FoSSNet Winter School

The FoSSNet Winter School offers a collaborative learning experience designed for early-career researchers from academia, industry, and applied research turn their work into real-world solutions for today’s complex food-system challenges.

Through collaboration across diverse perspectives, participants learn to apply systems and entrepreneurial approaches to interrogate evidence, co-design practical options, and translate insights directly into their own research practice.

This Winter School helps you:

• Move from research to application - identifying how your work contributes to change.
• Gain systems-thinking literacy, learning to see problems as part of interconnected food systems.
• Strengthen your impact and communication skills
• Join a European network of peers and mentors committed to sustainable food-system transformation.

By the end of the Winter School, participants will be able to:

• Analyse food systems using a soft system approach.
• Identify key leverage points and decision venues for impact.
• Specify plausible applications and societal or environmental value.
• Collaborate to co-create and prioritise solution options.
• Communicate research impact clearly to different audiences.
• Demonstrate ownership of research goals and next steps.

• PhD candidates, postdocs, and R&D staff (≤7 years of experience)
• Working on food-systems topics in academia, research institutes, start-ups, public bodies, or industry
• Interested in applying systems and entrepreneurial methods to real-world challenges
• Industrial doctorates and other practice-oriented researchers are especially encouraged to apply.

• Week 1 (12–16 Jan): Food Systems & Problem Framing

Understand the food system as a complex network; locate where your research sits

• Week 2 (19–23 Jan): Stakeholders & Pathways to Application

Identify key actors, leverage points, and plausible impact pathways

• Week 3 (26–30 Jan): Translating and Communicating Research for Impact

Refine impact pathways and practise pitching adjusting your messaging for different audiences

Live sessions: Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays (16:00–18:00 CET) each week.

These interactive sessions combine short inputs, group work, and peer reflection.

Async activities: 

Between live sessions, participants will also collaborate asynchronously - both in small teams  and individually (applying tools and concepts to their own research).

Expect a moderate weekly commitment, allowing time to explore resources, reflect, and prepare short assignments at your own pace.

Programme subject to refinement. Dates are confirmed (12–30 January 2026), but session times and details may be updated.

• Live interactive workshops – using soft systems and entrepreneurial methodologies
• Peer-to-peer coaching - co-developing research impact pathways
• Practical systems and entrepreneurial exercises
• Peer feedback - learning from each other’s projects
• Reflection moments - integrating insights into your own research journey

The Winter School is co-developed by Lund University, University of Oxford, Roskilde University and EIT Food, within the FoSSNet project, funded by Horizon Europe through the European Union and UK Research and Innovation.