Two projects conducting cross-disciplinary research activities have been granted funding as part of the Food&Cities seed funding call in 2024. The projects each explore different aspects of the systemic relations between food systems and sustainable urban development. The projects demonstrate the complex interactions between SDG 11 and other SDGs and illustrate SLU's capacity to produce research across disciplines in order to address current and future sustainability challenges.
The following projects were granted funding:
This project investigates how micro-farming can contribute to urban food production and community food resilience. Taking a community-based approach, the collaborative project will investigate how home gardens in Sri Lanka can be leveraged as a transformative tool for poverty alleviation and food security.
The project aims to build a consortium of stakeholders including policy makers, researchers, farmers and community leaders to facilitate knowledge exchange and research development. In addition to building research collaboration, the funding will be used to write a book chapter for the forthcoming publication led by the International Climate Change Information and Research Programme (ICCIRP), titled "Embracing Organic Micro-Farming Concept: A Perspective for Community-Based Adaptation and Resilience in Food Production in Sri Lanka".
Main applicant: Shishanthi Jayarathna, Department of Molecular Sciences.
In collaboration with academic institutions in Mexico, this project will co-develop new educational and training courses in agro-aquacultural systems, management of new technologies, and waste management. The courses will engage students involved in local agricultural, aquacultural and fishing professions, where access to technology, education and opportunities for collaboration aim to strengthen knowledge and skills development in sustainable food systems.
The funding will be used to develop the curricular for bachelor level courses, as well as facilitating participation at the international Congress, Latin American and Caribbean Aquaculture (LACQUA 2024), in Bogota, Colombia on September 24 - 27, 2024. The project participants will contribute with presentations on: 1) Focused on critical areas to strengthen thought education in the agroaquaculture sector, 2) The involvement of young people in the design of productive systems, analyzing the actual panorama and conditions in Mexico, Sweden, and Colombia.
Main applicant: Yenitze Elizabeth Fimbres Acedo, Department of Biosystems and Technology.
Food & Cities is a collaboration between SLU Future Food and SLU Urban Futures. The project communicates SLU’s existing research and aims to create new encounters between different disciplines and sectors. The project seeks to identify knowledge gaps and cross-disciplinary research questions and investigates how a long-term thematic focus on food and cities could be established at SLU.
SLU Future Food
www.slu.se/futurefood
futurefood@slu.se