Cultivating Belonging: Inclusive Curriculum Design for Sustainable Agroecosystems

Students in the Sustainable Agroecosystems (SAE) group bring diverse backgrounds—ranging from farming experience to no prior exposure to agriculture. While this diversity offers strong potential for peer learning, the current courses remain fragmented:

• Sustainable Agroecosystems I (BSc, 2nd year)
• Tropical Cropping Systems, Soils, and Livelihoods (MSc)
• Cultivating Knowledge: Agroecology through Projects, our new course merging Sustainable Agroecosystems II (BSc, 3rd year) with Agroecologists Without Borders (MSc)

This disconnect limits opportunities to build competences systematically across the curriculum.

This project proposes a stepwise redesign to align these courses and foster competencies spanning subject knowledge, methods, and personal and social skills. By treating student diversity as a pedagogical resource, it seeks to cultivate belonging, teamwork, and interconnection within and across cohorts, as well as between students, lecturers, and facilitators.

The redesign emphasizes translocal, experimental, and project-based learning to help students bridge prior knowledge with new perspectives, engage with real-world complexities, and strengthen their capacity for inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration. Inclusive teaching formats—peer exchange, multimodal materials, and transparent assessments—will meet diverse learning needs while generating collective insights for advancing just and sustainable agroecosystems, with impacts reaching beyond the classroom.

Goal 1 – Foster an inclusive, interconnected curriculum : Redesign and align SAE courses into a coherent pathway that leverages student diversity, promotes peer learning, and systematically builds knowledge, skills, and belonging across BSc and MSc levels.

Goal 2 – Strengthen multimodal and transdisciplinary competencies: Equip students with practical, collaborative, and communication skills through hands-on projects, design-thinking cycles, and multimodal outputs- preparing them to engage across disciplines and diverse audiences.

Goal 3 – Connect learning to real-world agricultural and food dynamics Embed culturally responsive fieldwork, stakeholder collaboration, and iterative feedback to deepen students’ agency, ethical engagement, and sense of belonging, fostering readiness for inter- & transdisciplinary problem-solving in sustainable agricultural and food systems.

For Students
The redesigned pathway enhances equity and belonging by valuing diverse backgrounds and learning styles. Students gain agency through iterative feedback, develop resilience in cross-cultural contexts, and practice multimodal communication- ranging from podcasts to visuals – that extend beyond academic audiences. Resource-equity measures and flexible assessment formats reduce hidden barriers while maintaining academic rigor, empowering students to contribute confidently to complex food system debates.

For Lecturers
Lecturers benefit from structured feedback loops, peer mentoring structures, and collaborative teaching with the Media & Methods Lab and international partners. These innovations reduce teaching silos, support adaptive course design, and enrich pedagogical practice with inclusive, student-centered methods. Transparent rubrics and open resources streamline assessment and ensure alignment across modules.

For the Programme / Departments / ETH
The project adds value by creating a coherent, multimodal curriculum that can serve as a model for inclusive teaching in other departments. Open Educational Resources in the ETH Collection Library increase the reach and reusability of teaching materials. By embedding accessibility and equity at the core of curriculum design, the initiative strengthens ETH’s role as a leader in innovative, socially responsive higher education.