Research
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (UBER) coordinates the project EdiCitNet and is involved in all 9 work packages via the Integrative Research Institute for Transformations of Human Environmental Systems.
UBER is one of Germany’s leading research universities with around 5,000 employees, 35,000 students, and an institutional budget exceeding 250 M€ per year. As one of eleven German universities, the Humboldt-Universität was chosen “University of Excellence” in June 2012. In the Excellence Strategy research competition run by the German federal and state governments 7 Clusters of Excellence of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin, and Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin have been approved. As of 2019, the interdisciplinary research projects are each being funded for seven years with up to ten million euros per annum.
In an international comparison, Humboldt- Universität ranks among the top ten of German universities. Scientists here research socially relevant topics and challenges of the future and communicate these with the public. Humboldt-Universität invests all its energy in being a place of excellent research and teaching. Its aim is to promote young talents and to positively influence society and economy outside the university framework.
Website: https://www.hu-berlin.de/en?set_language=en
University of Brighton
The project partners for EdiCitNet are located in the “School of Architecture & Design”. They focus their mostly practice-based/action research around the subjects of space production and productive urban landscapes, including: green infrastructure strategies, urban agriculture and food systems design. University of Brighton will mainly be involved in tasks which aim to facilitate the coherent integration of Edible City Solutions (ECS) into urban planning strategies in Follower Cities (FC). University of Brighton will also contribute to the generation of transferable guidelines and reference frameworks.
The University of Brighton (UoB) is a community of 21,000 students and 2,800 staff based on five campuses in the coastal cities/towns of Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings. The UK Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 confirmed our position as a leading institution in the UK in the quality-research league tables and ranked us 27 out of 128 universities for our world-leading research impact. In the 2014 REF results, 92 per cent of our research was rated as “world leading or internationally excellent” in terms of the impact it makes. In 2016, the University has (again) retained its “HR Excellence in Research Award” from the European Commission after a four-year review. The University of Brighton is strongly focused on business and community engagement, having received national awards for its Community University Partnership Programme (CUPP), and is home to one of the most successful Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) Centres in the UK.
University of Ljubljana
The University of Ljubljana is co-leading WP2 (Toolbox for Enhancing Edible City Solutions (ECS) learning and implementation). University of Ljubljana is responsible for the development of the EdiCitNet database and co-development of the Catalogue and the serious gaming. The University is also involved in WP4, particularly in assisting the Follower City (FC) Sempeter pri Gorici in applying the Transition Pathways methodology and in setting up the serious gaming.
University of Ljubljana was established in 1919. It is listed amongst the top 500 universities in the world according to the ARWU Shanghai, Times THES-QS and WEBOMETRICS rankings. UL has 21 Faculties, 57,000 students and 5,000 staff. Three faculties collaborate in the EdiCitNet project: Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, Department of Environmental Civil Engineering (UL FGG), leading national institution for education and research in the field of water engineering addressing the entire water cycle, water quality and quantity, floods, water and nutrients as resources and aspects of various water (re)uses. Biotechnical Faculty (UL BF), Agronomy Department, Centre for Agricultural Land Management and Agrohydrology (CALMA) is a leading national institution dealing with natural resources management in agricultural landscape and pertaining environmental concerns, and Faculty of Health Sciences, one of the youngest faculties at University of Ljubljana. It covers preventive and curative health aspects, environmental risk assessments including healthy living environment.
Website: https://www.uni-lj.si/eng/
University of Natural Resources and Life Science (BOKU), Vienna
The BOKU team aims at facilitating the integration of Edible City Solutions (ECS) with a social benefit within the overall urban planning process of the project’s Follower Cities (FC). Specifically they use an innovative Transition Pathway Methodology, focusing on systems mapping, scenario development and transfer in order to foster ECS within FC masterplans.
For that we innovate methods to create such ECS as part of urban masterplans in a collaborative manner and train and guide FC to apply them.
The University of Natural Resources and Life Science, Vienna (BOKU) is one of Austria’s leading Universities in the field of sustainable development and transformation research. BOKU is a teaching and research institution that focuses on renewable resources that are a prerequisite for human existence. The relationships between society and the environment forms the basis of all activities at BOKU, and its foremost aim is to make decisive contributions to securing the well-being of future generations. Founded in 1872, BOKU today comprises 15 departments, located in Vienna and Lower Austria. The university is attended by approx. 12.700 students, provides study courses at bachelor, master and doctoral level. It has approx. 1100 staff who are engaged in teaching and research and a broad range of external lecturers.
