PUREFOOD - Prograrma PGDR gen Information Pack

8/8/2019 PUREFOOD - Prograrma PGDR gen Information Pack

1/38

Urban, peri-urban and regional food dynamics:

toward an integrated and territorial approach to food

PUREFOOD information pack for prospective early-stage researchers (ESRs)

(October 2010)

PUREFOOD is a Marie Curie Initial Training Network funded by the European Commissions Seventh Framework PEOPLE program


2/38

1

___________________________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION

PUREFOOD is a Marie Curie Initial Training Network funded by the European Commissions SeventhFramework PEOPLE program (see http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/people/home_en.html). The objectiveof PUREFOOD is to train a pool of early-stage researchers in the socio-economic and socio-spatialdynamics of the (peri-)urban and regional foodscape.

PUREFOODs early stage researchers will be hosted by a consortium of seven universities:

1. Wageningen University Rural Sociology Group (The Netherlands)2. Cardiff University School of City and Regional Planning (United Kingdom)3. Pisa University Department of Agronomy and Agro-ecosystem Management (Italy)4. Latvia University Faculty of Social Sciences (Latvia)5. City University London Centre for Food Policy (United Kingdom)6. Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil)7. Makerere University School of Public Health (Uganda)

This information pack gives an overview of the project in terms of the research projects available, the

training offered, the planning of research and training and the partners involved.


3/38

2

___________________________________________________________________________________

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PROJECT OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES 3

S&T QUALITY 5Progress beyond the state-of-the-art and S&T objectives 5Research methodology 9Scientific work packages and individual ESR projects 9

TRAINING 16Training philosophy and objectives 16Content, structure and quality of the training programme 17

PLANNING 25PUREFOOD PARTICIPANTS 28

Wageningen University Rural Sociology Group (P1) 30Cardiff University School of City and Regional Planning (P2) 30University of Pisa Department of Agronomy and Agro-ecosystem Management (P3) 31Latvia University Faculty of Social Sciences (P4) 31City University London Centre for Food Policy (P5) 32Federal University Rio Grande do Sul (P6) 32Makerere University School of Public Health (P7) 33Peri-Urban Regions Platform Europe (AP1) 34Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) Platform (AP2) 34

Sodexo (AP3) 35Willem&Drees (AP4) 35

Slow Food Study Center (AP5) 35Stroom Den Haag (AP6) 36Sustain (AP7) 36Tukums municipality Development department (AP8) 37


4/38

3

___________________________________________________________________________________

PROJECT OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVESFluctuating food and fuel prices and the increase in urban food-related health and environmental problems areraising an urgent need to devise more effective and sustainable agro-food policies and development strategies.By focussing on food industrialisation, standardisation and globalisation, many contemporary socio-economicfood studies tend to neglect the socio-cultural, economic, political and spatial dynamics and impacts of food(re)localisation as well as its multidimensionality and territoriality. That is, food is multidimensional as it isrelated to many policy domains such as public health, education, quality of life and environmental quality andit is territorial as the food sector has a significant impact on the regional economy and food-related problemsand solutions are characterised by regional specificity. This programme aims to reduce the enormousknowledge and skills deficit that is negatively affecting the capacity to design and deliver appropriate politicaland developmental solutions in the crucial supra-disciplinary fields of food security, public food procurement,public health and sustainable urban and regional development. Hence, the objective of this Marie Curie ITN isto train a pool of social scientists in the socio-economic and socio-spatial dynamics of the (peri-)urban andregional foodscape through its innovative methodology, its interdisciplinary network, its high and diverse levelof private sector, government and NGO involvement, its holistic emphasis on best practice examples ofsustainable food chains and the formation of Communities of Practice that include actors of different sectors ofthe food chain and its surrounding public and civic environment. The research and training program willtherefore provide knowledge and innovation for the Commissions aim to deal with economic, social andenvironmental policies in mutually reinforcing ways which reflects the core of the Lisbon and Gothenburgagendas call for integrated solutions towards economic prosperity, social cohesion and environmentalsustainability. The PUREFOOD network is centred around food as an integrated and territorial mode ofgovernance and studies the emergence of the (peri-)urban foodscape as an alternative (as opposed to a

globalised) geography of food, including the ways in which, and the extent to which, sustainability aspectsgenerally considered to be intrinsic to the alternative food geography are incorporated by the moreconventional food companies.

The peri-urban foodscape is shaped by three contemporary development trends, each developed in a scientificwork package (WP):1. WP 2 (market civil society axis) Sustainable food supply chains aimed at reconnecting consumers and

producers (or, in general, city and countryside), which reflect changes in the relationship between thechain of food provision (the food market) and civil society.

2. WP 3 (state market axis) Public sector food procurement practices and strategies, representing newrelationships between the public sector and the chain of food provision (the food market).

3. WP 4 (state civil society axis) Urban and peri-urban food strategies and policies, representing new rolesand new strategies devised by the public sector and civil society to address societal problems structuredaround the relationship between food, health, environment, transport, et cetera.

The emerging fields of sustainable food supply chains, public sector procurement and urban food strategies arecharacterised by new relations between the state/public sector, the market/food provision chain and civilsociety (i.e. the governance triangle) with key roles for new actors and actor constellations (e.g. urbanconsumer groups, new food movements, new food chain actors, city and regional governments, and foodindustry platforms). Hence there is an urgent need for enlarging empirical data, elaborating theories, analysingexamples, identifying opportunities and barriers and for facilitating knowledge exchange among researchers,policy makers and practitioners to further the development of sustainable food systems. The commitment ofassociated partners, that together represent the 3 corners of the food governance triangle (fig. 1), illustrates


5/38

4

___________________________________________________________________________________

the importance and timeliness of our research and training programme. Interaction between ESRs, hostinstitutions and associated partners at WP-level will be facilitated by a 1) co-supervision, 2) a Community of

Practice (CoP) and 3) a secondment approach. The research training programme has two objectives:1. transfer (disciplinary) scientific knowledge and skills between complementary groups, giving ESRs the

broadest and most thorough education (i.e. interdisciplinary, methodological and theoretical), which wouldnot be possible at a single establishment, and

2. interactively develop scientific and professional knowledge and skills through a learning-by-doing anddoing-by-learning approach. This objective will be achieved by setting up Communities of Practice (CoPs)of researchers, food industry partners, municipal and regional authorities, NGOs and interest groupscentred around the proposals main WP themes: a) sustainable food supply chain, b) public foodprocurement, and c) urban food strategies.

(Peri-)urban

Foodscape

Food provision

chain / Market

Government /

Public sectorCivil society

Health

Environment

Quality of life

Social inclusion &

justice

URBAN FOOD STRATEGIES

Employment

Regional economy

Education

Transport

Food consumption

Food production

Figure 1. The (peri-)urban foodscape (source: Wiskerke, 2010)

These objectives lead to a number of basic scientific, advanced scientific, professional and host institutetraining modules. The universities leading the scientific Work Packages are responsible for the basic andadvanced scientific training and form, together with the overall network and training coordinator, the SteeringCommittee (SC) of the PUREFOOD network. All members of the SC have ample experience in the coordinationof international research and training programs.

PUREFOOD contributes to the career perspectives of ESR through compulsory network training in eachdiscipline and interdisciplinary courses so that they can obtain the broadest possible education necessary for afuture career in academia or in practice. Equally unique is the mutual recognition of the training programme ofall partners which indicates that successfully completed Career Development Plans will give access to a PhDdegree at every partner university. Secondments of individual ESRs will also play a positive role in terms ofacquiring experience in various companies and institutes. PUREFOOD provides wide opportunities to applythese skills in conferences, scientific papers, policy and practice recommendations and workshops. And an

important contribution of the training and thus of the career prospects of the recruited researchers will be


6/38

5

___________________________________________________________________________________

offered by the threefold involvement of the industry partners. They will co-supervise students, hostsecondments, and organise training within the CoPs and within specific professional skills courses.

