During this master you gain the knowledge and skills needed to become a T-shaped professional: both generalist and specialist, deploying your specialist knowledge in an integral and interdisciplinary manner and developing and implementing innovative routes to solutions.
You learn to point out challenges, recognise and valorise opportunities for innovation and facilitate transdisciplinary cooperation. You do this by working on existing food issues from practice with various actors and interests. This way, the Food Systems Innovation master trains you to become a professional that connects large-scale systemic thinking with concrete professional fields within the food system.
The study programme is divided into different phases. These phases support you in becoming an expert that is able to apply new insights, explore food systems, design interventions and create new solutions.
- Introduction phase: you get acquainted with transitions theory and systemic thinking
- Experience phase: exploring, intervening and creating.
During the phases, theoretic knowledge on i.a. food system transitions, challenges and perspectives is combined with training for professional skills, ranging from design based research to project management and from entrepreneurship to leadership. You will research the challenges the food system faces and work on innovative tools with which changes can be brought about. Application and experimentation are a common thread through the complete curriculum: your knowledge and skills are applied and tested in a series of stimulating assignments, often related to real-life challenges. A central role is reserved for reflection and feedback, captured in your portfolio, to monitor your learning process and grow your capacity for continuous development.
The master Food Systems Innovation trains you to develop ground-breaking solutions for complex issues through a system and transition approach. You become a change agent, who, with other actors, designs clever, trans-domain innovations which contribute to a healthier and more sustainable food system.