On 22 May 2024, Guilherme Raj defends his thesis titled ‘It is about power: Unveiling power and empowerment in grassroots agri-food initiatives’. This PhD thesis aims to elucidate the role of power and empowerment in the sustainability transformation of agri-food systems. Guilherme focuses on agri-food transformation within grassroots agri-food initiatives, which serve as spaces for…

Members of the UNMAKING team organized and/or presented at the  ‘3rd Utrecht Degrowth Symposium: Sowing sustainability in food and agriculture‘ at Utrecht University. The symposium brought together policymakers and civil servants, researchers, students, farmers,  social movements, and other interested people to explore what a degrowth perspective can bring to the debate on agri-food system sustainability….

The UNMAKING team organized two workshops at this year’s Food Autonomy Festival in Utrecht (29 May 2022). Guilherme Raj designed and facilitated a workshop on ‘Queering the countryside: the role of agri-food grassroots initiatives expanding sexuality and gender norms’. Julia Spanier, Jacob Smessaert, Guilherme Raj and Giuseppe Feola facilitated a workshop that was designed by…

The UNMAKING team contributed en masse to the 8th International Degrowth Conference that took place between 23-28 August in Den Haag (the Netherlands). The UNMAKING team (co-)organized various conference sessions: Conference plenary on Anarchism and Degrowth (co-organized by Jacob Smessaert), Conference plenary on Dutch Social Movements and Degrowth (co-organized by Laura van Oers) Conference plenary…

On 12 June Jacob Smessaert and Julia Spanier gave a workshop on ‘Envisioning Food systems for Degrowth‘ at ASEED’s Food Autonomy Festival, which was held in Amsterdam, Utrecht and Wageningen. The workshop took place in Utrecht. Envisioning Food Systems for Degrowth This workshop invites participants to explore how food production, distribution and consumption may be…

Laura van Oers, Giuseppe Feola and former UNMAKING researcher Olga Koretskaya are among the organizers of the Second Utrecht Degrowth Symposium, which will be held online on 15 May 2020.   During the event participants will discuss what a circular society can look like and how it can be achieved from the perspectives of practitioners…

Giuseppe Feola, Olga Coretcaia, Laura van Oers, Leonie Guerrero, Guilherme Raj and Jacob Smessaert co-organized, with colleagues from Copernicus Institute and the Dutch Degrowth Platform, the 1st Utrecht Degrowth Symposium at Utrecht University. This symposium, the first of this kind in the country, brought together over 360 participants from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, and from…