The thematic approach structured around the CoPs (which include science, policy, business and civilsociety) will ensure maximum knowledge-exchange and learning. At the same time, through its networkactivities (such as conferences and workshops) the network as a whole will create significant opportunities foroverarching knowledge building and analysis. We anticipate that a four year project with such closepartnerships will generate a substantial number of lasting relations. Moreover, the process of graduallyexpanding CoPs where science, policy and practice meet and are engaged in joint problem solving creates theexpectation that the PUREFOOD project will contribute to long lasting collaborations between universities andindustry partners to further design and conduct agro-food studies in interdisciplinary and intersectoralenvironments.

S&T QUALITY

Progress beyond the state-of-the-art and S&T objectives

Much of the critical and theoretical attention in agro-food studies has so far focused on the driving forces andimpacts of: a) the modernization and industrialization of the food system; b) the standardization of foodproduction and processing practices; and c) the globalization of the food market (Murdoch et al. 2000). As theliterature shows, these trends have coincided with three decades of neo-liberal politics of economicliberalization, which has advocated deregulation, privatization and withdrawal of the state under theassumption that the social good will be maximized by maximizing the reach and frequency of market

transitions and [seeking] to bring all human action into the domain of the market (Harvey 2005: 3).

The new food equation, fashioned by the food price surge, land conflicts and looming climate change(Morgan & Sonnino, in press), is profoundly changing this scenario. Market fundamentalism is increasingly de-legitimized and a broad range of 'alternatives' seeking to countervail dominant trends are developing. This isespecially the case in cities, where highly fluctuating food and fuel prices, coupled with an increase in urbanfood-related health and environmental problems, are raising an urgent need to devise more effective andsustainable food provisioning chains and food policy strategies. PUREFOOD will enlarge our understanding ofthese emerging alternatives by exploring the heterogeneous socio-economic and socio-spatial dynamics of thenew geography of food: the (peri-) urban foodscape (Johnston et al. 2009) (see figure 1).

Central to this new geography of food is a sustainability discourse that no longer accepts the externalizationof environmental, social and even economic costs (Morgan et al. 2006). Driven as it is by new concerns aboutfood quality and safety, nutrition, food security and carbon food prints, the emerging (peri-) urban foodscape isshaped by three interrelated and mutually reinforcing societal axis (see fig 1):1. Sustainable supply chains (market/civil society axis);2. Public food procurement (state/market axis);3. Urban food strategies (civil society/state axis).Ad 1. Sustainable food supply chains

In the last decade, sociologists, economists and geographers have provided ample evidence that alternativefood networks (AFNs) are steadily gaining ground (Watts et al. 2005), as concerns about food safety andnutrition are leading many consumers in advanced capitalist countries to exercise more caution in their


7/38

6

___________________________________________________________________________________

consumption habits. A growing number of discerning consumers are demanding "quality" products ... .

Moreover, quality is coming to be seen as inherent in more "local" and more "natural" foods ... . Thus, quality

food production systems are being re-embedded in local ecologies (Murdoch et al. 2000: 107). As a result ofincreasing scholarly interest a steadily maturing body of socio-spatial food theories, concomitant with a rapidgrowing number of well elaborated cases, has been developed under the umbrella of the notion of AFNs(Watts et al. 2005). AFNs represent spatially bound relations between consumers and the food market; theyare considered to be the outcome of the deliberate intention to create alterity (or otherness) in the foodsystem and to produce change in the modes of connectivity between the production and consumption of food,

generally through reconnecting food to the social, cultural and environmental context of its production (Kirwan2004: 395). Many case studies have been published about short food supply chains such as farm shops(Holloway et al., 2007), farmers markets (Kirwan 2004), box schemes (Seyfang 2006) and communitysupported agriculture (Hinrichs 2000). But also the more spatially extended food supply chains with regionallyspecific food products such as those protected by PDO and PGI regulations (Barham 2003) as well as alternative

modes of food production (and processing) such as organics and quality foods are usually considered to beexpressions of AFNs or sustainable food supply chains (Renting et al. 2003). The analysis of various types ofalternative/sustainable food supply chains has uncovered practices of food provision characterized by adifferent logic, especially in relation to the redistribution of value (Whatmore et al. 2003; Guthman, 2007). Dueto the burgeoning literature on AFNs a rich database of AFN cases has been built (see Watts et al. 2005)concomitant with a lively theoretical debate about network dynamics, conventions, power relations andparadigmatic change (see e.g. Goodman, 2004; Morgan et al., 2006).

However, until now this large body of literature largely focuses on the supply side of the food chain.PUREFOOD aims to move beyond this food provision bias by adopting a more integrated approach that alsoembraces the consumption side in order to improve our theoretical understanding of sustainable food supplychains and their development and sustainability potential. The scientific work package about sustainable foodsupply chains (WP2) will therefore look into the role of consumers as drivers of innovation and sustainability infood supply chains and into the impact of new consumer-producer interactions on lifestyles, purchasing trendsand social relations. Furthermore, this WP will also provide insights into one of the most under-studied (and,simultaneously, paradoxical) aspects of food re-localization: that is, its increased dependence on virtual formsof communication and the effects this has on food culture and consumption practices. Although the attentionfor consumption has grown in the social sciences in the past decades (Miller 1995), consumption has beenrather narrowly conceptualized in many consumers studies (Miele 2006). Through a broader conceptualizationof consumption as part of embedded inter-dependent practices and habits (Shove & Warde 1997), PUREFOODintends to contribute to agro-food studies where consumption has been neglected, under-theorized, treatedas an exogenous structural category, and granted agency only in the economistic, abstract terms of demand(Goodman & DuPuis 2002: 10).

In addition, PUREFOOD also intends to move beyond another dichotomy in agro-food studies: thealternative/local/artisan mode versus the conventional/global/industrial mode. This distinction is problematicas it gives rise to a dualism that tends to obscure the great diversity of production-consumption relationships(Holloway et al. 2007) and fails to take into account the blurring boundaries between alternative andconventional modes of food provisioning (Slee & Kirwan forthcoming). In WP2 we will therefore also focus onthe rise of new intermediary food companies that actively link the alternative and the conventional as well ason the incorporation of alternative sustainability principles in conventional food chains.

Ad 2. Public food procurement

While sustainable food supply chains on the market/civil society axis have received much scholarly attention

over the last ten years, other (emerging) forms of food provisioning, such as public food procurement have


8/38

7

___________________________________________________________________________________

only recently begun to receive some scholarly attention. Recent studies about hospital catering (Kirwan &Foster 2006) and school meals (Morgan & Sonnino 2008) show that the public sector is emerging as a

powerful actor in the food chain - one that has the capacity to reconnect producers and consumers through a

process of qualification that extends beyond the market and the food products alone. By also acting upon the

less visible aspects of the food system - including service, transport, labor, eating practices - procurement

policies are designing an `economy of quality' that has the potential to deliver the environmental, economic,

and social benefits of sustainable development - in and beyond the food system (Sonnino 2009: 426).Particularly because the public sector hospitals, care homes, schools, universities, prisons and canteens ingovernment buildings represents a significant part of any national food economy, its potential in deliveringhealthy and sustainable communities is large. Nevertheless, many public sector organizations tend to opt forrather narrow cost-based contracting procedures instead of a broader and more integrated approach thatincludes aspects of health, social justice, regional employment and environmental sustainability (Wiskerke2010). However, despite its enormous power in effecting behavioural change in economy and society, the story

of public procurement is largely a tale of untapped potential. Research is still very fragmented across differentdisciplines and sectors and lacks coherence, empirical backing and comparative insights. WP3 will contribute tofill these gaps by enlarging our database of different types of public procurement initiatives and theirsustainable development potential. Moreover this WP on public food procurement will also transcendgeographical boundaries in agro-food studies by comparing public food procurement practices and strategies inthe North (UK) and the South (Brazil and Uganda).

Ad 3. Urban food strategies

When more than half of the worlds population is urbanized, food is rising up urban sustainability agendas,given its unique role in sustaining human life, its intensive use of natural resources such as land, water andfossil fuel and its connections with a wide range of municipal and regional policy areas (from land-use planningto infrastructure and transport, from environmental conservation to housing and economic development).These connections have not escaped the attention of academics. Indeed, much has been written in the lastdecade about urban food sustainability, especially in relation to the long-standing issue of food security. In thiscontext, the attention of researchers has focused primarily on the production dimension of the food securityproblem, as evidenced by the emergence of a large body of literature on urban agriculture and its real andpotential contributions to improving the quality of the living environment for urban residents as well as theirindividual and collective health and well being (see Smit et al. 1996; Mougeout 1999 and 2006; Koc et al. 1999;Halweil & Nierenberg 2007; Redwood 2009).

