Systems thinking for sustainable food systems

One of the defining challenges of our time is how to feed the world, while ensuring human health, protecting the environment, and fostering social wellbeing. To address sustainability in food systems, students need to understand the complexity of the system. We envisage to create an annually recurring, 4 ECTS, inter- and transdisciplinary course open to master and doctoral students from numerous departments at ETH. Based on real world cases linked to key food system challenges, students build knowledge, transferable competencies, skills, and motivation to develop ideas towards food system transformation. We continuously link themes to the broader food system, by connecting to subsystems, levels, and scales, considering ecological, economic, social, political, and cultural dynamics. Participants learn to navigate complexity, develop systems thinking and mapping for sustainability, and work on actual projects with stakeholders. They develop solutions through a design thinking method. The project-based learning in this course takes place at PBLabs, whose team supports our design thinking development. The EduMedia team coaches the student’s media competencies i.e. science communication skills and trains them in presenting their solutions in an innovative way, using visual and auditive storytelling techniques.

1. Creation of an annual recurring, 4 ECTS interdisciplinary educational course on the topic of systems thinking for sustainable food systems: The WFSC is leveraging its experience to establish a program enabling ETH students to collaboratively engage in project-based learning on the intricate subject of food systems. The program focuses on providing participants with essential competencies for their academic pursuits and future endeavours.

2. Inclusion of interdisciplinarity, through teaching content and diverse participant backgrounds: The course emphasizes an inter- and even transdisciplinary approach through the course content and the stakeholders involved. We aim to attract students from diverse disciplines to foster mutual appreciation as both knowledge producers and users.

3. Training transferable competencies through project-based education: In collaboration with the PBLabs team, we aim to engage diverse stakeholders in the food system. Utilizing design thinking, students will actively work on solutions through a ‘deep dive’ into relevant topics, connecting to research, industry cases, and societal and political considerations.

4. Development of Science Communication Competencies: To convey innovative solutions on complex topics to stakeholders, skills such as visual storytelling are central. Together with the EduMedia Team, we aim to (i) develop a workshop during the first week focusing on the effective communication of complex ideas, and (ii) conduct individual mentoring sessions with student groups in the second week. Students will have the option to select between two science communication storytelling techniques: creating a video-based podcasts or designing infographics. Both formats are suitable for sharing with diverse audiences.

– We combine systems thinking with the design thinking method and apply this to food systems, which enables us to highlight the complexities, interdependencies, and power dynamics within which the challenges of the stakeholders are embedded.
– Project-based learning: Since its 2011 foundation, the WFSC has established a broad network and lasting partnerships with industry, policymakers, NGOs, farmers, educational institutes, and societal stakeholders. It is well-suited for organizing project-based learning with stakeholders, enabling quick adaptation to urgent topics. We will closely work with PBLabs, using their project-based room in RZ, and working with them to design a coaching training for facilitators to scale participant numbers over time.
– Through our approach, this course integrates teaching and learning on numerous method specific, social, and personal competencies.
– PAKETH, launched by the Rectorate, requests an increased focus on interdisciplinarity. Comprising 45 research groups across 7 different departments, we are in a unique position at ETH to foster interdisciplinarity. We meet the request though both the content of the course, and by connecting the course for students from at least 5 different master’s degrees.
– Communication competencies: The language and formats used at an academic level, are not always accessible to practitioners and/or society at large. Visual storytelling can be highly effective, to transmit a complex message in an accessible way to a broad audience. The workshops we envision to develop with the EduMedia team, will train students, our members, and our team to be able to better transmit core insights and solutions.