The SUSTAIN CoE aims at making higher education and research in EU agri-food and agri-environmental studies more accessible, understandable, available, and appealing to the new generations of young researchers, professionals and practitioners that will shape the future of the EU farming and food systems.
Thanks to research activities, advanced educational programmes, research seminars – all carried out adopting a cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approach involving researchers and practitioners – SUSTAIN intends to contribute to the networking among students, early- career researchers, and young professionals, fostering high-level research, cooperation, and knowledge exchange across different areas of expertise on EU actions on the green and digital transition of agri-food systems.
SUSTAIN pursues three specific objectives:
- Educational objective. SUSTAIN aims at promoting an in-depth and interdisciplinary knowledge of EU agri-food and agri-environmental studies across Europe, with a specific focus on the green and digital transition of EU agri-food systems. The SUSTAIN CoE will foster the participations of students and professionals without a background in European Union studies (e.g., life sciences and engineering students, practitioners, and professionals) and equip them with an in-depth knowledge of the role that the EU is playing in building a healthier, fairer, and more sustainable and climate-resilient agri-food systems. This objective will be pursued through the organization of three Summer Schools and three series of seminars on EU sustainable farming and food systems over the three years.
- Research objective. SUSTAIN aims at strengthening research skills among junior researchers and Ph.D. students and building an interdisciplinary community of early career researchers from different universities and research centres on the EU actions for sustainable farming and food systems, while enhancing the research expertise of SSSA as a focal point of knowledge in the area of EU agri-food and agri-environmental studies. This objective will be pursued through the organization of a series of Research Colloquia organised regularly at SSSA. These Colloquia are intended to be an opportunity for Ph.D. students, Post Docs, and young researchers to present and discuss their research results and methodological approaches dealing with EU agri-food and agri-environmental studies.
- Dissemination objective. SUSTAIN aims at creating the conditions for a more informed public debate and an increased social awareness on EU agri-food and agri-environmental studies, by enabling knowledge exchanges on EU actions with academics and participants from third countries, outreaching a wide audience of students and professionals in a multidisciplinary perspective, and increasing the awareness on the role of the EU policies in the global farming and food systems. This objective will be achieved through the writing of academic articles on the main aspects of the EU green and digital transition and on EU-related actions towards global more sustainable farming and food systems; the writing and publication of an Edited Book that will collect the key research results of the SUSTAIN CoE at the end of the project; and the organisation of key communication events on the SUSTAIN activities and results.
