How to effectively engage actors in transitions for sustainable impact

Symposium on Action Research in Food Systems
 

Antwerp, Tuesday 15 October 2024 (13:00 - 18:00)
 

Within the framework of the Futures4Food (F4F) program—a transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary research project financed by BELSPO; Flanders Business School, KU Leuven (Sfere) and Université catholique de Louvain (Sytra) are pleased to invite you to a symposium on research in the field of food systems transitions.

Sustainability transitions present themselves as complex problems involving multiple stakeholders. Transformative system change is by its very nature collaborative. It involves actors across the whole value chain—from primary production to distribution—as well as consumers, regulators, financial institutions, researchers and many more. It is a process in which actors and institutions within (and across) systems can learn through a dynamic change process by collectively experimenting with technical and social innovations. Through this process of learning-by-doing, new pathways for change can be articulated, resulting in new business models, social innovations or institutional configurations that can unlock changes in the system.

The F4F project initiated, developed, supported and analyzes two participative trajectories with a specific emphasis on building collectively system knowledge as well as target and transformation knowledge. Those two processes were led within the agro-food value chain: the shift in consumption from animal to plant-based proteins and the shift in production of cereals from feed to food purposes.
 
The Futures4Food team wants to convene practitioners and scientists alike to exchange on lessons learned, best practices and analytical frameworks of transition-related multi-stakeholders processes.
 
More specifically, we aim to address the following questions:

• What are your best practices in system, target and transformation knowledge use and production? What are the necessary conditions to progress, in a participative way, on those different knowledges?
• Which actors should be involved in such processes in terms of representation, personality, differences in worldviews, level of responsibility, etc.? Should only forerunners be involved or a larger set of stakeholders?
• What ambitions can be set and what processes can be used with groups of heterogenous composition? How can decisions be made?
• How to make sure that all voices are heard, also of those not present?
• What roles can/should the researchers play in these processes in terms of convening and facilitation?
• How to build trust and a sense of community? How to make sure that the community continues after the end of the project?

 
The symposium is set up as a combination of keynotes, short presentations and plenary discussions. As such, we invite contributions documenting similar or related change trajectories especially within food systems to create a learning community of scholars and practitioners.
 
Set in the heart of Antwerp at the campus of Flanders Business School, this physical event promises an enriching experience for both junior and senior researchers and practitioners.

We are pleased to confirm the following experts:
 

• Prof. Barbara van Mierlo
  Key-note: Living Labs: Involving Stakeholders in Food System Transformations
   
• Marija Roglic
  Key-note: Co-Creating Knowledge with Stakeholders for Sustainable Food Systems Transitions
   
• Caroline Amrom & Ines Cottignie
  Presentation: From Feed to Food - an Evaluative Approach of a Cereal and Protein Transition Case
   
• Amber Steyaert
  Presentation: Towards Food Democracy: Exploring Collaborative Knowledge Creation in University-Led Communities of Practice
   
• Véronique De Herde
  Presentation: Amplifying agri-food sustainability pathways: A configurational Model to discuss the Contextual Fit of Value Chain Organizing
   
• Diana Borniotto
  Presentation: Stakeholder Engagement: Challenges & Lessons learnt from Enfasys Horizon EU project
   

More Information...
 

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