A central part of the Nextfood project is the 12 case studies conducted in 10 countries on 3 continents. All these cases are attempting to transform their education models to align with the Nextfood approach. Not only are we trying to make the change, but we are also researching the process and the outcomes. In this document, we report on the outcomes of implementing the Nextfood educational strategy during the first year of the project. Throughout the first year, the selected cases have been engaged with initiating their case work, primarily through planning the initial steps of employing the Nextfood approach. The initial reports from carrying out the educational activities suggest that the Nextfood approach is well suited for developing students’ required competences in dealing with a complex reality. However, we also observe signs that the approach may be less successful if the implementation is not performed in a comprehensive way. For the coming cycles, we expect to gain a better understanding of the necessary steps needed to successfully implement the Nextfood approach in the selected cases.



For practitioners looking to implement elements of action learning related to the Nextfood approach, we recommend to thoroughly plan the activities and to set up a system to gather reflections on the process. We have found that it is necessary to not only learn by doing, but also to reflect upon the experiences. Reflections upon how the first year of implementing the Nextfood approach has gone can be read about in this document.

Main Results:

The 3 months certificate course in agroecology is an opportunity for the farmer trainers, agri-business entrepreneurs, development workers from any agri/food related background to develop and design solutions to an actual challenge in the agri-food system. The pedagogical approach of the course focused to bring a shift in paradigm from a linear to a cyclical approach to learning based on an active action reflection. The main task, was to engage with farms to find out challenges and offer solution. The learning started in an ideal farm and ends with sharing the experience with larger audience through exhibition.

Students who joined this course learned

i) system dynamics

ii) action-oriented learning to train stakeholder

iii) solving real life problems in agri-food sectors.

The major skills achieved were Observation, Reflection, Visioning, Dialogue, Participation, Communication.

The main practical recommendations:

Short term impacts:

• Improved understanding of pedagogical requirements in Agroecological teaching and learning

• Students qualified through the course enthusiastic about initiating agro-ecological actions and some are already pursuing the same.

Long term impacts:

• Adaptation of developed and adapted pedagogical methods in other university curricula where possible.

• Improved human resource with Agroecological system skills and orientation to initiate restorative actions in agriculture and food system.

Main results:

Experiential approach is implemented at UNISG since its foundation with study trips. However, Action-learning is developed in a structured way since NEXTFOOD with tematic study trip at Bachelor level and a case base course in agroecology at Master level. The study trip structure includes since last year 3 phases: introduction, thematic cases visits and reflection and restitution using Plenary, Group and Individual (PGI) sessions. This structure is used both for Bachelor and for Master students and the goal is competence development in both knowledge and skills. The Introduction and Reflection sessions stimulate active participation of students both through interpersonal interaction (dialogue) and use of electronic resources (online sources, electronic platform, tools of Google).

In addition, this structure stimulate participation and direct dialogue between students and agricultural stakeholders.The students had opportunities to see food production and food processing, and to talk directly to food producers and to players of food supply chain. In turn, the producers could contact to the future professionals and to have their feedback and new ideas.

Main practical recommendations:

Educators can use this structure in order to provide various learning outcomes such as knowledge acquisition, competence development, practical experience, understanding of existing realities of the agro-food system in a country.

The value of this three-phase structure is fostering action learning practices, engagement students in the the learning process, development of specific knowledge and enabling student-stakeholder dialogue.

There is an increasing interest in balancing economic and environmental aspects during roundwood harvesting from areas with high natural values. There is also an unproven agreement among researchers, forestry personnel and machine operators that a skilled operator often can improve or even create habitats for flora and fauna during certain conditions in an efficient way to a modest extra cost.



Skogforsk is running a case aiming at a higher understanding about logging techniques, strategies and methods to increase quality and number of micro-habitats in production forests. Our case is conducted as a vocational course for forestry professionals. We will use the Nextfood model to develop and implement the course.



After the first meeting conducted at an ongoing logging operation, all participants agreed that the model could be very fruitful to allow researchers, management and operators to learn from each other.



As a first step each participant, forestry professionals as well as researchers were asked to write down what they most of all would like to teach the other participants and what they most of all would like to learn. Their answers create a platform for the upcoming case.



A planning workshop with the team of researchers was held at Skogforsk in Uppsala in September 2019. During the workshop an activity plan for the first cycle of the Nextfood model was created.

In the Greek case study, the methodology of action learning is employed to create groups of heterogeneous actors (learning sets) who engage in collective, discovery-based learning activities, to collaboratively construct new knowledge. In total, three different learning sets have been formed: (1) livestock farming; (2) viticulture; and (3) food processing companies.

Each one of the first two groups consists of a farmer, a student of agronomy, an academic, a professional with work experience in the field, and an observer with expertise in knowledge co-production processes. Through a process of discovering problems, proposing and implementing solutions, and reflecting on the procedure of identifying-solving problems, each learning set intends to develop a common understanding of the ways farming is practiced as well as to discover different meanings of farming and agricultural sustainability. This way, each participant helps others to make sense of their experience, while the dialogue and the reflection process leads to a redefinition of the concept of farming. Within this context, students are trying to develop their communication skills, their reflection competencies and their problem-solving skills.



Based on the above-mentioned findings and the principles of action learning, a course has been designed and organized and will be held at International Hellenic University during the current semester. The course’s curriculum is action-based oriented and after its first implementation and after an assessment process some changes and/or improvements will be carried out in order the students to be more actively engaged in the learning process and to be more competent in terms of communication and problem-solving skills.

