Value chains and food systems
This research stream focuses on the design, establishment and development of value chains and spaces, production networks and food systems. For example, approaches to the design of bioregional value chains, community-based economic forms and food systems oriented towards the common good are analyzed. Furthermore, management approaches for the responsible control of food value chains and production networks are considered (publications see here).
Examples of projects, workshops, doctoral theses and practical/teaching publications in the field of sustainability, transformation and organization
Value chains and spaces
Project on strengthening bundling and logistics structures to develop value chains in the North Hessian region from farm to fork (BioRegion Kassel), 2023-2026, funded by German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Project on value chains in the organic tea and herb sector in Germany (TeePot), 2023-2026, funded by German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture.
Supervision of the doctoral project "Regionality in the food supply - trends, measurement methods, company and consumer information systems" (Juliana Walkiewicz)
Project on resource efficiency innovation networks (InRess project, 2019-2023), investigation of regional network development in organic farming, funded by: European Regional Development Fund (EU ERDF)
Collaborative doctoral programme "Food Industry and Technology" (2016-2021) with a focus on sustainability along the food chain, spokesperson of the programme and doctoral supervisor, funded by Hessian Ministry of Science and the Arts.
Workshop "Responsibility and Accountability of Supply Chains", financed by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Sustainable production networks and food systems
Project "Impact of corporate integrated farm solutions on small farmers" (2021-22), in cooperation with JNU, India, funded by the DAAD.Project
Project "Sustainable Agricultural and Food Systems" to establish a doctoral programme, co-project management, funded by: Volkswagen Foundation und Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation.
Exceed Centre "Global Partnership Network" (GPN), Vice-Director and Head of the Research Cluster "Global Economy - Agriculture, Energy, Finance" (2020-22), funded by: University Excellence in Development Cooperation - Exceed Program of the DAAD.
Supervision of several doctoral projects, e.g. "Decent Work and Social Upgrading of Value Chains in South East Asia" (Tanja Matheis), "Governance for Decent Work in Agricultural Globalization" (Dr. Evans Kissi), "Integrated analysis of food habits and agricultural practices for sustainable food systems in Luxembourg: a case study" (Evelyne Stoll)
Food business and society
Facilitator of the Witzenhausen conference on the topic of "Happy working! Work in agriculture" (2015)
Supervision of several doctoral projects, e.g. Organizing Food Sovereignty (Matthias Middendorf, scholarship holder of the Heinrich Böll Foundation), agricultural perspectives on the socio-ecological crisis of the relationship between humans and nature in the so-called Anthropocene (Sophie von Redecker, scholarship holder of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation), strategic framing of food safety and risk in the field of the new CRISPR/Cas breeding technology (Robin Siebert)
Exhibition of the "crisis counter-posters" on global peasant resistance - co-conception and organization of the exhibitions, among others at the Center for Culture and Urban Studies in Berlin (2018), at the annual meeting of the Small Farmers Association in Hofgeismar (2017) and during documenta 14 in Kassel (2017)
Out-of-home catering
Practitioner book / textbook "Nachhaltiges Veranstaltungsmanagement" (Sustainable event management), UTB
Project "BioRegioWoche Kassel": Evaluation of two regional organic weeks in schools and daycare centers in Kassel and the district of Kassel, funded by the Eco Action Plan in Hesse (2021-22).
Project "Sustainability and the documenta fifteen": Sustainability concept development (food market, catering, etc.), visitor survey, carbon accounting and sustainability assessment on behalf of documenta gGmbH (2021-22)
Siggener Begegnungen "Köpfe und Kochtöpfe - Wie sich Land- und Lebensmittelwirtschaft wandeln" (Minds and cooking pots - How agriculture and the food industry are changing): Organization and implementation of the encounter week on behalf of the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S. (2021)
"Educational Gardening" project: nutrition education in the context of school gardens/catering, development of a mobile young plant greenhouse (EdGar Mobil), start-up funding (EXIST) from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (2018-19)
Action and education programme "foodoctopia": A 100-day programme during d14 (2017) on the topic of "Sustainable nutrition and the documenta"
Workshop "Material Flow Cost Accounting and Food Waste", together with the Australian National University and the University of South Australia, Witzenhausen (2017)