In the context of the new food equation urban agriculture is likely to play an increasingly important rolein meeting the most basic food needs of urban residents. However, research insights that have been providedso far are not sufficient to help policy-makers to address the most compelling questions that are emerging in

relation to urban food provisioning and land-use planning. In fact, the lack of comprehensive and comparativestudies on urban agriculture makes it difficult to understand under what specific conditions this activity candeliver its alleged public health, social, economic and environmental benefits, and to whom (Redwood 2009:154). In addition, the new food equation is raising the need to develop new conceptual frameworks thatintegrate the vast amount of literature (including grey literature) on urban food production with studies thatfocus on the other most fundamental dimension of food security: access to food.

In the last decades, rapid urban expansion has produced an equally rapid loss of agricultural land in peri-urban areas, disconnecting cities from the natural resource-base of their surroundings and from the productivesystems that were associated with it. As urban-rural linkages have weakened or even disappeared, cities havebecome increasingly dependent on the global industrialized food system. Although comprehensive accounts of

the impact of the global food system on urban areas are still lacking, the studies produced across different


9/38

8

___________________________________________________________________________________

disciplines emphasize how the intensification tendencies of industrial agriculture, with its heavy reliance on theuse of pesticides and fertilizers, have exacerbated urban water pollution and waste problems (Pothukuchi &

Kaufman 1999). Socially and economically, increased marketplace activities of corporate chains have displacedlocal food retailers (Dixon et al. 2007: 124-125), creating urban food deserts where people especially low-income people have little or no access to fresh, nutritious and healthy food (Wrigley 2002; Guyet al. 2004). Sofar, liberal national governments have framed rights and responsibilities in terms of individualized consumerchoices in line with the non-interventionist agenda of corporate retailers. However, this notion is increasinglycontested as it becomes more obvious that many health and environmental problems, and most socialproblems, cannot be reduced to consumer demand Friedmann (2005: 257).

In this context, there is an urgent need for integrated urban food policies that create new linkages and newrelationships between different stages and actors of the food chain to improve urban food provisioning and tocreate positive connections between food, health, the economy, the environment and culture (Lang et al.

2009). Pioneering city-governments all over the world have begun to address this need by devising foodstrategies that aim to calibrate demand and supply. Social scientists from different disciplinary backgroundshave documented the emergence of these strategies and their sustainable development potential (see, forexample, Sonnino 2009; Wiskerke 2010; Donald & Blay-Palmer 2006; Halweil & Nierenberg 2007). However, aswith most of the literature on urban food, this body of work is still fragmented across different fields. Little orno effort has so far been made to critically compare the case studies produced so far. An analysis of this kind iscrucial to identify best practice and create mechanisms for knowledge-exchange between cities. By harnessingthe many platforms of knowledge established so far on urban food strategies, PUREFOODs WP4 and its 4constituting ESR projects will make a significant contribution to the establishment of a new researchcommunity that can provide cutting-edge theoretical, methodological and practical responses to the challengesposed by the new food equation and, more broadly, by the shifting pattern of rural-urban linkages.

In summary, sustainable food supply chains, innovative public food procurement strategies and the emergenceof urban food strategies demonstrate that there is a generalized discontent with the globalised agro-foodsystem and its neoliberal foundations. The integrated and territorial nature of the new developments alsoseems to reflect an awareness that food itself transcends boundaries between realms of modern society suchas between production and consumption, science, technology, and politics, and nature and culture (Lien &Anthony 2007: 413).

To understand the nature and dynamics of this emerging supra-disciplinary field of (peri-) urbanfoodscapes and the important contribution they can make to the objectives of sustainable development, thereis a strong need for cooperation across disciplines and between different socio-economic actors. The proposedITN will clearly move research beyond its current state-of-the-art and provides a unique opportunity for

knowledge-exchange and direct implementation through the creation of three thematic Communities ofPractice (CoP) including companies, NGOs, public authorities, academic experts and early-career researchersfrom developed as well as developing countries. To facilitate cross-fertilization between academics andpractitioners and make sure that this will benefit both theory and practice, the PUREFOOD ITN will pursue thefollowing S&T objectives:a) To move research on sustainable food supply chains in hitherto unexplored directions through the adoption

of an integrated approach that aims to go beyond current dichotomies;b) To enlarge the theoretical and empirical understanding of the new emerging phenomena of 1) public food

procurement, and 2) urban food strategies;c) To analyse examples of best practice in the three fields and uncover their potential in delivering food

security and sustainable development outcomes;

d) To identify opportunities for, and barriers to, the development of sustainable food systems at the


10/38

9

___________________________________________________________________________________

international, national, regional and municipal level;e) To facilitate training and exchange amongst researchers, food entrepreneurs/companies, policy-makers and

civil servants, and members of civil society organizationsf) To train a new generation of experts who have the competences and skills to analyze, design and

implement sustainable food strategies and networks as well as the competences and skills to understandand collaborate with the key food governance stakeholders: food entrepreneurs, public authorities and civilsociety organizations.

Research methodology

The core of the PUREFOOD research and training approach is formed by the three thematic research WPs andrelated Communities of Practice (CoPs): 1) Sustainable food supply chains, 2) Public food procurement, and 3)Urban food strategies. The individual ESR projects will adopt a case study approach as the primary interest is in

unravelling and understanding the underlying dynamics of the (peri-)urban foodscape. A mixed method casestudy strategy fits our S&T objectives which are situated in real life situations where conditions cannot be heldconstant, where multiple sources of data are available, where a unit of observation needs to be studied over alonger period of time and where the actors points of view have to be taken into account. In their case studies,ESRs will be using multiple and mixed quantitative and qualitative socio-economic research techniques toenhance internal case validity (Yin 1994). Qualitative data will be gathered by fieldwork using interviews andparticipant observation (e.g. in secondment) (Patton 1990). Software for qualitative data analysis such asAtlas.Ti will be used. Quantitative database construction of assembled existing company records for secondaryanalysis with conventional statistical packages such as SPSS will be used. Analytical comparison of cases in thesense of iterative explanation-building (Yin 1994: 110) is crucial for the development and refinement ofempirically grounded theories.

Alongside the research within the individual ESR projects, collaborative research, training, exchange andnetworking takes place in the CoPs. The concept of CoP thus integrates research and training methodology (seealso B4). From a scientific research perspective the following principles are guiding the research methodology:

Interdisciplinarity: the competences of the future generation of researchers need to reflect the broadertendencies in society for holistic and integrated solutions. This assumes a profound theoretical basis indifferent social and economic (sub)disciplines, such as rural sociology, human and economic geography,neo-institutional and evolutionary economics, urban and regional planning, political science andgovernance studies, and regional studies.

A comparative approach to develop a) awareness of cultural biases and knowledge of other contexts forthe stimulation of future mobility in research, and b) understanding of context-specific aspects on the onehand and general features and developments on the other hand.

Empirically grounded because a) the nature of this emerging field asks for more empirical evidence and b)to enhance the competences of the ESRs in handling complex realities with political dimensions.

A combination of qualitative and quantitative and action research methods is highly innovative becausedifferent methodologies are still often linked to different disciplines. Multi-method research enhancesinterdisciplinarity at a practical level through giving ESRs the language, tools, skills and competences tointeract with different epistemic communities.

Scientific work packages and individual ESR projects

PUREFOOD consists of 4 work packages (WPs): WP1 about training and three scientific WPs (2-4), eachrepresenting a specific thematic domain of the overall program: sustainable food supply chains (WP2), public


11/38

10

___________________________________________________________________________________

food procurement (WP3) and urban food strategies (WP4). In this section the scientific WPs and individual ESRprojects will be outlined. WP1 will be discussed in section B4.

