A day in researching sense of place in the National Park “Galicica” in Macedonia

By Bojan Rantasa, MSc-student International Master of Rural Devleopment (IMRD) Earlier I introduced my thesis research regarding the ‘Sense of place in Galicica national park‘. My research is coming to an end, but I am still cautious to speak of results prematurely. So I will share how my research days look like. Embarked on the mission [...]

Factoren die beleving van maaltijd bereid uit lokale producten beïnvloeden – MSc-thesis onderzoek

Door Marina van Maanen,  MSc-studente Gezondheid en Maatschappij Lokaal betrokken en streekproducten staan steeds vaker op het menu van zorginstellingen. Waar eerder een trend was van steeds meer geïndustrialiseerde maaltijden als gevolg van kostenbesparingen, lijkt nu de ambachtelijke maaltijd terrein te winnen. Er zijn veronderstellingen dat een maaltijd op basis van lokaal betrokken en streekproducten [...]

Sense of place in National Park Galicica – using new media in MSc-thesis research

By Bojan Rantasa, MSc-student International Master of Rural Development Last Friday, 23 March 2012, I presented my MSc-thesis research proposal for fellow students and researchers of the Rural Sociology Group. My thesis research is titled “The Sense of Place of National Park Galicica” is part of my Msc-study International Master Rural Development (www.imrd.ugent.be). Joost Jongerden of the Rural Sociology [...]

Politics of place making in urban farming – an essay

By Anke de Vrieze Last trimester, I had the opportunity to join the Capita Selecta course `A Global Sense of Place´, taught by Joost Jongerden and Dirk Roep. From my current working experience in the field of urban agriculture, the subject of the course – place-based approaches for sustainable development- interested me and proved valuable. In the course, [...]

Excursion Biodiversity in Brabant

By Elisa de Lijster After I completed my MSc-thesis for International Development Studies (see earlier post in Dutch) I’m now working at the Centre for Agriculture and Environment (Centrum for Landbouw en Milieu or CLM) on my second MSc thesis project about the current turmoil in Dutch Nature Policy. I will explore and hopefully find new and creative [...]

Surinam bami, Georgian beet-salad and Turkish baklava

The allotment gardeners of De Koekelt have gathered for a potluck in De Koekelt on Saturday, third of September. Surinam, Turkish, Italian, Georgian, and Dutch gardeners prepared food with the vegetables of their garden which, all together, made a very tasty and varied lunch. I am doing my thesis on De Koekelt, trying to find [...]

Growing food in the neighbourhood

Tilburg’s City Garden- Lise Alix This winter I did an internship in which I set up a city garden in Tilburg. I found ten enthusiastic, mostly female neighbours, ready to cooperate in creating their neighbourhood’s kitchen’s garden. We learned about designing and preparing a garden, working together, and about physical endurance while spreading manure, transporting [...]

Gracious Empowerment?

By Alexandra Rijke Minor Thesis Title: Gracious Empowerment? Evaluating the impact the GRACE-network project had on the empowerment of female university students in their stance against Gender-Based Violence. This minor thesis (click here for the complete thesis) is part of the Research Master International Development Studies at the Wageningen University and Research Centre. The objective [...]

Torri Superiore Ecovillage: resisting the abandonment of rural marginal areas in Italy

 MSc-thesis by Alberto Giani Modernization of agriculture has clearly shown not to be a viable solution for marginalized areas, while a mix of retro-innovation, fantasy and passion is showing a possible novel way forward for the re-utilization of abandoned areas and the revitalization of its socio-economic life. Torri Superiore Ecovillage is such as case, that I [...]

Grondhouding en strategie van boeren leidend bij inspelen op vergroening van GLB

MSc-thesis Elisa de Lijster In mijn onderzoek heb ik gekeken in hoeverre opvattingen en grondhoudingen van melkveehouders aangaande bedrijfsvoering en natuur & het landschap richtinggevend zijn voor de wijze waarop ze zullen inspelen op de aanstaande hervorming van het Gemeenschappelijk Landbouwbeleid (GLB). Door een vergroening van het GLB krijgen boeren de mogelijkheid om publieke diensten leveren op het gebied van [...]