BOKU Institute for Development Research

15/10/2025

Podcast Series: Towards Feminist Agroecological Futures in Europe 👩‍🌾👨‍🌾

Today at the on , the releases the first 4 episodes in its collaboratively created podcast series "Soil Sisters: Towards Feminist Agroecological Futures in Europe".

The series draws attention to the leadership of women and gender diverse peasants in the creation of policies and practices to support , , environmental protection, territorial markets, cultural memory, and collective organizing.

🎧 Tune in through the SWIFT Portal: https://t.ly/0P67F

05/08/2025

10/07/2025

📢 The project "FUTURES – Transforming climate social futures" has received €1.22 million in funding from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) under the Connecting Minds programme. At its core are young people who are particularly affected by climate change and whose voices have largely gone unheard—until now.

BOKU contributes its scientific expertise in climate research, social
transformation, and participatory methods. Together with young people, artists, social workers, and activists, BOKU researchers are developing visions for a just and sustainable future. These ideas will be integrated into climate-social urban politics in Salzburg. The project will serve as a model for other cities.

The project is led by Monika Mayer from the BOKU Institute of Meteorology and Climatology, and Christina Plank from the BOKU Institute of Development Research.

Funding covers two full-time pre-doc positions (three years each) and one part-time postdoc position (five years). The total project duration is five years.

More Info: https://www.fwf.ac.at/en/news/detail/searching-for-responsible-answers-new-connectingminds-projects-set-to-launch











Photo: Canva

10/07/2025

🌾 Where does our food come from, and how is it produced?
👩‍🌾 Who is behind it, and what is life like today as a female farmer in Austria?

We explored these questions yesterday with students at the 📚. Together with colleagues from and für nachhaltige Kompetenz, we designed an interactive workshop that made the different stages and actors in the food system visible.

Afterwards, the students had the chance to learn what everyday life on a farm looks like, why some successors chose not to continue farming, and how agriculture continues to shape both their art and work.




📸 Photo credits: BStadlmayr ; CVoigt

🌾 Woher kommen unsere Lebensmittel, wie werden sie produziert?
👩‍🌾 Wer steckt dahinter und wie lebt es sich heute eigentlich als Bäuerin in Österreich?

Diese Fragen haben wir gestern mit Schülerinnen der 📚 bearbeitet. Gemeinsam mit Kolleginnen der und haben wir einen interaktiven Workshop gestaltet, in dem die unterschiedlichen Stationen und Akteurinnen im Ernährungssystem sichtbar wurden.

Danach hatten die Schülerinnen die Möglichkeit zu erfahren, wie der Alltag auf dem Bauernhof aussieht, warum sich Nachfolgerinnen entschieden, diesen nicht weiterzuführen, aber auch, wie die Landwirtschaft weiterhin ihre Kunst und Arbeit prägt.




📸 Photo credits: BStadlmayr ; CVoigt

26/06/2025

🌾 A Fairer Future for Farming: BOKU Hosts Policy Dialogue on Gender Equality in Agriculture 🌍

In February 2025, the European Commission presented its vision for a more sustainable and inclusive agricultural sector. A central goal: tackling the upcoming generational change by involving more women and ensuring better protection for agricultural workers. But the reality still looks different -- Europe's agricultural sector remains male-dominated and unequal, putting the long-term viability of rural areas at risk.

With the upcoming reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2028, there's a critical opportunity to make farming more fair, more gender-equitable, and more attractive - especially for youth, women and gender-diverse persons.

👥 On May 8, 2025, 24 experts from across the agricultural sector—including ministries and the Austrian Small Farmers' Association (ÖBV)—came together at BOKU Vienna as part of the EU Horizon SWIFT project (Supporting Women-led Innovations in Farming and rural Territories). Similar dialogues were held in Poland and Spain.

Key recommendations that were discussed:

✅ Making small farms more viable through accessible, result-oriented funding

✅ A more holistic and flexible approach to subsidy distribution

✅ Reforming advisory services and training structures to be more gender-sensitive

✅ Redistribution of care work

✅ Dedicated education and training opportunities for women

✅ Greater permeability in agricultural education to overcome gender norms

✅ Gender quotas in representational functions

✅ Systematic collection and reporting of gender-disaggregated data

Find the final report here:https://swiftproject.eu/files/2025/06/250616_SWIFT-Policy-Dialogues-BRIEF-FINAL.pdf

24/06/2025

✨ Agri-briefing alert! The has just published its 5️⃣ recommendations for a gender-transformative . Right in time for the .europa.eu's 2028 discussions.

