Dr. Dominique Barjolle
Head of the research program and private lecturer
Dominique’s research focuses on agriculture and nutrition within the context of the food system concept. She views the food system as a whole as a socio-ecological system. It consists of complex ecological and social factors that are heterogeneous in terms of time and space and influence each other in a non-linear way. Production, distribution, and consumption from producer to consumer are the productive units of the food system, which are influenced at various spatial levels by the market, politics, society, and the environment. The instability of this socio-ecological system is crucial for the emergence and spread of innovations. The topic of interactions between the food system and health is becoming increasingly important in current projects.
Théo Fischer
Project manager & moderator
Whether I am working with natural or social ecosystems, my work always centers on one question: How can we give complexity enough space to unfold its full potential? My experiences with promoting organizational change, designing collective explorations, creating permaculture gardens, beekeeping, regenerating vineyards, and fermenting and collecting medicinal plants have reinforced my conviction that we must let go of control and plans in order to create true resilience. A forest, a tree, our bodies, or a community of people all have their own innate abilities and knowledge to heal and regenerate naturally. We just need to give them enough space to do so. I see myself as a host of these regenerative spaces.
Katharina Schatton
Research assistant
Due to my interdisciplinary background in social anthropology and environmental sciences, I have always been interested in sustainable food systems. In my master’s thesis, I examined the resilience of transhumance in the Spanish Pyrenees, adapting and implementing the SHARP+ tool developed by the FAO.
In addition to my academic work, I spent two years as political secretary of the farmers’ organization Uniterre, advocating for fair producer prices, transparent value chains, and solidarity-based agriculture and consumption.
Ivanoé Koog
Researcher
Swiss agronomist working on soil health, biodiversity and climatic impact of agriculture