Registration ends 07.4.2026 at 23:59 h

Food can shed new light on the debate about common objects and social ontology and the division and interconnection between nature and culture, covering biological purpose, composition, sources (such as plants, animals, fungi or others), forms, cultural and social significance (such as cultural identity, social bonding, comfort and pleasure). This includes the chemical and physical nature of food: what was, is and will it be made of? And how? What tastes, flavors, textures, appearances, colors and design of processing and additives aiming at greater attractiveness and consumption? How do engineering, chemistry, toxicology, medicine, psychology, social, food and material sciences (e.g., for packaging design) and advertising / communication manifest and materialize in food? What remains of them, the avoidable food waste in different cycles and countries?

Food is a central theme of many contemporary debates on malnutrition, eating disorders, obesity, prevalent silent diseases, contaminants and problems related to degradable and composable packaging for consumer goods, regulation, (international) fair trade and geopolitics, especially important considering the links between sustainability of food supplies.

To this end, it is necessary to identify relevant initiatives (company, farm, school, NGO, research centers, and any other pertinent institution), focusing on key criteria: e.g., food production (agriculture), processing (feedstocks, materials and techniques), consumption, food waste and loss prevention, policy, legislation, labeling, official testing laboratory, (bio)circular economy, design and market of healthier products, food security, right to food and right food as well as the interlinks with, for instance, educational institutions, programs and strategies.

The main aim of this course is to understand the fundamentals, practices, and the relevance of food today and tomorrow, its challenges and opportunities to generate new data in order to discuss local or even global (potential) actions towards more sustainable food systems.

Further information on teaching evaluation: https://www.leuphana.de/en/teaching/quality-management/feedback-instruments.html