The Science of Food Systems

Course goals

Content

The Science of Food Systems is an introductory course that takes place in the third period of the first year of the Bachelor’s program Global Sustainability Science. This is a track-specific course embedded within the Sustainable & Healthy Food track.

In this multidisciplinary course, students will learn how current food systems were established and how they interact with farming systems, food consumption and human health. Students will learn fundamental concepts about the science of food systems, which will be further developed in the subsequent track courses.   

The course is structured around 2-hour lecture (which may be given by a guest lecturer) followed by a 2-hour tutorial on Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning. The tutorials consists of small group sessions where you will either practice lecture content or work towards the execution of the final course assignment under guidance of tutorial instructors and peer feedback.

We will start the course with an introduction to the history and dimensions of food systems and how globalized food systems came to be. This will be followed by lectures on agronomy, livestock and farming systems which will be crucial to understanding the impact of food and agriculture on planetary and human health. Then, we will dive into the biological component of the course by conceptualizing human health and understanding human nutrient requirements, common nutrition-related diseases and the state of global health. The content will focus on drivers and consequences of farmer and consumer behavior as well as the food industry's role in food systems. The course will be wrapped up with an introduction to the role of stakeholders and policies in food systems.