Project properties
Title Tracking food system policy integration for remote indigenous communities
Group Public Administration and Policy
Project type thesis
Credits 33 or more
Supervisor(s) Dr. Robbert Biesbroek (Public Adminstration and Policy)
Dr. James Ford (McGill University Canada, Leeds University, UK) (external supervisor)
Examiner(s) Dr. Robbert Biesbroek; Prof. Dr. Katrien Termeer
Contact info Robbert.Biesbroek@wur.nl; check course handbook and for possibilities of doing a thesis with PAP
Begin date 2017/02/01
End date 2018/10/31
Description Climate change will severely impact indigenous communities across different parts of the world, including the Arctic, Peru and Uganda. Ensuring sustainable food security for these highly vulnerable communities is one of the key governance challenges that requires crosscutting the traditional boundaries of sectors and domains, between public-private spheres, and between departments and levels. Many integrative policy efforts have been designed and implemented to move towards a holistic food governance system to ensure coherency and consistency in policy responses. However, important questions remain in understanding the process of creating holistic food governance systems, for example about the patterns of policy integration over time and contexts, the governance instruments used to stimulate integration within and across scales, and the barriers/opportunities to hinder/stimulate policy (dis)integration for food systems governance, as well as the effectiveness of these initiatives.

This project is part of Indigenous Health Adaptation to Climate Change project (IHACC) coordinated by McGill University (see www.ihacc.ca). The offered thesis opportunity requires a fair bit of field work in one of the three case study regions.
Used skills Clear affinity with and demonstrable experience in social science research. Qualitative methods are used– particularly content analysis methods. Fieldwork experience is preferred. Considering the level of fieldwork, proficiency in language of the selected region is required as well as excellent English writing skills.
Requirements Relevant for students from following master programs: International Development (MID), Management and Economics (MME), Environmental Sciences (MES), Climate Studies (MCL), Sustainable Food Systems.