Lanka Elvira Horstink
Initially trained as a social psychologist and project manager, I have extensive experience in group dynamics and informal adult education. After a career in communication, I worked as a campaign manager (Greenpeace Oceans Campaign and Global Seed Freedom Campaign), adult educator, and community organiser. For my work as a Seed Freedom advocate I won the 2014 Terre de Femmes 1st prize for Portugal. After completing my PhD in Sociology with a dissertation on the ecological-democratic quality of the political economy of food, I worked for the H2020 "PROSEU" project as a research fellow and work package leader on behalf of FEUP-UPorto, conducting a review and Europe-wide survey on collective forms of Renewable Energy self-consumption. At ICS-ULisboa my post-doctoral research project focuses on the ecological-democratic quality and respective participatory assessment criteria for the successful development of small-scale strong sustainable agro-food initiatives in Portugal.
Dissertation theme
Food politics and the democratic quality of decision-making in food governance
Supervisor
José Luís Garcia (ICS, ULisboa)
Modern food production highlights the main paradoxes humanity faces: while more food than ever is produced, more people than ever suffer from some form of malnutrition and rural populations are the poorest in the world. Also, agriculture is potentially as damaging to ecosystems and human health, as it is part of the solution for major ecological problems. My PhD research analyses the democratic and ecological quality of modern food governance to improve understanding of the leveraging factors for menaningful participatory governance.
Artigo em Revista