Each scientific WP comprises 4 individual ESR projects. Interaction between ESRs, host institutions andassociated partners at WP-level will be facilitated by a threefold approach:1. Co-supervision, implying that the ESR is not only supervised by a team member of the host institution but

also by a team member of one of the other partners within the WP.2. Community of Practice (CoP), which will facilitate the creation of a virtual and physical learning

environment in which the team members of the host institutions, the ESRs and the industry partners (aswell as associated partners, visiting scientists and external academics, policy-makers and practitioners) willbe able to exchange knowledge, ideas and experiences. This will allow them to collectively build andenlarge a database of academic and documentary literature and to discuss the theoretical, policy andpractical implications of research findings and professional experiences.

3. Secondment, implying that the ESR spends a secondment period of 2-3 months at one or more of theassociated partner companies or institutions and/or at one or more of the full partner host institutions asseen fit with the research of the ESR.

Sustainable food supply chains (WP2)

As indicated in B3.1 this WP will build upon interdisciplinary research based on the hypothesis that food-related activities are embedded into broader social practices, and advocate that research should concentrateon the transformative potential of consumers, producers and other food supply chain actors. Hence, there is aneed for research which integrates both producer and consumer perspectives in the study of sustainable foodsupply chains. This WP will move beyond the state-of-the-art by studying consumers as drivers of innovation innew food networks (ESR project 1) and by examining the role of internet and virtual communication in relationto food culture (ESR project 2). Moreover as the boundary between alternative and conventional food supplychains are blurring (Goodman 2004; Sonnino and Marsden 2006) it is paramount to research new intermediary

organizations which combine alternative and conventional strategies in different ways to contribute to betterconceptualizations (ESR project 3). Likewise it is necessary to understand the ways in which alternativesustainability values are incorporated in the strategies of transnational food companies and to which extentthese new corporate sustainability principles are implemented in different stages of the food supply chain (ESRproject 4). By addressing these topics, WP2 will contribute to debates about the relationships betweenproducers and consumers and between conventional and alternative food supply chains and, more specifically,the effectiveness of this distinction in bringing about a conscious change in the rationale and organization ofsustainable food provisioning.

Vacancy 2.1 Consumers as drivers of innovation in new food networks

Goal: To understand how innovation takes place at different points of the existing socio-technical systems centeredaround food as an effect of the activity of new food networks. To understand how innovation at one point (forexample, consumption) may affect innovation at another point (for example, production).

Description: The creation of new food networks is a complex process which, both from the producers and consumersside, implies a deep reframing of the material and immaterial components of daily practices. Through participation innew food networks farmers and consumers are involved into processes that foster innovation along with sustainablepathways. At consumption level, innovation may affect individual lifestyles, family organization, purchasing patterns,social relations, consumption technologies. At farm level, innovation may cover all aspects of farming, from internalorganization, to logistics, administration, communication. These processes are also open to interaction with widernetworks, of which producers and consumers are part. Direct links between producers and consumers foster a processof coproduction of new cognitive frames, infrastructures, rules and norms. The research will apply network analysis toexamine how new production and consumption paradigms are created through learning processes in consumerpurchasing groups.


12/38

11

___________________________________________________________________________________

Vacancy 2.2 Communication and media in shaping sustainable food supply chains

Goal: To understand how new food networks are created in communicative processes. How are the meanings anddiscourses of new food networks created? What are the symbols and values, the roles taken by actors involved? Howare traditional and new communication tools used to create new food networks and cultures?

Description: New food networks are increasingly shaped by processes of communication, not only by commodityexchange. New food communities (food-style groups, dietary associations, communities of food values) are to a largeextent communicative associations formed on internet platforms. This research will deal with the mechanisms howthese food associative ties, ideas, knowledge and lifestyles are transmitted within new food communities and howthese correlate towards retailers and producers. Apart from emerging internet grass-roots networks, this study willlook at other forms of personalized food communication and knowledge, like direct producer-to-consumercommunication.

Vacancy 2.3. The role of new food enterprises in reshaping food supply chains.

Goal: To understand how new food enterprises reshape food supply chains by both using the alternative and theconventional food systems in new and innovative configurations

Description: New food networks of direct producer and consumer contact have formed a niche in the broader systemof food supply based on a different or alternative logic. Much literature has focused on the potential of thesenetworks to achieve a bigger impact through scaling up and changing the conventional food system. Barriers havebeen identified in the capacity of farmers/consumers networks to scale up. However, recently new independentintermediary food enterprises have been established which combine in different ways the alternative and theconventional food system. Two of these enterprises will be studied in this project, one related to local sourcing forconventional supermarkets and the other a new supermarket formula based on local, regional and quality products

Vacancy 2.4. Greening the conventional chain: implementing the food industrys new sustainability criteria in

primary production

Goal: To understand the bottlenecks primary producers are currently experiencing to implement the food industryssustainability principles and to develop strategies to overcome these bottlenecks

Description: SAI Platform is an association of 24 food industry companies collaborating to develop sustainabilitycriteria for food production and to support primary producers in implementing these criteria in their everydaypractices. Although ample research has been undertaken to develop sustainability criteria and several pilot projectshave been set up, the desired transition towards sustainable agriculture is not yet occurring. This project will thereforeexamine, based on a review of completed research commissioned by SAI Platform and an evaluation of pilot projectsset up by SAI Platform and its member organizations, the main bottlenecks primary producers are experiencing toimplement these sustainability criteria in food production practices. Building on this assessment of bottlenecksstrategies to overcome these bottlenecks will be developed and tested by means of a learning-by-doing approach incollaboration with SAI Platform member companies and groups of primary producers.

Public food procurement (WP3)

Both developed and developing countries are using school food reform as a tool to develop new supply chainsthat set a high premium on the use of quality food, which is generally equated with fresh, locally producedfood (Morgan and Sonnino, 2008). Much more could be achieved if the power of purchase were to beharnessed across the entire spectrum of the public sectorin hospitals, nursing care homes, colleges,universities, prisons, government offices, and the like. As planners and policy-makers throughout the worldbecome increasingly engaged with this new politics of the public plate, different challenges continue to arise inthe realms of infrastructural development, transport, land use and citizens education, to name just a few. Inthis context, there is an increasingly perceived need for integrated and comparative studies that identify andcritically examine examples of sustainable public procurement initiatives. Under what specific conditions dopublic authorities overcome the regulatory, infrastructural, economic and cultural challenges associated with


13/38

12

___________________________________________________________________________________

the development of sustainable public food systems? What is the role of different food chain actors in initiatingand sustaining this kind of system? What kind of political and economic strategies are utilized to design and

deliver sustainable public food systems? The four ESR projects in this WP will address these emerging researchquestions through a comparative analysis of different types of sustainable public food initiatives. In addition tooffering a broad geographical focus (which embraces both developed and developing countries), the fourprojects provide insights into the role of different public food chain actors (i.e., the national and municipalState for projects 5 and 7, the private sector for project 6 and civil society for project 8) and their differingapproaches to the creation of sustainable public food systems.

Vacancy 3.1 Shaping Sustainable Food Chains through National Procurement Policies

Goal: To understand the role of nationally-led procurement strategies in fostering sustainable food chains. Toinvestigate the scope for devising and implementing sustainable public food policies at the national level. To providecase studies that can inform theoretical and practical understanding of the relationship between principles ofsustainable public procurement and their empirical implementation.

Description: The Public Sector Food Procurement Initiative, launched by the UK government in 2003 to ensure thatpublic canteens purchase from sustainable food chains, was arguably one of the most innovative programmes of itskind in the world. In addition to embracing almost every stakeholder in the food chain, this strategy was one of theearliest attempts to factor into the procurement equation the effects on human health and the environment of theentire agri-food cycle. Using the PSFPI as a starting point, this project aims to enhance theoretical and practicalunderstanding of the opportunities for (and barriers to) the design and implementation of national public procurementpolicies that re-connect producers and consumers and forge healthy and sustainable communities. By focusing on bestpractice examples in the context of hospital food, the research will uncover the process through which the maincultural and practical barriers to the development of sustainable public food chains (including, for example, theproblem of reaching a commonly agreed definition of "best value") can be overcome.

Vacancy 3.2. Local Food Procurement: The Challenge of Scaling Up

Goal: This project aims to address three key research questions: What does a private company understand by asustainable food chain? What are the scope and barriers to a private company acting as the animateur of asustainable food chain? Can Sodexo transfer its supply chain expertise to its own suppliers to enable them to meetexacting quality standards?

