Feeding the Billions: Challenges and Innovation in Food and Water Security

About this course

Additional information

• Learning objectives

  By the end of this course, students will be able to:

  • Better understand food and water security, its context (local to global), major challenges, innovative solutions and policies.

  • Understand and can explain major concepts and theories in this field.

  • Be able to select and apply appropriate transdisciplinary approaches in food and water security research

  • Have acquired skills to evaluate research and do critical reading of the literature.

  • Possess the communication skills needed to participate in current debates in the field of food and water security.

• Forms of tuition and assessment

  This course is going to be taught through lectures, excursions (if possible), discussions, group work, and videos. 

  Students will be assessed through active participation in an in-class debate and a group presentation.

• About the course lecturers

  Denyse Snelder and Sabina Di Prima work at the Centre for International Cooperation (CIS), VU Amsterdam. Both manage and implement research and capacity building projects in Africa and Southeast Asia. Dr Snelder has expertise in sustainable land and water management and Mrs Di Prima conducts PhD research in food and nutrition security. Dr Ben Sonneveld is senior researcher at the Amsterdam Centre for World Food Studies and has expertise in natural resource management and ecological economics. Dr Marthe Wens is member of the Water and Climate research group in the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) at VU Amsterdam and her research concerns the integration of adaptation and mitigation behaviour in drought risk and impact analysis.  

• Preliminary course schedule

  You can find the preliminary syllabus for summer 2024 via this link.

  ^{*Please note that this is a preliminary syllabus and that it might be subject to change.} 

• Further information

  The Summer School on Food and Water Security is organised by the Centre for International Cooperation, in collaboration with the Amsterdam Centre for World Food Studies (ACWFS), a joint initiative of the School of Business and Economics (SBE) and the Faculty of Science. The Centre is active in acquisition and implementation of externally funded research and education projects, in developing interdisciplinary education; in promoting communication between researchers at the VU by organising seminars, workshops and conferences.