BIO
Jessica Duncan is a scholar and educator committed to social-ecological justice. She works as Associate Professor in the Politics of Food Systems Transformations at the Rural Sociology Group, Wageningen University (The Netherlands).
Jessica holds a PhD in Food Policy from City University London (2014). Her research pioneers new ways of understanding and imagining food governance processes to support just and sustainable transformations. She effectively translates this knowledge into impactful teaching. Her teaching has been recognized but a number of awards, including Teacher of the Year at Wageningen University (2017).
Jessica sits on the Editorial Board for the journal Sociologia Ruralis and is a founding member and ambassador for the Centre for Unusual Collaborations. She is currently chairing the Scientific Committee for the European Society for Rural Sociology (ESRS) and recently served as an expert on the EU Standing Committee for Agricultural Research’s 5th Foresight Report on resilience and transformation.
Building on intersectional feminism, anti-racist and decolonial approaches, participation and engagement are at the core of Jessica’s work and engagement.
At THE NEW INSTITUTE, Jessica is involved in the The Future of Food: Power and Biodiversity program in the Academic Year 2024/25.
PUBLICATIONS
“(Un)intended lock-in: Chile’s organic agriculture law and the possibility of transformation towards more sustainable food systems” (with Contesse, M., Legun, K., Klerkx, L.), in: Agriculture and Human Values, 2024
“Shallow fixes and deep reasonings: framing sustainability at the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa)” (with de Jong van Lier, M., Zhu, A. L., Bush, S. R.), in: Agriculture and Human Values, 2024
“Government through clanship: Governing Ethiopia’s Somali pastoralists through a community-based social protection programme” (with Alene, G. D., van Dijk, H.), in: Critical Social Policy, 2023
“Democratic directionality for transformative food systems research” (with DeClerck, F., Báldi, A., Treyer, S. et al.), in: Nature Food, 2022
“Development, governmentality and the sedentary state: the productive safety net programme in Ethiopia’s Somali pastoral periphery” (with Alene, G. D., Van Dijk, H.), in: The Journal of Peasant Studies, 2022