The learning goal is to understand farming and food systems as social-ecological systems (SES), and integrated assessment (IA) for sustainability of these. SES approach is a research tool that allows addressing multidisciplinary study of interaction between the social and the ecological. It forms the methodological foundation for, for example, the international network of long term ecosystem research ILTER (www.ilternet.edu). IA is founded on modelling tradition, and has emerged in response to need of assessment of social and ecological sustainability of policy scenarios (for examples, see System for Environmental and Agricultural Modelling; Linking European Science and Society at: www.seamless-ip.org). The learning goal includes resilience and adaptive capacity as key parameters of sustainability of SES.
The course structure is based on a concept developed over the series of earlier courses of the Agroasis network, consisting of the following four elements:
•Pre-course literature assignment ensures scientific level and contribution by each participant during the intensive week.
• Linking of the course theme to the participant's own PhD research topic is activated by poster presentations by each participant.
•A research-based learning environment is sought by linking to an internationally recognized research examples, by eminent guest teachers. Creativity is facilitated by including conceptual frameworks stemming from a range of disciplines.
•A high degree of interactions during the intensive course period is sought by integrating windows of interaction with invited experts, interactions among participants through walk-and-talk and discussion topics.
•Ownership of own learning is sought by using a tool that has proven its value during the previous courses of the Agroasis network, which is that the participants apply what they learned in developing research proposal (group work) which is being defended in front of all participants.
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