Health and Agriculture
Climate change and environmental pollution are affecting health and quality of life. Using co-creative approaches, this project develops the basis for innovative projects at the intersections of environment, health, and agriculture.
Factsheet
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Schools involved
School of Health Professions
School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences - Strategic thematic field Thematic field "Sustainable Development"
- Funding organisation BFH
- Duration (planned) 01.04.2026 - 31.12.2026
- Head of project Dr. Katharina Thurnheer
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Project staff
Dr. Christine Jurt Vicuña Muñoz
Dr. Alex Constantin Valach - Keywords Planetary Health, One Health, resilience, environment, health, agriculture, climate change, biodiversity, interprofessionality, co-creation, transdisciplinarity, teaching, research
Situation
Even today, global environmental changes such as climate change, pollution, and the loss of biodiversity are affecting the health and wellbeing of all living beings. This makes it all the more urgent to overcome existing silos of thinking and address these complex challenges holistically. Resource-efficient, sustainable development, along with resilient health and agricultural systems, requires the willingness, knowledge, and skills to engage in interprofessional and transdisciplinary dialogue, to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries, and to help shape transformative change. This is where the project comes in: it brings together key figures from science, practice, and society. Together, they will develop the foundations for future teaching and research initiatives that equip emerging professionals to reflect on relevant connections, take responsibility, and contribute to the necessary changes through teamwork.
Course of action
Building on the wide range of initiatives and resources in the field of Planetary Health, this transdisciplinary project focuses specifically on connecting stakeholders from the health and agriculture sectors. In two consecutive workshops, representatives from academia and practice will use co-creative approaches to discuss shared themes, identify gaps, and generate ideas for innovative offerings in teaching and research. From this, a strategy will be formulated for developing practice-oriented, interprofessional teaching and learning programmes for both future health professionals and agronomists, as well as students from other interested disciplines.
Result
At the end of the project, the direct outcomes will be a collection of topics and a strategy that can be used to implement the identified themes within interdisciplinary teaching at the Bern University of Applied Sciences and to link them with ongoing and future research activities. Beyond this, the project will broaden and deepen the knowledge, skills, and networks of the people involved, and help make the complex connections between health and agriculture more visible.