Description: Sodexo is one of the premier food service companies in the EU and in St Athan, Wales, it is responsible forcreating a food system for a radically new community the Defence Training Centre which will cater for all three ofthe armed services in the UK, the army, the navy and air force. Sodexo aims to provide a high quality food system thatuses as much locally-produced food as possible.

Vacancy 3.3. Food Security and Public Procurement: Reforming School Meals through State Action in Porto Alegre,

Brazil

Goal: The main goal is to understand to what extent the Brazilian School Feeding Program can create healthier eating

habits and more sustainable patterns of food production and consumption. Can the Programme become aninstitutional market able to integrate production (small-scale farming) and consumption (schools) and to producemultiple benefits (economic, social, cultural, environmental and health)? If so, how? What kind of political andregulatory forms of intervention are needed? What needs to be done to re-orientate the dominant consumptionpatterns?

Description: In recent years, Brazil has emerged in the international arena as one of the countries that will achieve theMillennium Goals. However, in 2004, severe food insecurity still affected 6% of households located in urban areas and9% in rural areas. Studies show that the problem of food security and nutrition are beginning to take on othercharacteristics related to growth rates of overweight. Policies to support food production through increased creditand organization of the supply have been designed for the small scale family farming sector; in addition, specificprograms to meet the demand and stimulate institutional markets, such as school feeding, have been developed. TheBrazilian School Feeding Programme reaches around 36.3 million pupils, almost 20 percent of the countrys population

and has a budget of U$ 750 million dollars, which the federal government allocates to the states and municipalities.


14/38

13

___________________________________________________________________________________

The school feeding programme is seen as a policy to combat hunger and food insecurity as well as to improve healthand education. Given its significant potential in terms of improving food consumption and calories intake as well as

the financial resources at its disposal, one of the challenges of the programme is to create attractive markets for localproducers, especially small-scale farmers and those assisted by the agrarian reform.

Vacancy 3.4. Food Security and Public Procurement: Civil Society-led School Meal Reform in Kampala, Uganda

Goal: to study perceptions of communities, teachers and cooks, and WFP officials, Ministry of Education on thebarriers to good nutrition and better balanced diets for school going children in Uganda. This study will examine whatkind of health nutrition education is needed to ensure school reform of meals and address millennium developmentgoals on reducing hunger and poverty reduction. How sustainable are the programmes on food security andmalnutrition adequate for proper growth of children and performance in schools?

Description: Currently, Uganda and many African nations are facing food insecurity, malnutrition and poor diets due tonatural disasters like drought, floods, climatic change and other problems such as poverty, and inadequate knowledgeon balanced diets. Northern Uganda has been a war conflict zone for over twenty years and the nomadic Karimajong in

the far north east are most affected by hunger. World Food Programme (WFP) has implemented the school feedingprogramme based on the policy called Food for Education. Uganda is one of the countries WFP has supported. Up totoday, there has been no specific policy for school feeding in Uganda, but the Government of Uganda (GoU), togetherwith WFP, has been implementing the Expand School Feeding Programme (ESFP) for Universal Primary Education(UPE). However, school feeding is seen as an incentive to go to school especially by the children and parents in hungerstricken regions in the north and eastern parts of Uganda. Thus, there is a possibility that pupils go to school for food,not for education. Therefore the question one asks is:, what is school feeding in the context of Uganda? Is it Food forEducation or Education for Food? The project will contribute to improved nutritional status of the children, capacitybuilding for schools to improve diets and relation building between private and public sector and, indirectly, to betterschool performances by students in the area. It will also help examine whether there is a policy on good dieting inschools and evaluate what WFP, and other agencies have been involved in.

Urban Food Strategies (WP4)

Until recently food policy was considered more or less synonymous to agricultural and rural policy. Althoughthose existing policies are structuring the primary production and indirectly consumption, current food policyconcerns mainly take the consumer and the urban perspective as point of departure. As the 2003 joint reviewof the FAO and the WHO has insisted policy change is needed by connecting agricultural policy to public health(eating habits, obesity, food poverty). Moreover policy change is needed to improve the sustainability of theurban environment (climate change, transport, waste). Particularly city governments, therefore, are taking upfood as a key policy area to enhance human and environmental urban health. This is expressed in foodcharters and urban food strategies by cities like London, Amsterdam, Geneva, Toronto and Vancouver.However, the challenges of policy articulation and implementation are big. The articulation of food policy hasso far been reliant on individual politicians and on a political level vulnerable to electoral shifts.Institutionalization of food policy in city governments has just started and different patterns ofinstitutionalization are emerging with particular pitfalls and successes.

City governments need an integrated knowledge base around food in order to take informed decisions, forexample to stimulate urban food production, curtail fast food outlets near schools, or to enhance theavailability of nutritious food to all of its citizens. While this is a challenge in and of itself, the evidence base atcity level around food related problems is extremely fragmented and knowledge is often lacking. As this is arelatively new phenomenon, research on the socio-economic dynamics and impacts of urban food strategiesurgently needs empirical evidence, comparative insights and enhanced theoretical understanding.


15/38

14

___________________________________________________________________________________

Vacancy 4.1. The role of food movements as drivers of food regime change

Description: In recent years, new food networks have succeeded in shaking consolidated meanings of food and of thepractices around it, to enlarge the groups of consumers and producers involved in alternative food consumption andproduction practices, and even to activate new trends into the mainstream food sector. Despite this success, however,there is an evident limit to the capacity of these networks to change the cognitive, regulatory and normative rules thatcontrol the food production, distribution, processing and consumption, in most of the cases set by powerful actorswho operate at global level. The phd thesis should explore the processes of change at the interface between microlevel innovation and regime, and in particular to analyse how innovative practices are rejected, appropriated,integrated into the regime. The thesis should also analyse how these processes are affected by regime crises (as in thecase of animal generated pandemic diseases) or by occurring or anticipated global changes (such as global recession,climate change, resource depletion). On this regard the thesis will analyse the role of public administrations, and inparticular of cities, as potential facilitators of this change.

Vacancy 4.2. Enabling integrated food policy within urban governance: key components for policy and institutionaldesign

Goal: To investigate the potential for food to provide the basis for an integrative policy domain to process a series ofrelated urban policy challenges. To explore food policy related initiatives in urban settings in the UK, drawing on casestudies to identify the policy drivers and barriers that exist and potential enabling factors. To design a set of policyproposals and key components for institutional design for achieving integrated food policy in urban governance;embedded in the legal-institutional and multi level governance and policies of the UK and the EU. To illuminate theempirical realities with theoretical understandings of the nature of contemporary governance and food policy.

Description: Many contemporary urban problems are (in)directly related to food. To address these problems anintegrated food policy at local and regional levels of governance is required. In urban areas examples of food policyinitiatives have emerged such as the through the Toronto Food Policy Council (in Canada) and the London FoodStrategy (in the UK). The UK is in the process of re-addressing food policy at the national level, most recently with the

publication of the Cabinet Office Strategic Review of food and food policy in July 2008. Urban governance in the UK hasbeen through recent periods of structural reform, leading to a variable geometry in legal jurisdictional and institutionalterms of urban government. At and across the differing levels of urban governance in the UK a variety of food policyrelated initiatives are being pursued around: public health such as food and health partnerships (e.g. Lewes), schoolmeals and obesity strategies; and around food growing (e.g. Middlesborough), producer-consumer links and publicprocurement and sustainable food supply chains. Also combinations of these initiatives are being pursued by individuallocal authorities (e.g. Sandwell); and food is featuring in major new civil society based urban initiatives such as theTransition Towns movement. The evaluation of this case study material will provide for the formulation of a set of keyenabling criteria that can inform the policy principles and social and political agency, as well as the institutional design,for more integrative food policy mechanisms for urban governments. These criteria will be set within the widernational and EU policy contexts.

