Master study program
Transformation Management for Sustainable Agri-Food Systems
In this Master's degree program, students will learn how to promote social change with a central focus on the agricultural sector. They will acquire systemic and visionary skills that enable them to bring about positive changes in various areas. The program can be tailored to individual needs and places great emphasis on practical projects and student participation.
Prof. Dr. Verena Seufert is the acting Program Director and one of the Academic Counselors for the Transformation Management for Sustainable Agri-Food Systems Program. The Department of Sustainable Use of Natural Resources also contributes mandatory and semi-elective modules to the Master's program. Read more about the Transformation Management for Sustainable Agri-Food Systems Program here.
Winter semester
Analyzing Sustainability in Agri-Food Systems
4303-411 (MSc)
Lecturer: Verena Seufert and Julie Fortin
Credits: 6 ECTS
Frequency & duration: every winter semester; weekly during lecture period
Language: English
If all nations decided to curtail global warming by 2°C, how much would we need to cut emissions and what are the ethically responsible ways to distribute these reductions? Is it more sustainable to eat local grain-fed meat or organic vegetables from far away? Who pays and who benefits when we create a new national park in the Global South?
If these questions intrigue you, and if you would like to learn some analytic tools used to address such questions, this course is for you. Transitioning to sustainability is one of the great challenges of this century. While we may not have all the solutions needed, major advances have been made in recent years to deal with complex sustainability challenges. This course will provide you with experience in using some of the most promising tools and approaches. The course is structured to encourage student participation and discussion, and learning by doing.
Learning objectives
This module provides a comprehensive introduction into sustainability analysis in the agri-food system. Through a series of case studies, the module:
- Provides students comprehensive understanding of the different scientific-technological, socio-economic, political-institutional, ethical, and human behavioural perspectives on sustainability in agri-food systems.
- Illustrates the diversity of analytical approaches used to understand the social, economic and environmental sustainability dimensions of agri-food systems.
- Showcases the diversity of different sustainability values and goals present in agri-food systems and how different analytical tools can help to navigate the interlinkages and potential trade-offs between these.
Learning outcomes
By participating in this module, students:
- Practice their problem-solving and analytical skills;
- Improve their academic reading and writing and critical thinking skills;
- Practice group work and gain communication and collaboration skills;
- Gain normative skills about how to evaluate and negotiate different (and diverging) sustainability values;
- Recognize the different dimensions of sustainability;
- Use existing tools that measure different aspects of sustainability;
- Interpret the results of an analysis within a broader context (e.g., different dimensions of sustainability).
Research colloquium 430a, 430b, 430c and 490c
Attendees: Members of departments 430a, 430b, 430c and 490c
Credits: None
Frequency and duration: every WS and SS
Language: English
Content:
Current research results and projects of the departments 430a, 430b, 430c and 490c. Networking and exchange of experiences for (young) scientists.
Learning goals:
- Presentation, discussion and critical analysis of scientific research results;
- Discussion and presentation of progress in doctoral projects.
Summer semester
Exploring Regional Transformations through Utopias
4303-431 (MSc)
Lecturer: Verena Seufert and Anna Struth
Credits: 7.5 ECTS
Frequency & duration:Seminar takes places during the summer semester with an excursion in the Pentecost holidays.
Language: English
Learning Goals
This module introduces the role of lived utopias and existing seeds of a sustainable future (so-called 'bright spots') in regional transformation processes in the agri-food system. Through a combination of a seminar and a 5-day bicycle excursion this module:
- Provides an introduction into the role of positive visions, (lived) utopias and bright spots for sustainability transformations.
- Gives students the opportunity to co-design and implement a bicycle excursion to a variety of lived utopias and existing bright spots within a certain region (focus on South-West Germany).
- Links theoretical concepts from transformation studies, such as food as commons, solidarity economy or centering care work, to concrete projects that are trying to practice these theories.
- Provides insights into practical projects, their challenges, and goals in contributing to sustainability transformations.
- Offers space for individual and collective reflexivity.
This module is part of the TREE project.
Global Agrifood Systems: Conventional, Organic, and Beyond
4302-460 (MSc)
Lecturer: Verena Seufert and Anne Elise Stratton
Credits: 6 ECTS
Frequency & duration: every summer semester; weekly during lecture period
Language: English
Land Grabbing, soil desertification, precarization of rural livelihoods, and rising global inequality – these are just some examples that show the challenges of today’s agriculture and food systems. In this module, we want to undertake a historical and geographical journey to learn more about the roots of these problematics and to discover some ‘bright spots’ in different regions that show that more sustainable forms of agriculture and land-use are possible.
This module is divided into two sections:
- Agriculture and Food as a System – Using systems thinking and bright spots to understand food challenges and solutions
- Past & Future of Food Systems – Perspectives of Political Economy
The first part of the course will use case studies of existing bright spots of sustainable food systems – ie places or initiatives that are already achieving multiple sustainability goals and thus provide examples of existing sustainability solutions - to explore the opportunities and limitations of systems thinking for analyzing and understanding our food system challenges and solutions.
Through a practical exercise we will explore the question, whether a systems perspective can provide us with better tools for sustainability science and whether it can actually help us identify critical intervention points for sustainability transformations.
Parting from theoretical perspectives of Political Economy and Political Ecology, the second section offers a historical and global overview of the making of agri-food systems and the upcoming of social movements in the Global South and North that search for more sustainable and just proposals. Participants will acquire competencies in critical and systems thinking, ethical reflection, as well as conceptual knowledge on Food Regime Theory. The course is based on an interactive methodology that opens the space for critical reflections, active discussions and developing new thoughts and visions. For an active participation, students are required to prepare selected literature and write an essay that links Food Regime Theory with practical approaches of sustainable farming.
Learning goals:
The aims of the course are to:
- Become familiar with systems thinking;
- Develop an understanding of the political and social importance of food and agriculture;
- Understand different kinds of politics around agriculture and food’s production and consumption;
- Grasp the complexity of agriculture and food systems, including the barriers and enablers of sustainability transformations therein;
- Develop both your written and oral skills.
By the end of the course students should be able to:
- Explain basic concepts and theories related to food systems and sustainability;
- Employ theory critically and use it as an everyday tool to grasp reality;
- Critically examine research literature;
- Write a proper essay, work in a group and present an argument academically.
Research colloquium 430a, 430b, 430c and 490c
Attendees: Members of departments 430a, 430b, 430c and 490c
Credits: None
Frequency and duration: every WS and SS
Language: English
Content:
Current research results and projects of the departments 430a, 430b, 430c and 490c. Networking and exchange of experiences for (young) scientists.
Learning goals:
- Presentation, discussion and critical analysis of scientific research results;
- Discussion and presentation of progress in doctoral projects.