The Sustainable Supply Chain International Student Competition Games are an opportunity for Master students from any food-related study programme to participate in an online competition to develop and design their unique solution to an actual challenge in the food industry. Students voluntarily join this competition which requires i) identifying and solving real problems ii) action-oriented learning to train job-related skills and iii) a speaking opportunity at a professional conference for the winner. The winning project from the 2019 competition in Sustainable Aquaculture was “Towards sustainable awareness: Implementation of an aquaponic code of practice” and will be presented at Aquaculture Europe 2019.



The value of this real-world participatory student activity, with opportunities for student exploitation in a professional arena, is both to improve student skills and to generate novel ideas to improve food sustainability. Educators can use similar activities in other fields, engaging students and training them in soft and technical skills for the job market. Students take an active part in a series of webinars, engage and exchange ideas with external experts and with the other student teams. Students present their solutions in a written report and at a final virtual conference and a team of experts from academia and business evaluate the solutions on the grounds of originality, innovativeness and potential exploitability (application to industry and social, economic and environmental impact). Since food producers and processors partner with educators or professional associations all can benefit from entrepreneurial student ideas, putting winning projects into practice.

Main results

Farmers’ Training Centres (FTC) were established to serve as colleges for the small scale farming community in rural Ethiopia. The Master program in Agroecology and Sustainable Development at Mekelle University used this opportunity to co-create knowledge between the FTC stakeholders, instructors and students through experiential learning based action research program. The courses designed to create this linkage were Agroecological Innovations I and II. The Master program students spent half day orientation with course instructors at the FTC and spent about two hours of time with FTC stakeholders trying to understand the present situation of the farming and food systems. The FTC stakeholders selected representative case sites and client farmers for each student. Students completed the data collection through participatory approaches and generated report for the course evaluation at the University. The students presented their report in front of their client farmers and FTC stakeholders to see how they understood the present situation, envision and recommend in the future situation. This created opportunity for the individual farmers to learn from their peer experience and students opinions. Valuable comments were forwarded to the students from the farming community that contributed in their learning.

Main results:

During the introductory course of the Agroecology master program, the students dive into farming and food systems and try to facilitate change. Through the interactions with the real-life cases, the students develop not only knowledge about the systems, but more importantly they also develop the competences needed to engage with them. In addition to the case work, through various sessions and workshops, the students practice five core competences: observation, reflection, dialogue, visioning and participation. The goal is that by focusing on developing these competences, the students will become life-long learners who can contribute to facilitating improvements of farming and food systems in their future careers.



Main practical recommendations:

We believe that by focusing on developing competences rather than only knowledge, we can better equip the next generation of professionals for dealing with the complex issues of today’s agrifood and forestry systems. There is little point in educating knowledgeable people if they are not able to use their knowledge for any good. And who doesn’t want a competent and knowledgeable colleague? We therefore encourage stakeholders to appreciate and foster the focus on forming a competent generation of professionals.

A central part of the Nextfood project is the 12 case studies conducted in 10 countries on 3 continents. All these cases are attempting to transform their education models to align with the Nextfood approach. Not only are we trying to make the change, but we are also researching the process and the outcomes. In this document, we report the activities and outcomes in each Nextfood case throughout the first year of the project. Each case has reported on the process and outcomes of following the instructions for how to run their case and research the process.



The first year of the case work was heavily focused on initiating the case work. For many cases, this meant transforming an already existing course from their standard way of operating to something closer to the action learning-based Nextfood approach. Kick-off workshops were conducted in most cases where students, teachers, administration and other key stakeholders co-developed the strategy for kicking off the transformation process. Common for many cases was the fact that this change was very much welcomed by both students and teachers. A key challenge that was identified was how to find resources and time to enable the necessary change to happen. The local institutions might play a key role in enabling an improved focus on action learning.

A central part of the Nextfood project is the 12 case studies conducted in 10 countries on 3 continents. All these cases are attempting to transform their education models to align with the Nextfood approach. Not only are we trying to make the change, but we are also researching the process and the outcomes. In this document, the case leaders will find specific instructions on how to develop their case towards the transformational goals of the project. Primarily, this document describes the iterative process of planning, implementing and reflecting, which is to be followed by each case. Specific instructions are given to each of the three phases and appendices contain templates in relation to those specific instructions as well as examples from the past cycle of project activities. We recommend anyone interested in trying out these action learning elements to have a look at these instructions and appendices.



We believe that a successful transition to a situation where action learning is the norm for educating the future generation of professionals, we need to concretise and make guidelines as to how such an approach is done. This document constitutes one of the pillars of the foundation upon which the next generation of education system is built. This manual is written in such a way that it should be easily accessible for practitioners who would like to adapt to the Nextfood approach.

Action research is essentially learning by doing, and reflecting upon the experiences. An intuitive approach recommended for anyone who is trying to improve a situation they are in. A central part of the Nextfood project is the 12 case studies conducted in 10 countries on 3 continents. All these cases are attempting to transform their education models to align with the Nextfood approach. Not only are we trying to make the change, but we are also researching the process and the outcomes. In order to ensure a synchronised data collection, this research protocol provides instructions on how to gather and analyse data from the activities performed during the case work. This involves recording workshops, gathering the responses from students and teachers and synthesising these in a streamlined fashion. The protocol ensures that all cases have a shared research strategy, but also allows each case to fit the data collection to their specific context.



By doing research this way we will get an improved understanding of what it takes to implement alternative education models that are better fit to deal with present and future challenges. Simultaneously we will improve the education for the learners who are involved in the cases so that they are already better equipped to deal with the complex challenges.