International Conference "Food Policy and Sustainability"

September 11–13, 2009
“Food Policy and Sustainability”
Three days of study at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo

Launching the new School of Higher Studies in Food Policy and Sustainability, a three-day program of study will be held September 11–13, 2009, at the University of Gastronomic Sciences’ Pollenzo campus. These three days open the first annual installment of an eventual summer program, developed in cooperation with the other universities of Piedmont and the collaboration of the Council of Universities and Research of the Region of Piedmont.

Led by such policy and sustainability experts as Eric Holt-Gimenez, Tim Lang, Luca Mercalli, Loretta Napoleoni, Clara Nicholls, Raj Patel, Ezio Pelizzetti, Carlo Petrini, Vandana Shiva, Nancy Turner, and Richard Wilk, the September series initiates an academic program that will consist—as of summer 2010—of two annual installments of six weeks each.

The three days will be divided into the same eight disciplinary areas that make up the overall program: economics, law, environment, social systems, production systems, traditional knowledge, evolution and co-evolution, and policy practices. Professor of ethnobotany Andrea Pieroni will lead the program. Two plenary sessions and a day of workshops around eight key questions pertaining to the respective disciplines comprise this autumn prologue, and will lead up to a round-table discussion intended to provide multiple responses to each question.

The session is aimed at entrepreneurs, students, institutions, and those operating within international cooperation—those seeking to delve into the necessity of escaping the limited and limiting conception of agricultural policy, in order to find reasonable answers to the complexities of food policy. This interdisciplinary approach is intended for those in the public and private sectors, who increasingly require such training in order to function within all aspects of agrifood and ecological operations.

Complete details of the September session, including application instructions, is available at www.unisg.it.

For more information:
University of Gastronomic Sciences
convegni@unisg.it
tel. 0172 458511-74-07
fax 0172 458500