Within BOKU the Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems is the main department that deals with agricultural topics. Within this the Department the Division of Organic Farming employs five permanent scientists as well as 20 scientific assistants. The Division of Organic Farming, headed by Bernhard Freyer, bundles a spectrum of competences from the natural and social scientific fields for the area of expertise of organic farming, its related food sector as well as adjacent fields such as sustainability research.
Website: https://boku.ac.at/en/
University of Girona
University of Girona (UdG) will contribute to the project efforts to design Master Plans for the Transition Pathways and will bring its interdisciplinary expertise of its team in socio-cognitive analysis, water management and environmental decision-making. Understanding stakeholders’ perception will help tailor transition policies that can accommodate different value systems. Therefore, we will map the cognitive and cultural elements – problem identification, problem solving – that can help or hinder the transition path. UdG will also serve as a cord of connection between WP 4 and 2 and will work with Sant Feliu de Llobregat (Follower City) in their design of edible solution for their city.
Founded in 1992, University of Girona is nowadays one of the main economic and cultural drivers of the province of Girona, located in the north east of Catalonia (Spain). With more than 15.000 students in last academic term, the institution has 3 university campuses, 12 research institutes, 1 doctorate school and +100 research groups linked to 24 departments.
The Laboratory of Chemical and Environmental Engineering (LEQUIA) is a research group of the University of Girona (UdG) devoted to the development of eco-innovative environmental solutions; especially, within the water field. LEQUIA has a multidisciplinary team of 30 people, including university professors, postdoctoral researchers, PhD students and management support staff. Current research lines are: i) innovative bio-processes for treatment, resource recovery and synthesis of new products, ii) physico-chemical advanced processes for treatment and/or reuse of liquid and gas side streams, and iii) planning, control and evaluation of complex socio-environmental systems.
Website: http://www.lequia.udg.edu/
Wageningen University
As academic partner, the Business Management & Organisation (BMO) chair group at Wageningen University & Research takes care of strategic management and monitoring of the EdiCitNet project, stakeholder management and analysis, business model analysis, and business development. It is co-lead for the ‘Spreading the Seeds of Success’ workpackage on consultancy, business development and market uptake of Edible City Solutions (ECS) to drive urban resilience and enable global knowledge sharing. In that role, the BMO group supports edible city startups with tools and strategies for lasting economic, environmental, and social impact, including analysis and further development of P(eople)P(lanet)P(rofit)-layered business model canvasses.
Wageningen University & Research (WUR) focuses on the domain ‘healthy food and living conditions’. Located in the Netherlands’ ‘Food Valley’ region, a hub for over 15,000 professionals working in food related areas, WUR is dedicated to conducting highly interdisciplinary research and translating knowledge into practice, collaborating with governmental organisations, businesses, and fellow institutions/universities worldwide.
The Business Management & Organisation (BMO) chair group at WUR specialises in understanding and managing innovation, governance and sustainability of agri-food enterprises embedded in the value chain and influenced by the broader network of public and private stakeholders. In a globalising world, where firms face major challenges related to global warming, urbanisation and food security, the chair group provides the knowledge and insights needed to internally organise and govern firms appropriately and for firms to effectively collaborate in chains and networks.
Oslo Metropolitan University
Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) is responsible for supporting and coordinating the Living labs and also for documenting and monitoring their processes and results.
The Oslo Metropolitan university is the second biggest university in Oslo, Norway, with about 20 000 students and 2200 employees. The University collaborates closely with the Oslo regions’ community, work- and cultural scene. It’s goal is to become a lead university, in the Nordic region, for research on professions.
The Work Research Institute (WRI), which is part of the Oslo Metropolitan University, is an social science institute based on contract research. It’s projects are mainly financed through funding from the Norwegian Research Council, Ministries, agencies, municipalities, workslife organisations, organisations within health and care and private companies.
The institute emphasises the importance of broad, action-oriented research programmes based on the needs of working life. The programmes develop in close collaboration with Norwegian business and industry, both in the public and private sector, as well as with national and international research institutions. The institute also carries out short-term projects for organisations, companies, government agencies and other public bodies.
The Work Research Institute employs a group of scientists in urban research. They do research on housing, participation and urban governance, place making, area based initiatives etc. As this research field is trans-disciplinary these researchers operate on a larger scale with researchers in other institutes within the University. Most of our staff members are social scientists. The institute also benefits from the expertise provided by its graduates in engineering, law and other disciplines.
The institute’s research and development work is organised in four research groups:
• Competence, work and diversity.
