Projects and Programs
Starting in 2020, INFAS began organizing our action mainly via working groups, summarized below. We also have been part of leading two graduate fellowship programs to help invest in the diversity of people and paradigms in US food systems research.
You can also browse our other special projects and publications and other products from our work.
Working Groups Graduate Fellowship Program Special Projects
Working Groups
Each working group has a small annual budget to help seed and catalyze action. Working group chairs also serve on the INFAS Executive Committee. If you're an INFAS member interested in joining one of our working groups, please reach out to our coordinator at infas.coordinator@gmail.com or each of the individual working group chairs.
Education Working Group
The Education Working Group is the home to our two fellowship programs. The working group is currently strategizing to secure long-term support for these fellowships, as well as putting into motion several of our proposed plans taken from our NextGen proposal that focus on enhancing diversity in food systems education.
Recently our INFAS chair, Dr. Brandy Phipps, and Education chair, Lindsey Lunsford, along with several mentees and mentors for the CISC-INFAS HBCU fellowship, lead a panel workshop at the University of Vermont Food Systems Research Summit.
Chair: Lindsey Lunsford, Tuskegee University’s Cooperative Extension. (Committee term: 2023-2026) llunsford@tuskegee.edu
Justice Working Group
The Justice Working Group has been working on a project to document higher education institutions’ (HEIs) land-grab universities truth and reconciliation strategies (or lack thereof) with Native American tribes and communities. The working group hired researcher, Ashley Babcock, to assist with this project. Data collection began in Spring 2023 and is ongoing. The group is collaborating with researchers at UC Davis who are engaged in ongoing work in this area.
Chair: Rachael Budowle, Virginia Tech Honors College. (Committee term: 2023-2026) rbudowle@vt.edu
Organizational Development Working Group
Stemming from work related to their 2021/2022 webinar series, "Resilient Centers and Institutes", the Organizational Development Working Group just published the piece, "Resilience strategies for centers and institutes focused on food systems transformation" in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development. The group also developed a brief summarizing their recommendations for organizational resilience.
In addition, the group has been working with researcher, Erin Lowe to construct a directory of sustainable agriculture/food system related centers and institutes throughout the U.S. The directory is now available on our website: INFAS Center and Institute Directory.
Chair: Michelle Miller, University of Wisconsin - Madison (Committee term 2018 -2026); mmmille6@wisc.edu
Research Working Group
The INFAS Research Working Group has been working on multiple research, editorial and publication projects this year. Please contact Albie Miles for additional details: albie@hawaii.edu.
1. National Needs Assessment of the US Food System Planning Efforts. Conducted by Drs. Konstantinos Zougris (INFAS) and Albie Miles (INFAS), the methodology was designed to both assess the need and inform the development of a potential Food System Planning National Community of Practice (NCOP). A mixed-methods research design was developed consisting of semi-structured interviews (phase 1) and surveys (phase 2). The study builds off of prior food system planning research of Dr. Lesli Hoey (INFAS) and the July, 2021 webinar entitled Food System Plans: Are They Worth It?. A joint webinar, sponsored by the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems and INFAS is now being planned for fall 2024 (date and time tbd). The webinar will present key findings of the study and discuss the implications of the research. An article based on this study is now under review. A technical report on the key findings is available upon request. See Albie Miles for details: albie@hawaii.edu.
2. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems Special Research Topics (RTs): Through the Section on Social Movements, Institutions & Governance, Albie Miles and INFAS colleagues have launched and completed multiple RTs garnering hundreds of thousands of views, reads and downloads globally. INFAS members are encouraged to participate in current or future RTs as guest associate editors, contributing authors and/or peer-reviewers. INFAS members are also encouraged to pitch their special Research Topics. See Albie Miles for details: albie@hawaii.edu.
i. Food System Transformation and the Realization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Submission Closed). Topic Editors: Drs. Albie Miles (INFAS); Travis Idol; José Antonio Teixeira; Elliot Berry; Brandy E. Phipps (INFAS). This Research Topic is focused on the centrality of food system transformation in achieving the UN SDGs, as well as the key strategies, models, opportunities and obstacles associated with this process. Impact (as of Aug. 2024): 24 published articles, 133 co-authors, over 21,000 views, reads and downloads. The series of Open Access articles will be published as an e-book later this year.
ii. Food System Resilience, Disaster Preparedness & Response (Submission Open). This volume builds upon the previous INFAS-sponsored Frontiers Special Research Topic: Achieving Food System Resilience & Equity in the Era of Global Environmental Change (236,000 views, reads and downloads to date). The new RT on Food System Resilience, Disaster Preparedness and Response replies to the need of scholars, city and regional planners, and NGO and agency leaders to access the current state of the science and best practices in the overlapping fields of sustainable food system planning and development, and disaster preparedness and emergency response. Manuscript Summary Deadline: Aug. 26, 2024. Topic Editors: Drs. Albie Miles (INFAS), Roni Neff, Dan Eisenberg, Kareem Usher (INFAS), Elsie Moore, and Elle Hancock.
iii. A Dialog of Wisdoms: Revitalizing Indigenous & Traditional Ecological Knowledge & Practice in Post-Secondary Sustainable Food Systems Education (Submission Open). The primary objective of this special research topic is to explore the opportunities and challenges of integrating I/TEK and practice in higher education for sustainable food systems. Specifically, this RT aims to: survey the status of I/TEK integration for sustainable food systems in higher education, describe opportunities and challenges of integrating I/TEK in higher education systems, quantity the benefits of I/TEK in higher education for sustainable food systems, and provide case studies and recommendations for integrating I/TEK in higher education for sustainable food systems. Topic Editors: Drs. Mathew Kekoa Lau (INFAS), Noa Kekuewa Lincoln (INFAS), Brandy E. Phipps (INFAS), and Ahmed Siddig. Please contact Matthew Lau for details: mklau3@hawaii.edu.
iv. Measuring Sustainability in Food Systems: Advancing Scientific Indicator and Metric Systems for Monitoring Progress Towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals (Submission Open Fall 2024). The primary objective of this RT is to address the critical gap in scientific indicators and metric systems for tracking progress toward a range of food system sustainability goals. The RT aims to present current theory, research methodologies, findings and case studies on the development of scientific sustainability measurement systems and monitoring frameworks in food systems aligned with the 17 UN SDGs. This research will contribute both to the academic discourse, and provide practical insights for policymakers, businesses, and civil society to foster transformative change towards healthy, equitable, resilient and ecologically sustainable food systems. Topic Editors: Drs. Albie Miles (INFAS) and Konstantinos Zougris (INFAS). Please contact Albie Miles if you are interested in serving as an associate editor for this RT: albie@hawaii.edu.
Chair: Albie Miles, University of Hawai'i, West O'ahu. (Committee term 2019 - 2026); albie@hawaii.edu