World Food System Summer School
The World Food System Summer School is an innovative approach to education that teaches participants to navigate complexity and build sustainable food systems. The two-week intensive course has taken place 8 times in 4 different countries, training 188 participants from 54 different nationalities. Built around 12 key design criteria, the course employs a variety of approaches to teaching and learning, and weaves them together in a unique process that participants say is inspiring, engaging, rigorous and impactful. A focus is on peer-to-peer learning, which continues after the course ends through the global alumni network.
Keywords
Course description
Project description
The World Food System Summer School was launched in 2013 as an innovative approach to education for sustainable food systems. The aim was to build the capacity of the next generation of decision makers who could tackle complexity and have the knowledge, skills, network and motivation needed to engage with creating change. Since then, the course has taken place 8 times in 4 different countries – Switzerland, India, South Africa and C?te d’Ivoire – training 188 students from 54 nationalities. The course is built on the philosophy that learning is not only an individual process, it is a social process, and that an educational environment is most effective when it is enjoyable, sparks curiosity and motivates the participants to direct their own life-long learning. The program is based on 12 explicit design criteria that aim to make the experience rigorous, engaging, meaningful and impactful for the participants. Implementing each of these criteria means employing innovative approaches to teaching and learning, for example using rich picture methodologies to help students assess and reflect on knowledge gained; working in multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural teams on real-life case studies that use a blend of design and systems thinking approaches; integrating art and creativity as methods of communication and reflection; field visits and hands-on field work and direct dialogue with stakeholders from a wide varieties of sectors and backgrounds. A large focus of the program is on facilitated peer to peer learning, creating adequate space and confidence for the participants to learn from each other.
The Learning Objectives of the course are for participants to:
Understand the elements of a food system, the drivers of change, the desired outcomes and challenges the system faces
Analyze food systems challenges using a food systems approach that considers multiple perspectives, trade-offs, feedback loops and unintended consequences
Explain how their disciplinary knowledge relates to a broader food systems context
Incorporate new knowledge from other disciplines
Interpret how their knowledge is situated within a diversity of contexts (e.g., disciplinary training, culture, religion, values, etc.)
Examine the complexities of food systems in transition
Discuss potentials and challenges of agroecology to build sustainable food systems
Evaluate solutions and solution approaches to complex challenges using a food systems framework
Collaborate productively in diverse groups to complete a group task
Apply methods and tools for problem framing and designing solutions
Examine their current and future roles in changing the food system
Identify their peers as a resource and professional network
Map food system stakeholders and their relationships to each other
Formulate arguments and participate in discussions about food system topics in an informed manner
Our experiences running the course and discussing with the participating faculty, who come from a range of disciplines, has highlighted the value this approach has for any complex systems education. The learning methods used can be applied to any sustainability topic or grand challenge we face in the world today as all require working within complex human-environmental systems.
The success of the program is apparent in the lively, global and collaborative alumni network that participants join after the course ends. The vision of the alumni organization is to cultivate a collaborative network that inspires and leads change towards sustainable food systems, with the mission to support alumni-driven initiatives that foster connecting, learning and contributing. To date, this has included creating an online exchange platform, hosting workshops, collaborating on their own projects to create change in food systems and supporting initiatives of other alumni all around the world.
Participant testimonials
"The WFSC Summer School was easily the most intense and rewarding course I have attended during my PhD.“ Participant, Switzerland Course, 2014
“The WFS Summer School was a great opportunity for me to gain knowledge of how to be able to understand not only food related problems, but also any problem, in order to be able to act the best way. Also having the opportunity to meet diverse experts and have such a great program and become friends. I go back as someone wiser and happier.“ Participant, Switzerland Course, 2015
“The WFSC Summer School has not only provided me with a lot of knowledge and tools to address world food system challenges, but also reinstalled the desire to act.” Participant, Switzerland Course 2015
“The WFSC summer school 2017 was one of the most diverse and vibrant group of people that I have ever worked alongside. The course helped me to take a systems approach when discussing concrete challenges and solutions – something that is sometimes forgotten when dealing with practical questions.” Participant South Africa Course 2017
“This course provided by the WFSC is an excellent course and by far one of the best I have participated in. The content is diverse and the participants are also diverse in not only where they come from but their area of expertise. The course is intense and challenges your understanding of the food system and allows for sufficient personal reflection on your values, beliefs, and personal goals and contributions to a more sustainable food system.” – Participant, Switzerland Course 2019
Video
Contact information
Contact
ETH
Komp.zentrum Weltern?hrungssystem
Stampfenbachstrasse 52/56
STE K?15
8092
Zürich
Schweiz
Contact
ETH
Komp.zentrum Weltern?hrungssystem
Stampfenbachstrasse 52/56
STE
8092
Zürich
Schweiz
Others:
- World Food System Center Team -, Braida Thom, Martijn Sonnevelt, Jeanne Tomaszewski,
- Previous World Food System Center Staff Members who contributed to the development of the course: Bastian Flury, Jonna Cohen, Aimee Shreck, Anna Gilgen
Additional links
Publications
- external page Grant, M., Shreck, A., Buchmann, N. (2018) Tackling Food System Challenges through Experiential Education – Criteria for Optimal Course Design. GAIA. 27/1: 169-175
- external page Grant, M., Gilgen, AK., Buchmann, N. (2019) The Rich Picture Method: A Simple Tool for Reflective Teaching and Learning about Sustainable Food Systems. Sustainability. 11(18), 4815