Event News

Prof. Hisano, Josh and Midori attended the XIV World Congress of Rural Sociology 2016 "Sustainable and Just Rural Transitions: Connections and Complexities", held at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, on August 10-14, 2016. Josh presented his paper at an RC40 Mini-conference on "Global trends in alternative agri-food movements", while Midori presented her paper at a session on "financialization, food systems, and rural transformation". 

On 23-27 of May 2016, the AGST project hosted the 2nd KU-WU "international workshop on food, farm and rural development". The first part of the workshop was held for the students from both universities to present their current research in an interactive panel format. The second part of the workshop was devoted to a public event in which three distinguished presenters shared their ideas on the theme "Agroecology and peasant agriculture as a promise for the future", made possible by the collaboration between AGST and RIHN, who respectively invited Prof. Jan Douwe van der Ploeg and Prof. Miguel Altieri. The last part of the workshop helped many of the concepts and theories discussed come alive in the field. On 26-27 of May, the workshop participants visited rural villages in Ayabe City of northern Kyoto prefecture, as well the nearby city of Kameoka to experience more urban, technological trends in agriculture.

Prof. Hisano participated in the International Symposium on "Rethinking Food and Sustainability" organised by Social Science Korea Research Group (SSK), Food & Sustainability and co-hosted by Institute of Social Research, Korea University and the Korean Rural Sociological Society, held on May 12, 2016. He gave a talk on "Just a Revival of Agrarian and Rural Values, or a Political Mobilisation against Neoliberal Food Security Project?". Other invited speakers include Prof. Geoffrey Lawrence (University of Queensland), Prof. Chul-Kyoo Kim (Korea University), Prof. Tiejun Wen (Renmin University of China), and Prof. Michael Carolan (Colorado State University), and Prof. Byeong Seon Yoon (Kunkuk University).

From March 13 to 27, 2016, a group of students from Kyoto University (KU) led by Professor Hisano, Director of the International Graduate Program for East Asia Sustainable (EA course) and the Asian Platform for Global Sustainability & Transcultural Studies (AGST), had the opportunity to visit the Netherlands to discuss and promote their research through a collaborative exchange. The program during this visit was focused on three main clusters: firstly, to strengthen the skills and knowledge through the experiences of the core faculty, researchers and professionals at WU and other institutions. Second, gaining first hand experience through the observation of the research units, in other word, having a real-world experience of what is going on within the food and agriculture milieu.

It goes without saying that the issue of land grabbing has sparked controversies in recent years. Notwithstanding the extensive research produced on this subject, the fact remains that Japanese scholars are lagging far behind international researchers. To improve this visibility and in order to fill this gap, Prof. Shuji Hisano organized a symposium on the theme of "Global Land Grabbing and Regulatory Regime - a Look from Japan and Far east" on February 21, 2016.

The Rural Sociology Group, Wageningen University & Research Centre (WUR), the Netherlands, and the Graduate School of Economics (GSE) and the Graduate School of Agriculture (GSA), Kyoto University, Japan organise the 1st WU-KU "International Graduate Workshop on Food, Farm and Rural Development" at WUR on March 12 and 13, 2015, as a part of the AGST Module 1 project.