Education

We educate future leaders in agricultural, food, and environmental occupations. We contribute especially to the Agricultural and Environmental Sciences BSc and MSc programs at ETH Zurich, supporting teaching capacity in sustainable transformation, social sciences perspectives in agrifood systems, and critical evidence and data literacy. We introduce global food systems beyond the farm and beyond Switzerland: International resource dependencies, global value chains, social sustainability, and the ways Swiss production and consumption areinterconnected globally.

Our teaching equips students with the knowledge, theories, and methods to understand how policy, technology, and the private sector can address key social and environmental challenges in global food systems, like malnutrition, inequality, labor exploitation, climate change, and food loss and waste.

In our classes, students engage with current public debates and research on these topics. They explore policy instruments, the theories behind different policy options, and the implications for and choices available to diverse actors, including farmers, workers, cooperatives, companies, NGOs, policymakers, and researchers. 

Critical data and evidence literacy is central to our teaching. Students work with quantitative and qualitative, primary and secondary data, learning how data is collected and how to assess its quality.

Similarily, we support BSc and MSc students in addressing sustainability challenges and developing data literacy through their theses. Topics are closely linked to our research agenda, giving students first-hand experience with current research and methods while contributing to ongoing projects (possible topics for theses can be found here.) We also offer student assistantships that allow students to gain research experience and strengthen and apply their skills.

We are committed to fostering an interactive learning environment that encourages discussions, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills to enable the next generation of leaders in agricultural, food, and environmental occupations to find solutions for pressing sustainability challenges in food systems.