Highlights:
✖️ NO "add women and stir" approach
✔️ YES prioritising gender, creating equal playing fields, rejecting gender norms

LINK https://t.ly/mmXzX

20/05/2025

We are delighted to invite you to join us at the OeAD for an Alumni Talk with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Retno Ardhani (Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia & Prof. Soedomo UGM Dental Hospital).

📅 Thursday, 22 May 2025
🕕 18:00–21:00
📍 OeAD, Ebendorferstraße 7, 1010 Vienna

In her talk on "How different academic and scientific cultures have shaped her perspective on building a scientific career as both a dentist and a university professor", Dr Ardhani will also highlight the experiences of women in science across diverse research environments.

Retno Ardhani is a 2024 Ernst Mach Grant ASEA-UNINET fellow, she worked with and his team at the Institute of Colloid and Biointerface Science, Department of Natural Sciences and Sustainable Resources, BOKU University on antimicrobial regenerative membranes, a collaboration that is still ongoing.

🍽️ After the talk, enjoy a Get-together with traditional Indonesian food!

👉 Please register in advance:
https://oead.at/en/events/2025-05-22-alumni-talk-with-retno-ardhani

🔍 More info:
https://oead.at/en/news/article/2025/05/alumni-talk-with-retno-ardhani-Indonesia

13/05/2025

In January, students from and the negotiated for two days at on the topic of Environmental Migration. This simulation was the final event of the seminar „Negotiating Change- Simulating an international conference for sustainable development“, facilitated by Julia Männle ( ), Wolfgang Gruber (University of Vienna) and Sahar Ahadyar during the wintersemester.

There, students were asked what topics are most important to them.

This is what they said ⬆️ 🎥

08/05/2025

Check out the second contribution to the new campaign to put a spotlight on margialised voices in agriculture!

“Sometimes people ask me how I feel about my family giving up the farm and I recently thought that maybe things would have turned out differently if I had known about alternative farm collectives earlier. For me farming was something tied to a core family structure and this just didn’t suit me. Maybe a lot would have changed if I’d known about the different ways to run a farm.”

It is part of the Horizon Europe project, "Supporting Women-led Innovations in Farming and Rural Territorries" (SWIFT), in which BOKU's Institute of Development Research is also participating.

University

29/04/2025

Let's hack the food system! 🌱🚀

On May 8, 2025, the Ökosoziales Forum Austria & Europe invites you to a hackathon focused on the food system!
Do you want to develop real solutions for challenges along the entire food value chain with an interdisciplinary team? Then you are in the right place! 💡
Join us and work together with other students on practical challenges.
📩 Apply now! [email protected]
You can find more information here 👉https://oekosozial.at/hack-the-food-system/

24/04/2025

APPEAR in practice | Strengthening Organic Agriculture in Armenia 🌾🌍

Join us on 24 April 2025, 18:00 🕕 at OeAD for an insightful event!

We’ll present the outcomes of the Strengthening Organic Agriculture in Armenia project 📊, highlight the successes of the APPEAR partnership 🤝, explore challenges in Armenia’s organic sector 🌿, and reflect on the collaboration between Austrian and Armenian institutions.

We’ll also discuss the future of education 🎓, research 🔬, and public outreach 📢 in organic agriculture in Armenia.

APPEAR in practice | Stärkung des ökologischen Landbaus in Armenien 🌱

Der OeAD lädt am 24.04.2025 🗓️ zu einer Veranstaltung ein, bei der die Ergebnisse des Projekts „Stärkung des ökologischen Landbaus in Armenien" präsentiert werden.

Im Fokus stehen die Erfolge der APPEAR-Partnerschaft 🤝, die Herausforderungen des armenischen Biosektors 🌿 sowie die Zusammenarbeit zwischen österreichischen und armenischen Institutionen.

Zudem wird die Zukunft von Ausbildung 🎓, Forschung 🔬 und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit 📣 im Bereich des ökologischen Landbaus in Armenien diskutiert.