Research Projects

Here is an overview of the research projects the Agroecology program is contributing in. You can reach more details from the project website or from the professors. It is possible that you conduct your thesis research within any of these projects!

NEXTFOOD 

This EU-project is co-creating the education systems for future professionals in agrifood and -forestry systems worldwide. The NMBU team is responsible for two work packages in the project including facilitating action research on 12 cases where action learning is being employed. These cases are at the core of the research project as they are where the novel educational approaches are put into practice. One of the cases is the autumn agroecology course at NMBU while the rest are located throughout Europe, Africa, and India. The project has been running since 2018 and will conclude in 2022. The NMBU team has two full-time researchers employed on the project (Lutgart and Åsmund). Students are encouraged to seek more information from the research team to explore possible thesis opportunities related to the project work.

https://www.nextfood-project.eu/

Cultivating Public Spaces

The project «Cultivating Public Spaces: urban agriculture as a basis for human flourishing and sustainability transition in Norwegian cities» is an interdisciplinary and internationally oriented project addressing the potentials of urban agriculture as a driving force of a sustainability transition in contemporary Norwegian cities. One major focus is social sustainability, in particular how urban agriculture can improve the quality of life in compact cities and how urban agriculture can be integrated in public spaces.

https://www.nmbu.no/en/projects/node/34274

Sustainable Adaptation – Resilience in Urban Regeneration (ADAPT) 

ADAPT is a research project funded by the Norwegian Research Council and led by The Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU). In this project we ask how the reuse of industrial heritage, alongside developing new infrastructure, may contribute to human wellbeing and place attachment. NMBU is a partner in this project, responsible for a work package where the focus is on integration of urban agriculture (UA) in the two case areas (in Skien and Moss) which are former brownfields now being developed for new purposes. The aims of this work package are as follows:  

• To provide insights on how to facilitate socially sustainable and resilient urban development by integrating UA in public spaces developed on former brownfields. 
• To assess the potential UA has for engaging the wider public, by examining the ways the pilot study of Klosterhagen are being carried out. 
• To develop a set of policy, functional and process recommendations for implementing UA as part of urban regeneration processes taking place on former brownfields. 

Organic food in school canteens  

The agroecology programme is in 2019 part of a project in collaboration with the county of Akershus where the aim is to find out how to best organise public funding for school canteens to increase their use of organic food. This will be part of the student casework this year.