Knowledge brokerage to promote sustainable food consumption and production: linking scientists, policymakers and civil society organisations

The Foodlinks project aims at developing and experimenting with new ways of linking research to policy-making in the field of sustainable food consumption and production. The project partners will leverage new technologies such as social media to balance the constraints imposed by geographic, cultural and hierarchical barriers.

As a response to the multitude of food-related health and sustainability concerns a new food geography is forcing itself onto the scientific and political agenda. This new food geography is grounded in a different logic and incorporating different values than the industrial global food geography. Central to this new geography of food is a sustainability discourse that no longer accepts the externalization of environmental, social, and even economic costs. To support bringing the new food geography into the policy arena, Foodlinks will analyse and engage in knowledge brokerage activities and create effective linkages between scientists, civil society actors and policy makers. To achieve this, Communities of Practice (CoP) were established in each of the three themes:

• Short producer to consumer food chains: New relations between civil society and the chain of food provision
• Revaluing public food procurement: New relations between the public sector and the chain of food provision
• Urban food strategies: The rise of municipalities and city-regions as food policy makers, pointing to new relations between the government and civil society

• European Union: 7th Research Framework Programme

Wageningen Universiteit (WU)
Cardiff University (CU))
Universita di Pisa (UNIPI)
Nodibinajums Baltic Studies Centre (BSC)
The City University (CITY)
Interdisziplinäres Forschungszentrum (IFZ)
Malmö Stad (MALMÖ)
Scottish Government (SCOTLAND)
Neiker-Instituto Vasco de Investigacion y Desarrollo Agrario SA (NEIKER)
Tukuma Novada Dome (TUKUMS)
OBV-Via Campesina Austria (VCA)
Limburg Province (Limburg)

• Moschitz Heidrun (Department of Food System Sciences)

• Schmid Otto (Department of Food System Sciences)
• Stolz Hanna (Department of Food System Sciences)
• Willer Helga (Department of Extension, Training & Communication)

http://cordis.europa.eu/projects/rcn/97103_en.html

• Project communication (Department of Extension, Training & Communication, FiBL Switzerland)
• Society & Innovation (Department of Food System Sciences, FiBL Switzerland)