The new project “Networking through student cooperation on case study challenges (NET-COOP)” is supported by ELLS network and the project team consists of academic staff from BOKU, CZU and SLU. The main goal of the project is to connect students of master's study programs of three ELLS universities (horizontally) and at the same time of different study programs (vertically) within one university so that they jointly develop a case study in the form of a proposal for an international project focused on the eating habits of refugees who had to leave their country. Each working group will prepare a part of the project in terms of its focus (food safety and security, plant health, social aspects of consumers, sustainability of agricultural production, international cooperation, SDG's) and will share it with other groups from partner universities. The topic of food security for refugees and their eating habits in the host country was chosen as a cross-cutting theme for the case studies in this project. According to information from the UNHRC (the UN Refugee Agency), there are currently 35.3 million worldwide refugees as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order. More than half of all refugees come from just three countries, the Syrian Arab Republic (6.8 million), Ukraine (5.7 million), and Afghanistan (5.7 million). Most refugees are accepted by countries such as Turkey (3.6 million people), followed by the Islamic Republic of Iran (3.4 million people), Colombia (2.5 million people) and Germany (2.1 million people).
Students from BOKU, CZU and SLU will work in groups on four case studies (countries) to focus on the food security of refugees in each country, they will always choose their perspective according to the focus of their course (see Figure 1) and process the available data - either from the literature or through surveys, preferably combined. The four case studies which will gradually circulate between universities according to the prepared case study template (project proposal) format. At the end, the students will prepare a presentations and posters, which they will present during the event called The Green Plate Forum on 25th June 2024 in the TÜWI student restaurant, BOKU, Vienna. During this event, students will compile a degustation menu composed of one dish per country, prepare the recipe, focus on the sustainability of the production of the selected dish, and discuss the aspects of sustainable consumption with the audience.
This unique environment will provide a safe space for students to freely exchange ideas and opinions on (plant-based) food production, food security and sustainable production of (plant) food ingredients and possible alternatives that are part of traditional dishes of displaced inhabitants of each country from the case studies. The attendees of the event will be international students of the course Scientific Communication and Impacts (Applied Development Research?II, selected students and academic staff of BOKU, CZU and SLU and invited guests (e.g. stakeholders, policy and other decision makers). An invitation to the event will be circulated within the ELLS network and any University student in the ELLS network will be able to attend as long as the space capacity of the restaurant permits.
Figure 1: Concept of the project: universities and the respective courses that will be involved in the project
Project timeline:
- The project will be implemented in 2024 (January – December)
- Academic staff coordination meeting – 25 January 2024 (online project team meeting)
- Joint launch of the case studies - February/March 2024 (online seminar for all students, presentation of the project and case studies)
- Preparation of materials for case studies by project teams - February - June
- The Green Plate Forum event organized by students at BOKU on the occasion of World Refugee Day - 25 June 2024 (resulting student presentations)
- Student participation in the ELLS Conference – November 2024
- Final Project Team Meeting – December 2024
Project team at CZU:
Dr. Petra Chaloupkova (chaloupkova@ftz.czu.cz)
Dr. Olga Leuner (leuner@ftz.czu.cz)
News from the project:
Green Plate Forum 2024 in Vienna
On Tuesday 25 June, the Green Plate Forum 2024 event took place at the BOKU University in Vienna, attended by representatives of the Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences. The event focused on sustainable eating and environmental protection through unique culinary practices and recipes from different cultures.
This activity was implemented within the project "Networking through student cooperation on case study challenges (NET-COOP)" funded by a grant from the Euroleague for Life Sciences (Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences (czu.cz)), in which three partner universities (ČZU in Prague, SLU from Sweden and BOKU from Austria) cooperate.
This event was part of a student initiative organized by students from BOKU in cooperation with students from the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague and SLU in Sweden, and was conceived as a final joint meeting of students who participated in the development of joint case studies during the summer semester and shared their knowledge from different perspectives according to the focus of their respective study programmes and subjects.
Participants at the meeting discussed Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2), which focuses on eradicating hunger, ensuring food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture.
Students prepared a tasting menu where each country was represented by one dish and shared recipes. The focus was on the sustainability of the production of the selected dishes and on the sustainable consumption aspects. The event introduced sustainable approaches to preparing food from different continents. In particular, recipes from Turkey, Iran, Ethiopia, Colombia and Germany were presented.
The Green Plate Forum 2.0 was aimed at sharing the latest scientific knowledge with the wider scientific and development-oriented public, including practitioners, policy representatives and stakeholders. The event provided a space for students to meet and share their views and experiences during thematic discussions. Project coordinators from FTZ Petra Chaloupková and Olga Leuner together with 9 students from FTZ participated in the implementation of the event and used their knowledge gained from the Project Monitoring and Evaluation course for the case studies.
