Research

The agroecological transitions group looks not at “if“ but “how“ agri-food systems are and can be transformed to function and thrive within the agroecological principles. We work in three focus areas: one is food democracy with the project “Does good democracy matter? Linking the deliberative quality of soy and coffee value chains to ecological foodprints”. A second research area one looks at agroforestry as a core agroecological practice with a focus on coffee agroforestry, and art and philosophy of agroforestry systems, exploring novel ways to approach the topic. The third research are focuses on transdisciplinary action research, for instance with questions of decolonization of certification in international trade and applying ecofeminist approaches to climate change adaptation in mountain regions, together with the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI).
Our research approaches are always interdisciplinary in order to bring together and to better understand the different aspects of the complex social-ecological systems that food systems represent. We aim to make our research transdisciplinary by engaging in a dialogue of knowledge with academic and non-academic actors to make or work societally relevant and conducive to agroecological transitions.