Vacancy 4.3. Food insecurity and public action for municipal and rural resilience

Goal: to explore the strategies and solutions to food insecurity in smaller towns and regional cities, and their impact onmunicipal and rural resilience

Description: Following the influence of climate change, crisis of international financial markets and the rise of foodprices, food security strategies undergo a process of regionalized food provisioning. Regions and municipalities areincreasingly seeking new ways to increase their own food self sufficiency, a process similar to seeking autonomy inenergy supply. The research will explore how food resilience arrangements are created at local and regional levels inresponse to the thickening food crisis in municipalities in Latvia. The research will also pay attention to important dealsbetween the metropolis and smaller regions on food access and provision shedding new light on urban-ruralrelationships. The study will provide an economic estimate of regionalized food resilience strategies in terms of cost-efficiency of supplies, re-mileage of supply distances and influence on local employment in urban and rural areas.


16/38

15

___________________________________________________________________________________

Vacancy 4.4. Comparative analysis of urban food strategies in European cities

Goal: how are food policies articulated and motivated in different European cities and what are the consequences for

their implementation?Description: Different city governments are taking up food as a key policy area to enhance human and environmentalurban health. The challenges of policy articulation and implementation are big. The articulation of food policy has sofar been reliant on individual politicians and on a political level vulnerable to electoral shifts. Institutionalization offood policy in city governments has just started and different patterns of institutionalization are emerging withparticular pitfalls and successes. This study will explore the preconditions, political processes, strategy articulation andimplementations of urban food strategies in different European cities in comparative perspective to enhance theunderstanding of the conditions for successful urban food policy implementation.


17/38

16

___________________________________________________________________________________

TRAINING

Training philosophy and objectives

The main aim in the training programme of early stage researchers in the emerging field of the (peri-)urbanfoodscape will be to create a pool of socio-economic scientists with interdisciplinary skills who will be able todevelop their own research, development and/or policy programmes in academia, public sector organisations,government, non-governmental organisations and industry in the near future. The importance and timelinessof this training is related to two fault lines that are significant for the quality of knowledge and wider impactof agrifood studies research: the continuing primacy of academic disciplines in designing and conducting

research about food and agricultural problems; and researchers engagement with non-academic or

stakeholder constituencies(Hinrichs 2008). These two fault lines, or, phrased more positively, challenges arecentral to the PUREFOOD training philosophy. We intend to:1. transfer (disciplinary) scientific knowledge and skills between complementary groups, giving ESRs the

broadest and most thorough education (i.e. interdisciplinary, methodological and theoretical), which wouldnot be possible at a single establishment, and

2. interactively develop scientific and professional knowledge and skills through a learning-by-doing anddoing-by-learning approach. This objective will be achieved by setting up Communities of Practice (CoPs)of researchers, industry partners and relevant stakeholders (NGOs, interest groups, (semi)publicorganisations and city and regional governments) centred around the proposals main WP themes: a)public food procurement, b) new food networks, and c) urban food strategies.

Ad 1. Developing interdisciplinarity through disciplinary interaction

New interdisciplinary research approaches are necessary to solve contemporary societal problems (National

Academies 2004). To develop interdisciplinary research, the first crucial step is to promote interaction betweendifferent scientific disciplines: The very process of juxtaposing and striving to join together the best parts ofdisciplines for common purpose helps to bring those disciplinary boundaries into relief. () Much of the current

writing on interdisciplinary practice seems an effort to induce greater reflexivity about such boundaries,

including how to recognize them and successfully transgress them () (MacMynowski 2007). In thisPUREFOOD ITN, disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, geography, economics, political science &governance studies and planning are involved. The interdisciplinary ambitions of this ITN are reflected on theone hand in the disciplinary backgrounds of the PUREFOOD academic partners and, on the other hand, in theadvanced scientific skills courses. Regarding the latter, PUREFOOD will organise 4 advanced disciplinarycourses about food dynamics. All 4 courses will be given within one PUREFOOD course period and this will helpESRs to recognize conceptual boundaries and complementarities between scientific disciplines and, thus, to

enhance their knowledge and skills on how to cross these boundaries. Moving towards interdisciplinarity willalso be explicitly addressed by the course lectures during a fifth advanced disciplinary course, which isscheduled within the same course period. Interdisciplinarity will also be the central scope of the summerschool organised by PUREFOOD; like most of the network training, the school will be open to early stageresearchers and PhD students from outside the PUREFOOD network.

Ad 2. Interactive development of knowledge through intersectoral Communities of Practice

Communities of Practice (CoPs) (Wenger 1998) are formed by people who share a common domain of interestand who deliberately engage in a process of collective learning about this shared interest over an extendedperiod of time. Through the creation of a CoP, its members create a safe environment (or protected space) thatgives way to new ideas and insights. Within this safe environment, all stakeholders can share and exchangeknowledge and experiences and collectively develop new knowledge. Through a process of learning-by-doing


18/38

17

___________________________________________________________________________________

and doing-by-learning actors develop new insights, skills and procedures to tackle problems and facechallenges. CoPs are therefore not only arenas for developing new knowledge (single-loop learning), but also

for altering underlying principles, values, rules and assumptions (double-loop learning) and for reflecting onprocesses of learning how to learn (triple-loop learning) (Agryris and Schn 1996).

In PUREFOOD a CoP is an organised but informal space for learning-through-practice that will involvean intersectoral pool of both inexperienced and experienced socio-economic scientists, policy-makers, foodentrepreneurs and staff members of NGOs. During the first months of the PUREFOOD network three CoPs willbe formed by the team members of the host institutions and representatives of the associated partners. Thestart-up phase will be characterized by the construction and gradual unfolding of an infrastructure for learning-by-doing for all present and future CoP members through: a) setting up physical and virtual spaces (website)for meetings, exchange of knowledge and experiences and collective learning; b) defining joint tasks, interestsand challenges; c) developing tools that support knowledge-exchange (field trips, secondments, case analysisetc.); and d) documenting and tracking of joint experiences and professional publications. From month 7

onwards the ESRs will be enrolled in a CoP. Over time we will gradually enlarge the number of members and itwill be ensured that four major groups of stakeholders are represented in CoPs: researchers, food chain actors,civil society organisations and city/regional governments with the aim of establishing solid and long-lasting(also after the project ends) networks of academics, policy-makers and practitioners. A gradually expandingCoP, however, does not imply that all its members need to attend each physical meeting. The CoP meets forspecific purposes (such as for example for joint field excursions and joint case studies) or meets on top of othermeetings (such as meetings of associated partners SAI Platform and PURPLE), in working groups of conferencesand prior to or after PUREFOOD Supervisory Board meetings.

Content, structure and quality of the training programme

The PUREFOOD training programme has been designed to develop the competence of the contracted early

stage researchers on multiple levels (see figure 2).

Desired competences

Network training basic scientific skills

Network training advanced scientific skills

Network training professional skills

Host training

Courses:

General introductory course

Techniques for writing scientific papers

Presentation skills

Research methodology

Project management

Training through research (incl. secondment)

Career Development Plan

Teaching and supervision of graduate students

Improved language skills

Meetings, seminars & courses at host institute

Preparation of conference papers/presentations

Writing scientific papers

Courses:

Food and the City: ahistorical and conceptualintroduction

Contemporary sociologicaltheories of food dynamics

Contemporary economictheories of food dynamics

Contemporary food policy andgovernance theories

Contemporary food planningtheories

Theorising food dynamics:towards interdisciplinarity

Summerschool & conferences

Courses:

Translating empirical findingsand theory intorecommendations for

practitionersTranslating empirical findingsand theory into policyrecommendations

Community of Practice

CoP sustainable food supplychain

CoP public food procurement

CoP urban food strategies

Excellence in own field

Specialist in socio-economic

food studiesMultidisciplinary educated

Broad hands-on experience

Good language skills

Industrial awareness

Figure 2. PUREFOODs training scheme: training approaches and desired competences of ESRs.


