the KIGO programme.

Interested students can contact L.G. (Ina) Horlings, Rural Sociology Group, lummina.horlings@wur.nl.