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Farm to Fork: sustainable production & consumption in public canteens

Connecting students and young professionals from different backgrounds to provide insights into sustainable production and consumption towards healthier diets.

Objectives

This three-week programme will provide you with an insight into sustainable production and consumption towards healthier diets.

You will start your journey focusing on one of the most challenging topics in today's food system - local and organic products; zero waste; alternative proteins - to find ways to co-develop and co-design a creative and innovative idea for a manifesto for sustainable public canteens, including the development of a sustainable weekly menu, to pitch at the final contest among teams.

The programme will focus on Southern and Eastern European countries to address sustainable production and consumption and major nutritional challenges within the framework of the European Farm-to-Fork strategy.

By participating at the school, thanks to the focus on periurban and urban farming and a hand-to-hand approach, you will be aware of the local dimension and the Farm-to-Fork dynamics implementation, being ready to develop concrete strategies with an entrepreneurial mindset that can support the promotion of healthier and more sustainable lifestyles.

This programme is tailored for bachelor's, master's and PhD students, researchers, and young professionals with an interest in innovation in the food system and sustainable food service. Applicants are welcome from a variety of disciplines, including agricultural sciences, environmental studies, economics, sociology, and nutrition.

This programme is aimed at people who are willing to get involved and ready to design and discuss solutions for healthier and more sustainable diets for public canteens with experts and within a network of young innovators.

Advantages

The “Farm to Fork: sustainable production & consumption in public canteens” Summer School programme is structured with a student-centred vision and a project-based approach, which encourages young innovators to use the tools provided by highly qualified experts to co-develop their own innovative and business-driven idea of sustainable food canteen.

The learning content will be supported by university professors from the University of Bologna, the University of Turin, the University of Aarhus and by highly qualified professionals in entrepreneurship in the food system. In addition, experts in public canteens and the areas related to sustainable production and consumption will be invited to discuss and give important input to the students.

At the end of the programme, the student will gain knowledge on the challenges related to the sustainability of public food service, becoming aware of the local dimension and the Farm-to-Fork dynamics, and being ready to develop concrete strategies with an entrepreneurial mindset. This will be an innovative and practical learning-by-doing opportunity focused on addressing global and local food challenges for sustainability.

Career Opportunities

This Summer School will provide participants with knowledge and awareness of the challenges of sustainability and healthy nutrition. Furthermore, the network that will be created through the teamwork approach will strengthen a smart ecosystem for young innovators with highly multidisciplinary backgrounds.

The programme will facilitate an open innovation ecosystem, enabling participants to operate in a broader territorial context and to become skilled individuals in developing, managing and sharing innovative solutions focused on sustainable food systems.

Thanks to this learning opportunity, entrepreneurship and innovation will be catalysed with a focus on the potential of start-ups and entrepreneurial talent, supporting young people to become active players in regional and national developments, especially related to the “targeted nutrition” objective of the RIS areas.

Duration & Dates

The course lasts three weeks, from the 5th until the 23rd of September 2022.

Take a look at the 2022 edition promotional video:

Audience & Eligibility

Bachelor's, master's and PhD students, researchers, and young professionals (more under Objectives)

Level

Bachelor, master, phd and post-graduate

Price

Free

Language

English

Registration Open & Seats

Open

Location

Online
Course soon available

Keep me informed

Structure & Modules

The course will be taught by academic and industry experts from the sector in a blended synchronous and asynchronous (online and offline) approach over the duration of three weeks.

Before the start of the programme, each student will be asked to choose which of the following three contexts they would like to focus and work on: local and organic products; zero waste; alternative proteins.

Based on this chioce, the teams will be formed.

From the beginning of the first week, mentoring sessions will be held to support the teams in achieving their goals.

  • Week 1 (05/09/22 – 09/09/22):

During the first phase, students will be provided with the essential knowledge on sustainable production and consumption towards healthier diets supported and the topic they choose supported by live lectures and offline materials (e.g. "An overview of the Farm to Frok strategy"; "From measurement to action: designing smart food systems"; "Sustainable public food procurement in canteens"). Furthermore, students will start the entrepreneurial journey supported by the Entrepreneurship-spine team members. In this first phase, each team will begin to explore their chosen theme - local and organic products; zero waste; alternative proteins -.

  • Week 2 (12/09/22 – 16/09/22):

During this second phase, students will be inspired by various case studies related to the key topics of the programme. Teamwork will focus on co-creating sustainable canteen projects based on the knowledge provided by the learning materials and the entrepreneurship spine. At the end of the week, a live session will focus on pitching techniques to prepare students for the final phase in week three.

  • Week 3 (19/09/22 – 23/09/22):

The third phase, called "bootcamp", will consist of a series of “inspirational talks”, live lessons held by external speakers that will cover the topics on which the teams worked on and the transversal key topics. During this last phase the teams will finalize their project and develop the pitch, as always supported by the mentors. At the end of the third week, it will be organized the pitch contest where the jury (composed by partners, Entrepreneurship-spine members, and external speakers) will award the three teams with the best and most innovative idea based on a shared criteria framework.

The winning participants will receive a certificate of merit and a prize.

Click on the Agenda to have access to the lectures and timetables.

Programme lead

Giovanni Dinelli
Giovanni Dinelli

University of Bologna

MV
Matteo Vittuari

Univeristy of Bologna

Profile image f62db489 d700 4559 a192 78f856ef9c03
Paola De Bernardi

University of Turin

GX
George Xydis

Aarhus University

Partners