19/38

18

___________________________________________________________________________________

PUREFOOD provides a compulsory multi-site programme of introductory and advanced courses, seminars andmeetings. The training modules are designed to provide an introductory as well as advanced scientific training

in all aspects of the research programme. In addition, the training programme involves professional trainingmodules to facilitate the exchange of experience and the collective development of knowledge amongscientists, policy-makers and practitioners. The scientific network training programme will be open to others,allowing young scientists from within and outside the EU to benefit from the high quality courses that areoffered. Simultaneously, the interaction with young scientists from outside the PUREFOOD network in parts ofthe PUREFOOD training programme will be beneficial to the development of PUREFOODs ESRs. Theprofessional training modules, in particular the WP related CoPs, will be open to other scientists, policy-makersand practitioners. In this context, the associated partners, in particular network organisations as PURPLE andSAI Platform will play a vital role in articulating and defining the skills that ESRs need at the end of their

trajectory to pursue a career in the private or public sector. The Supervisory Board will therefore regularlyevaluate the progress of the CoPs and will discuss its learning outcomes in relation to the course

programme to ensure that the ESRs are receiving training which is suited to the required skills in theemerging field of knowledge. If necessary new activities and/or topics can be introduced in the CoPsto match the development of skills with the competences required by private and/or publicorganisations.

Table 1. Overview of compulsory network training courses and elective training options

Compulsory network training (20 ECTS) ECTS

Basic scientific skills (5 ECTS)

PUREFOOD general introduction course (BSS1) 1

Research methodology course (BSS2) 1

Techniques for writing a scientific paper (BSS3) 1

Presentation skills (BSS4) 1

Project management (BSS5) 1Advanced scientific skills (9 ECTS)

Food and the City: a historical and conceptual introduction (ASS1) 0.5

Contemporary sociological theories of food dynamics (ASS2) 0.5

Contemporary economic theories of food dynamics (ASS3) 0.5

Contemporary food policy and governance theories (ASS4) 0.5Contemporary food planning theories (ASS5) 0.5

Theorising contemporary food dynamics: towards interdisciplinarity (ASS6) 0.5

Summer school: interdisciplinarity in agro-food studies (organisation & participation) 2

PUREFOOD International conference (organisation & participation) 2

Participation in (at least) 2 national/international conferences 2

Professional skills (6 ECTS)

Translating empirical findings and theory into recommendations for practitioners (PS1) 1

Translating empirical findings and theory into policy recommendations (PS2) 1Community of Practice (public food procurement / new food networks / urban food strategies) 4

Elective training (at least 10 ECTS) ECTS

Specialty courses at host institute 0 - 5

Teaching and supervision of undergraduate students 0 - 4

Meetings and seminars at host institute 2 4

Improved language skills 0 - 5

PUREFOOD website maintenance (1 ECTS per year) 0 - 3

Required number of ECTS for PhD degree 30

Each ESR contracted by the network will be required to attend the compulsory network training programme,which amounts to 20 credits using the European Credit Transfer and accumulation System (ECTS), and anelective training programme of at least 10 credits in order to obtain at least 30 credits required for a PhD


20/38

19

___________________________________________________________________________________

degree. For all training activities (compulsory network training as well as elective training) credits will beawarded that are mutually recognised in the consortium. An overview of the PUREFOOD training programme is

given in table 1.

Compulsory network training

As indicated in figure 2 and table 1, the compulsory network training includes three clusters of PhD courses andtraining activities: 1) Basic scientific skills, 2) Advanced scientific skills, and 3) Professional skills. The goals andcontents of each compulsory course and training activity are briefly described below. In addition, the partnerresponsible for the course and the other partners contributing to the PhD course are mentioned as well as themonth in which the course or training activity is scheduled. The training time schedule (see also figure 5 insection B5.2.3) shows that all compulsory courses are scheduled in the first year of the individual ESR projects.As these courses constitute the methodological and conceptual basis for each ESR project, it is important thatthe ESRs are trained in basic and advanced scientific skills during the first year of their appointment. In the

second and third year more time can be devoted to research and other forms of training (e.g. organisation of,and participation in, scientific workshops/conferences, secondments and participation in a CoP), activities thatdo require a sound methodological and conceptual basis. The basic and advanced scientific courses will providethis basis.

Ad 1. Basic scientific skills (BSS)This training cluster comprises a series of courses aimed at enhancing the general scientific skills of the ESRs.The existing PhD training for basic scientific skills of the Wageningen School of Social Sciences (WASS)1 ofWageningen University (P1) will be used by the PUREFOOD network. The courses will be given by the lecturersof MG3S in collaboration with academic staff members of the PUREFOOD network.

Title: PUREFOOD General Introduction Course Month: 7 Place: Wageningen

BSS1 Course responsibility: P1 / WASS Partners: P2 and P3 All ESRsGoal: To inform the ESRs about the organisation, contents, scope and objectives of the PUREFOOD ITN. To renderassistance to the ESRs in writing their research proposal and their career development plan.

Description: ESRs will meet the whole network including the Supervisory Board and learn about their projectscontext and work on elaboration of their research proposal and career development plan.

Title: Research Methodology Course Month: 7 Place: WageningenBSS2 Course responsibility: P1 / WASS Partners: P2 and P3 All ESRs + externalsGoal: To get insight in the methodological pitfalls in formulating a research problem and writing a scientific paper. Toacquire skills in adopting quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods strategies.

Description: ESRs are taken through the steps from formulating a research problem to writing a research proposaland scientific paper. ESRs work on their own project methodology through assignments.

Title: Techniques for writing a scientific paper Month: 15 Place: WageningenBSS3

Course responsibility: P1 / WASS Partners: P2 and P3 All ESRs + externals

Goal: Todistinguish good scientific writing from bad, to write a clear and readable article, to identify and correct themost common grammatical and stylistic errors, to edit your work more independently

Description: ESRs will improve and receive feedback on writing and will learn to discuss it with others involved in thesame process. It is assumed that ESRs learn best through interaction with others and with the course materials. ESRswill study example texts and are involved critiquing each others work.

1 WASS is a graduate school that conducts top quality social sciences research and offers post-graduate education relatedto the specific domains of Wageningen University. WASS promotes disciplinary, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinaryresearch focused on complex problems in the domains of (1) food and food production, (2) lifestyles, health andlivelihood, and (3) environment and natural resources.


21/38

20

___________________________________________________________________________________

Title: Presentation skills Month: 15 Place: WageningenBSS4


Goal: To acquire skills for presenting to different audiencesDescription: ESRs will learn how to give a presentation in the English language with attention for sentence structure,pronunciation, body language and audio-visual tools.

Title: Project management Month: 15 Place: WageningenBSS5


Goal: To acquire knowledge and skills for planning and managing projects

Description: ESRs will learn handy models and easy-to-use tools for project and time management. They will work insmall groups using their own project proposal.

Ad 2. Advanced scientific skills (ASS)

The cluster advanced scientific skills comprises of a series of courses and activities (conferences and summer

school) aimed at deepening the scientific disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge and skills of the ESRs. Thecourses will be given by academic staff members of the PUREFOOD network. The university partners areprimarily responsible for the courses. For some courses, visiting scientists (VS) will be invited.

Title: Food and the City: historical and conceptualintroduction

Month: 12 Place: Wageningen

ASS1Course responsibility: P1 Partners: P2, VS3 All ESRs + externals

Goal: To introduce ESRs to the relations between food and urban development. To acquaint ESRs with the classicalsocial, economic and spatial theoretical approaches and concepts about food dynamics.

Description: ESRs will become familiar with the way food has shaped urban/regional development and the lives ofurban dwellers as well as the different theoretical concepts used to make sense of this by reading literatures fromdifferent schools, introductory lectures and group discussions.

Title: Contemporary sociological theories of fooddynamics


ASS2Course responsibility: P4 Partners: P1, P2, VS1 All ESRs + externals

Goal: To acquaint ESRs with contemporary sociological approaches and concepts about food dynamics

Description: ESRs will get an overview of highly influential approaches in sociology and sociological concepts relatedto food dynamics. They will learn about opportunities and limitations of different approaches and acquire the skillsto position their project within contemporary debates through literature review, lectures and group discussions.

Title: Contemporary economic theories of fooddynamics


ASS3Course responsibility: P3 Partners: P6 All ESRs + externals

Goal: To acquaint ESRs with contemporary economic approaches and concepts about food dynamicsDescription: ESRs will get an overview of economic theories and concepts in general and economic approaches tofood, food systems and supply chains in particular. They will learn to distinguish debates, to position themselves andto relate different approaches to their research topic through literature review, lectures and group discussions.

