Program Overview

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Programme: Food Security and Sustainability

The Food Security and Sustainability programme is an online course designed to provide professionals with a deep understanding of the exciting and in-demand fields of food production systems, food security, sustainable development in agriculture and livestock, and systems thinking.

Why follow this programme?

Feeding the growing population, 9 billion in 2050, is one of the most pressing issues we have to find a solution for. To solve this problem, we need people to gain knowledge, do research, and explore the options. This online programme for professionals, Food Security and Sustainability, is created by world-renowned experts and will provide you with a deep understanding of the subject matter.

What you'll learn

• Understand that food security depends on food availability, food access, food utilization, and stability
• How we can produce enough food for everyone
• How sustainable different food production systems are
• How to assure access to sufficient, nutritious, and safe food for everyone
• About actors and activities to achieve food security at international, national, local, household, and individual levels

You will learn about systems thinking and its application to improve the environmental sustainability of food production systems. The main topics are:

• Complexity and diversity of food production systems
• Principles of system analysis
• Evaluation methods for the environmental impact of food production systems
• Strong and weak points of different food production systems

Learn about the basics of food access decision-making from a multilevel perspective. The main topics are:

• The basic principles of food access
• Choices influencing food access
• Dilemmas at household, local, national, and international levels

Content of the Programme

This Food Security and Sustainability programme consists of two MOOCs that can be taken in any desired order. Your time investment will be about 7-9 hours per week, per online course, and the average length is 6 weeks per MOOC.

• MOOC Sustainable Food Security: The value of systems thinking

• MOOC Sustainable Food Security: Food Access

Programme Leaders

• dr.ir. EAM (Eddy) Bokkers
• prof.dr.ir. MK (Martin) van Ittersum
• prof. KE (Ken) Giller
• dr. GWJ (Gerrie) van de Ven
• dr. JJL (Jeroen) Candel MA
• dr. JAB (Jessica) Duncan

Duration

The programme duration is 5 months, with a time investment of 7-9 hours per week.

Organiser

The programme is organised by Wageningen University & Research.