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Convenors: Artur Cristovao and Alex Koutsouris

This workshop intends to be a space to continue the debates held in Clermont Ferrand in 2008, in the Workshop on "Knowledge systems and Extension approaches". In 2010 we would like to challenge the participants to explore such concepts as "ethical collective action" and "rural action learning", as well as the importance of social capital issues in innovation and change processes.
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Convenors: Dorit Haubenhofer, Marjolein Elings and Jan Hassink

There is a lot of evidence that the agricultural environment and the agricultural practice have a positive effect on a person’s well-being or stimulate recovery from disease. In “Care Farming”, farms and their surrounding landscapes are used to promote mental, physical and social health and well-being, through activities done on these farms. The workshop aims at discussing what care farming is, and how it influences its stakeholders (farmers, clients, society).
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Convenor: Huub Kerckhoffs

Many rural stakeholders, especially in developing countries, are located in remote areas, with limited access to technologies and communication, making it difficult to reach out to the unreached, especially the rural poor. However, the participation and active involvement of all rural stakeholders in strategy formulation can ensure targeted rural development policies and high impact technological advances. This workshop discusses the various challenges and approaches to reach out to the rural poor, allowing to network with them for a better future and for better designed pro-poor developmental endeavours.
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Convenors: Bram Bos and Onno van Eijk

System approaches to developing sustainable farming systems cannot be met by focusing on one issue at a time. Heterogeneous challenges like the future of the countryside, animal welfare, or environmental concerns cannot be reconciled easily. In this workshop, we want to discuss theoretical, methodological and practical approaches to the design of sustainable farming systems. We will discuss the relation between design processes and actual processes of change.
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Convenors: Bernhard Freyer, Katharina Gössinger and Sebastian Helgenberger

Disciplinarity, multi- and transdisciplinarity offer different perspectives to describe, understand and interpret problems and to identify solutions for the challenges of 21st century. The scientific discussion offers a series of definitions of transdisciplinary research. We welcome contributions discussing different theoretical concepts of transdisciplinarity, as well as presentations of empirical findings of transdisciplinary studies related to rural development and (organic) agriculture.
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Convenors: Brigitte Kaufmann, Christian Hülsebusch and Ton Baars

Transdisciplinary research on human-environment systems (e.g. agriculture, forestry, land management) takes into account that finding solutions to problems requires the involvement of local stakeholders in the research process. In this workshop we are interested in the theoretical framework and the methods for exploring the knowledge of land users who manage successful systems. We will put an emphasis on low external input systems and on organic farming. Our focus lies on land users' actions, and the information processing on which they base their actions.
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Convenors: Kirsten von der Heiden and Monica Commandeur

Distance learning can be a tool for learning empowerment. Societal and technical structures need to be adapted to achieve equal opportunities, access and usability for a wide range of learners. In this workshop we will discuss both technical and didactical issues related to distance learning for stakeholders in rural areas.
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Convenors: Lisa Aigelsperger, Susanne Kummer, Rebecka Milestad, Michael Hauser, Christian Vogl and Ataharul Chowdhury

Organic farming needs the context-specific adaptation of its practices by local actors. It is therefore tightly linked to a process of trial-and-error by organic farmers and consumers, i.e. the outcome of their innovations. In this workshop, we want to explore key processes within organic farming knowledge systems: social learning, farmers’ experiments, knowledge transmission, innovation. In particular, we want to better understand the relevance of these aspects for the design of resilient farming systems.
Download the abstracts of the papers that will be presented during this workshop