The PIE Center will join an international community of researchers who are delving into the interactions among southern African organizations that control the region’s food security and land use decisions.
The Belmont Forum and Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change awarded about $275, 600 to a team of 12 researchers led by John Ingram at the University of Oxford. PIE Center Director Tracy Irani, Associate Director Alexa Lamm and Teresa Balser, professor in the Soil and Water Sciences Department, represent the only American researchers. Other scientists on the team hail from South Africa, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
Researchers will examine food system governance, food security and land use in southern Africa as SAFGOV, which stands for Southern African Food System Governance. The yearlong grant begins in April.
The public and private sector organizations involved in southern Africa’s food security and land use arrangements interact in complex networks that are poorly understood in the region.
National policies compete and sometimes conflict with the private-sector organizations, which in turn influences land use and other natural resources decisions.
“This grant is all about starting the conversation around these complex relationships,” Lamm said.
The PIE Center, which received about $61,600, will lead the team’s internal and external communications strategies by developing an online knowledge management platform that will connect team members worldwide.
“Key stakeholders will be able to share information and communicate virtually,” Irani said. “By managing and disseminating the information online, our research can be seen beyond the confines of our already impressive group. The information can extend beyond the national borders of our team.”
Through research, workshops and media dissemination, the scientists will identify the most appropriate and effective communication channels for food system organizations.
The PIE Center’s first international grant signifies a huge step in the PIE Center’s growth, according the Research Coordinator Deidra Slough, who was heavily involved in the proposal’s development.
“I have hopes that the PIE Center will continue to grow and do more work on a national and international scale, and this project is a step in the right direction,” she said. “We have the potential to make very important and lasting impacts on the world that will help provide everyone with access to resources, and it’s projects like this one that will enable us to do that.”
