C5 Food systems and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Plieninger)

SP C5 develops and tests an integrative research approach that links food systems with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, building on emerging frameworks for transformative sustainability science. We will analyze the systemic interactions in food systems, identify competing values and development agendas of actors that help or hinder the 2030 agenda, and aim to understand visions and pathways of transformation towards food system sustainability. Using a mixed-methods approach including qualitative and quantitative as well as inter- and transdisciplinary elements, these objectives will be investigated empirically at the local scale of three food production landscapes.

Possible dissertation topics:


  • A spatially explicit analysis of synergies and tradeoffs between multiple SDG outcomes from urban farming systems
  • Addressing social power relations in food systems based on agroforestry
  • Envisioning sustainable food systems on indigenous people’s lands

  • Leading PI
    Tobias Plieninger

    Doctoral researcher of the first cohort:
    Sukanya Basu