Seventeenth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability

Abstract

Our current food systems face severe and persistent interlinked challenges, including environmental problems and health related challenges. These challenges point to the urgent need to transform the world’s food systems in order to stay within planetary boundaries. Tackling these interlinked challenges is difficult and it is increasingly recognized that food systems are multi-actor, multi-level and multi-functional systems that exhibit non-linear dynamics and that transforming food systems requires research and innovation (R&I) approaches that serve as catalysts by applying systemic and participatory approaches. As such, there is a need for novel R&I approaches that adopt systemic methods and engagement with wider food systems stakeholders. The lack of competencies and tools concerning novel R&I approaches for food systems transformation is a key hindrance to the deployment of such approaches in practice. The European (EU) Horizon 2020 funded project FIT4FOOD2030 has experimented in living labs with novel approaches to food system transformation and developed learning modules, tools and methodologies to support the development of competencies that are vital for guiding and supporting food systems stakeholders and researchers dedicated to contributing to its transformation. In this paper, we briefly present the possibilities of the growing online hub of Tools for Transformation that has resulted from the project, but more importantly we consider a selection of (online) tools that were designed to engage and mobilise a variety of actors in activities that support systemic transformation through the adoption of RRI practices in food systems.

Presenters

Marjoleine Van Der Meij
Post Doc / Lecturer, Athena Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam , Noord-Holland, Netherlands

Kristiaan Kok
PhD Candidate, Athena Institute, VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands

Barbara Regeer
Associate Professor, Athena Institute / Amsterdam Sustainability Institute, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands