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Thomas Daum

Senior Lecturer

School of Global Studies
Mail
thomas.daum@gu.se
Visiting address
Konstepidemins väg 2
41314 Göteborg
Postal address
Box 700
40530 Göteborg

About Thomas Daum

I am an Associate Professor at the School of Global Studies. My work focuses on sustainability transitions in agri-food systems in the Global South, with the aim to help contributing to ensuring agri-food systems that produce enough calories and nutrients, are pro-poor and just, and biodiversity-smart and climate-resilient, among others. My research helps to better understand sustainability synergies and trade-offs associated with different agri-food systems innovations and transformation pathways and to identify governance needs, challenges, and solutions. I also have a focus on natural resource management. 

Much of my work is interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary in nature. I work with a wide range of innovative methods, from qualitative approaches - such as participatory mapping tools (e.g., actor and process mapping) to explore governance issues, and participatory visual methods like drawing and PhotoVoice to unearth unique perspectives and empower participants - to quantitative approaches, including classic household surveys and picture-based smartphone apps for collecting time-use and nutrition data in rural households. For my methodological contributions, I have received the “Landmark in the Land of Ideas” award of the German Federal Government, the “European Science Award” of the foundation fiat panis, and the best paper and best presentation awards at the 58th conference of the German Society of Economic and Social Sciences in Agriculture

Before joining the School of Global Studies I have done my PhD and habilitation (Privatdozent) at the Chair of Social and Institutional Change in Agricultural Development at the Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute of Agricultural Science in the Tropics of the University of Hohenheim, Germany. I have worked as a consultant for several international organizations including the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMY), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Bank. Next to publishing in academic journals, I have a strong focus on science communication, for example, I have published in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" and the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", among others, and I am part of the editorial board of “Welternährung”, a journal of the German “Welthungerhilfe”.