Title: Contemporary food policy and governancetheories


ASS4Course responsibility: P5 Partners: P2 All ESRs +externals

Goal: To acquaint ESRs with contemporary policy and governance approaches and concepts about food dynamics

Description: ESRs will get an overview of schools of thought in political science and governance studies and howconcepts such as food democracy, social justice and multi-level governance are related to emerging food dynamics.They will learn to distinguish debates, position themselves and relate concepts to their own study through literature

review, lectures and group discussions.


22/38

21

___________________________________________________________________________________

Title: Contemporary food planning theories Month: 12 Place: Wageningen

ASS5 Course responsibility: P2 Partners: P5, P7 andVS2

All ESRs + externals

Goal: To acquaint ESRs with contemporary planning approaches and concepts about food dynamics

Description: ESRs will get an overview of different schools of thought in planning studies and learn about the multi-disciplinary nature of food planning. The functional areas familiar to planning studies (such as Environment,Economic development, Health and Transport) will be related to different stages in the food chain and to communityfood planning. Students will learn to distinguish debates and to position their project within the contemporarydebates through literature review, lectures and group discussions.

Title: Theorising contemporary food dynamics:towards interdisciplinarity


ASS6 Course responsibility: P1 Partners: P2, P3, P4,P5, P6, P7, VS1, VS2,

VS3

All ESRs + externals

Goal: To acquaint ESRs with the challenges of interdisciplinary team work

Description: ESRs will learn about strengths and weaknesses of interdisciplinary work and organisation.Miscommunication among researchers is not uncommon and acknowledgement and prioritization of personal viewsand scientific goals is essential. Students will gain knowledge about these communication processes and test thesedynamics in a complex case study.

Title: Interdisciplinarity inagro-food studies

Month: 24, prepa-rations starting inmonth 18

Place: Pisa

ASS SummerschoolResponsibility: P1, P3 + ESRs Partners: all All ESRs + 15 external

PhD students

Goal: To learn to organise a scientific conference/workshop. To explore the relation between theories and empiricalfindings as related to the early stage of the research

Description: ESRs will be actively involved in the preparation and organisation of the summerschool in order gainexperience in organising scientific events. Regarding the contents and goals of the summerschool itself, ESRs willlearn to critique each others findings, to relate theory to empirical material and to step back from their ownresearch project to gain new insights. The course will consist of individual supervision, small group discussions,specific lectures on methodology and theory and field trips. The summerschool will be open to 15 external PhDstudents funded by the PUREFOOD ITN.

Title: PUREFOOD InternationalConferencePlace: Brussels

Month: 42 (preparationsstarting in month 30

ASS PUREFOOD ConferenceResponsibility: P1 Partners: all

Goal: To present results of the PUREFOOD projects to academic and policy making audiences leading to a debatewith policy makers and a book or special issue of a relevant scientific journal.

Description: ESRs will present their findings at an international PUREFOOD conference to be attended by all full andassociate members of the three CoPs, and other academic colleagues and interested policy makers at national andregional levels.

Title: International Conferences Month: 18-42ASS Conferences

Responsibility: P1 Partners: P2, P3, P4, P5, P6, P7

Goal: To practice writing papers and presentation skills for international audiences. To learn from research resultsfrom colleagues. To get access to relevant academic networks

Description: ESRs will take part in at least 2 conferences of important academic networks for future career, such asthe International Rural Sociology Association (IRSA), the European Society for Rural Sociology (ESRS), Societ Italiana


23/38

22

___________________________________________________________________________________

di Economia Agraria (SIDEA), International Sociological Association Research Committee 40 (RC 40 - Sociology offood and agriculture), the European Regional Science Association (ERSA), the Association of Collegiate Schools of

Planning (ACSP), the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP), The Institute of British Geographers(IBG), the Association of American Geographers (AAG), the Latin American Rural Sociology Association (ALARSU).

Ad 3. Professional skills (PS)

Professional skills refer to courses and activities (CoPs) aimed at improving the skills of the ESRs to engage withnon-academic stakeholders in research and to translate research findings into policy and practicalrecommendations. The courses will be given by representatives of the full and associated partners of thePUREFOOD network.

Title: Translating research findings into policy recommendations Month: 18PS1

Course responsibility: CoP coordinators Partners: P8

Goal: To acquaint ESRs with the language and life-world of policy-makers and civil servants. To train ESRs informulating recommendations, based on research, to be used by policy-makers and civil servants.

Description: Through case study material of several regions regarding the development of urban food policyprovided by PURPLE network members, the ESRs and network members will study the problems and solutions posedto them and examine how scientific research can be used by policy-makers.

Title: Translating research findings into recommendations for practitioners Month: 18

PS2 Course responsibility: CoP coordinators Partners: P9, P10, P11,P12,P14

Goal: To acquaint ESRs with the language and life-world of practitioners in the food domain, such as farmers,processors, retailers and NGOs. To train ESRs in formulating recommendations, based on research, that can be usedby practitioners.

Description: Through case study material of innovative short supply chains in one of the countries of the SAIPlatform, the ESRs and the network members will jointly study the problems and solutions posed to them andexamine how scientific research can be used by practitioners.

Title: Community of Practice Month: 3 48 (and beyond)

PS CoP Responsibility: P1 (CoP Urban Food Strategies); P2 (CoP Public FoodProcurement); P3 (CoP Sustainable food supply chains)

Partners: all and externalparticipants

Goal: To improve the interdisciplinary skills of ESRs. To improve the competences of ESRs to engage with differentkinds of stakeholders. To facilitate exchange and interaction between ESR projects. To collectively build and enlargethe database of examples/cases with regards to the thematic domain of the CoP. To develop and maintain a CoPwebsite for CoP members and others.

Description: A CoP offers an infrastructure for learning-by-doing for all network members through: a) setting up

physical and virtual spaces to meet, b) defining joint tasks and challenges, c) tools that support knowledge exchange(website, excursions, secondments, case analysis), d) documentation and tracking of joint experiences

Elective training

To adequately combine local specialist training with network wide training activities, at least 1/3 of therequired amount of ECTS for a PhD degree will have to be obtained through training activities at the hostinstitute or proposed by the host institute. It will ultimately be up to the ESR and his/her supervisors to decideon the specific training choices for each ESR in the individual Career Development Plans. As part of the CareerDevelopment Plan, the ESR and supervisors also use secondment. We see secondments as an important part ofelective training because of the influence that experience at other companies and institutes can have on thecareer perspective of the individual ESR. Secondment to associated partners or other relevant companies is


24/38

23

___________________________________________________________________________________

important for the research project as well as for the future employment opportunities of the ESR and will bestimulated.

Training through research

Training through research takes place first of all through the elaboration of the individual ESR proposal into afull research plan and, subsequently, through research and writing (see B3.3). The proposal writing process willbe supported by the basic and advanced scientific skills training, all in the first year, and by the host institutesupervision. Moreover, the proposals will be subject to the peer review approval system of MG3S (P1) as partof the training certification in the Career Development Plan (CDP). Parallel to this, the ESR will work out his/herCDP. The CDP is the central planning and assessment document through which the training and researchprogress of individual ESRs is monitored. The CDP therefore integrates the training and research results of eachESR. Monitoring meetings will take place every 6 months foregoing or following the Supervisory Boardmeetings, when all supervisors are available. Monitoring of ESRs progress is a two-way process in which the

quality of supervision is also assessed. The continuous monitoring in the CDP guarantees that research planningcan be adjusted and that problems are detected in an early stage. However, good ESR supervision is of coursenot limited to the official monitoring moments. All ESRs will be connected to a daily supervisor in their hostinstitution. A daily supervisor is a colleague working in the same field who is accessible for questions atmutually agreed intervals. All CDPs together will reflect the training and research milestones (WP 1, 2, 3, 4) ofthe PUREFOOD project.

The training programme (which will produce a completed CDP) is recognised by all partners as qualitystandard for a PhD degree. The ESRs will therefore have the opportunity to obtain a PhD degree as a result ofthe PUREFOOD project, provided of course that he/she will also complete and successfully defend a PhD thesis.The milestones for the PUREFOOD project will be important indicators for the monitoring and decision makingby the Supervisory Board.

Language skills

The proposed individual ESRs projects integrate various sources of quantitative and qualitativ

Documents

PUREFOOD - Prograrma PGDR gen Information Pack