• Work inclusion.
• Innovation and enterprise development.
• Organisation of the welfare state.
Website: https://www.oslomet.no/en
Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA)
The Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) is WP2 leader. As such, ICRA is responsible for the proper development of the toolbox (DSS/catalogue, database and serious game) for enhancing Edible City Solutions (ECS) learning and implementation. ICRA will also have a relevant role in defining and analysing socio-economic and environmental indicators (WP5).
The Catalan Institute for Water Research is a research institute inaugurated in 2009 by the Government of Catalonia within the framework of the Research Centres Programme of Catalonia (CERCA). ICRA seeks to provide a complete and efficient response to the problems and challenges related to integral water cycle and is, therefore, structured as a top-quality multidisciplinary centre around three main research areas: I) Resources and Ecosystems, II) Water Quality, and III) Technologies and Evaluation. Since his creation in 2006 ICRA has participated in more than 100 research and training projects, around 70 national and 30 European and international for a total of more than 14 M EUR. Among the latter, 1 ERC Starting Grant, 5 Marie Curie Reintegration Grants, 4 Marie Curie Initial Training Networks (2 as coordinator), 6 Marie Curie Individual Fellowships, 6 FP7 and 4 Horizon2020 collaborative projects: EdiCitNet, Hydrousa and more recently ScoreWATER and DWC (GAs still to be signed). We are also running 2 ERA4CS projects (1 as coordinator), 1 JPI WATER project as coordinator and more recently we have been awarded a PRIMA-IS project (GA still to be signed).
At the moment ICRA is running 40 national and around 16 European researches and training projects. Besides, ICRA is also involved in 10 projects of knowledge transfer with private companies. ICRA’s scientific work over the last year resulted in 288 news items appearing in the media (115 in the press, 36 in digital format, 3 on radio stations and 1 on TV). ICRA has also committed to social networks: on Twitter (@icrawater) it now has 203 more followers (reaching 626 followers in December 2017) and a total of 258 mentions and 5457 visits to its profile.
Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (NIBIO)
NIBIO – the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research has c.700 employees throughout the country. The institute delivers research, managerial support and knowledge for use in national preparedness, as well as for businesses and the society at large. NIBIO is owned by the Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food.
The Department of Landscape Monitoring conducts mapping, analysis and research on agricultural landscapes, land use, land cover and landscape change. Our main topics are Driving forces and consequences of landscape change, and Indicators for landscape monitoring, nationally and regionally. The department is responsible for the national monitoring programme of the agricultural landscape (“3Q”). We develop and test new indicators by conducting research on our own data, on data from other departments, and through extensive national and international collaboration. Our staff is multidisciplinary including the fields of Physical and human geography, Biology and nature management, Landscape and vegetation ecology, and Agricultural economics.
Website: https://www.nibio.no/en
Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Europe (RMIT)
The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Europe (RMIT) leads Work Package 1: Urban Governance and Network Infrastructure. RMIT is responsible for developing a cross-institutional governance model that will facilitate mainstreaming Edible City Solutions (ECS) into institutional, regulatory and decision-making frameworks at the municipal scale. Key tasks include supporting the City Teams, organising the Annual City Teams Meeting and Annual Awards events, supporting active city stakeholder participation and creating a network for sharing information among cities.
RMIT University is a global university of technology, design and enterprise. Founded in 1887, it has an international reputation for excellence in education, research and engagement meeting both needs of industry and the community. It is among the world’s top 100 universities in Engineering, Architecture and the Built Environment. RMIT is truly international with campuses in Melbourne and Vietnam, a centre in Spain, and offers programs through partners in Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Belgium and Germany. RMIT University has 83,000 students, including more than 12,000 at postgraduate levels. It undertakes large and multidisciplinary research projects and provides transformational student experiences with industry, government, university and community partners around the world. RMIT’s programs are global in focus and practical in application, and cover many of the issues of most vital and pressing practical concern to global cities, emerging and advanced economies and the global environment. RMIT Europe located in Barcelona, Spain, is the European hub of RMIT focused on extending the university’s global reach across research, industry and student mobility. With this aim, it advances RMIT’s research agenda in Europe, matches RMIT’s research strengths and priorities with European funding and collaboration opportunities, and fosters global mobility for RMIT students. RMIT University’s Centre for Urban Research (CUR) provides a supportive, strongly networked and well-resourced research environment. CUR’s establishment in 2012 indicated RMIT’s commitment to innovative, cross-disciplinary urban research.
Website: https://www.rmit.eu/
