Research Activities at AFEPA Partner University Departments and Main Faculty Members
The following paragraphs contain a short description of the responsible agricultural economic departments at the AFEPA partner universities and their respective faculty members with regardto academic and research interests. The description is to further the AFEPA student understanding of the academic environment at the various universities and therefore enable them to make a more educated decision when choosing their university for the first and second year of the programme. All seven universities in the AFEPA consortium have an excellent reputation and students should therefore try to match their own research interests with the emphasis placed on the various subjects of agricultural, environmental or food policy analysis at each partner university. The short description of selected members of faculty should also enable students to select a topic and/or advisor for their Master’s thesis to be written in their second year of study. More information on the departments can also be obtained from the website of each partner university.
Main Partners
1. Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC)......
2.Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
3.Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms University Bonn
4.Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)
Associated Partners
5.Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
6. Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
7.University of Alberta, Canada
- Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (UCSC)
Faculty members and their specialization in the different sub-fields relevant for the programme
Faculty Member / SpecializationProf. Paolo Sckokai / food demand analysis to the impact of agricultural and food policies
Prof. Daniele Moro / food demand analysis to the impact of agricultural and food policies
Prof. Claudio Soregaroli / marketing of agri-food products, the analysis of food supply chains, the evaluation of agri-food policies and the economics of biotechnology
More specifically,
Professor Sckokai is Associate professor in Agricultural Economics. His research interests range from food demand analysis to the impact of agricultural and food policies
Professor Moro is Associate professor in Agricultural Economics. His research interests range from food demand analysis to the impact of agricultural and food policies.
Professor Soregaroli is Associate professor in Agricultural Economics. His main research interests concern the marketing of agri-food products, the analysis of food supply chains, the evaluation of agri-food policies and the economics of biotechnology.
2.Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
The research activities of SLU’s Agricultural and Food Economics unit in the departmentconcern assessment of agricultural and trade policies, modeling of agri-food markets and studies of agricultural, - resource- and environmental related issues by application of econometric tools and methods. Another important field is supply chain analysis of the food marketing chain accounting for quality and safety standards where analyses are both theoretical and empirical using primarily econometric methods.
The unit of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics has interest and focus on research relevant for environmental policy. Some particular areas are: Effects of policy instruments on carbon emission in a long term perspective; Expected developments in non-renewable resource prices; Bio-energy and climate change; Compliance with environmental regulations and Design of environmental policies.
Faculty members and their specialization in the different sub-fields relevant for the programme
Faculty Member / SpecializationProf. H. Andersson / production economics and farm management
Dr. C. Eriksson / environmental and resource economics with emphasis in growth policy implications
Prof. M. Gren / environmental and resource economics with emphasis in international issues and applied policy modeling
Dr. C. Lagerkvist / agricultural finance, risk management and consumer and information economics
Dr. Katarina Elofsson / Environmental policy; applied policy modeling
Dr. Rob Hart / Directed technological change, CO2 emissions, resource prices; policy implications
Dr. Ficre Zehaie / Growth, innovation and environment, policy implications
Prof. Y. Surry / agricultural and trade policy analysis with emphasis in applied econometric methods and general equilibrium modelling
Prof. Kostas Karantininis / microeconomics, industrial organization and new institutional economics
More specifically,
Professor Gren’s research primarily focuses on environmental policy instruments, international environmental problems, and the valuation of non-marketed services from ecosystems, in particular, pollutant sequestration.
Professor Surry has extensive research experience in the modeling of agri-food sectors, as well as in applied econometrics and the evaluation of agricultural and trade policies. He is also engaged in input-output modelling.
Professor Karantininis is full Professor of agri-food supply chains and Cooperatives. His research interests are in applied microeconomics, industrial organization and new institutional economics. His research presently focuses on the economics of agri-food industries in developed and developing countries.
Professor Andersson’s research involves production economics, risk handling strategies and uncertainty
Professor Elofsson is Associate professor in environmental economics. Her research deals with environmental policy, such as policies for water quality management, biodiversity, invasive species and wildlife management, carbon sequestration and climate policy, preservation of arable land, and multilevel governance in environmental policy.
3.Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms University Bonn
Faculty members and their specialization in the different sub-fields relevant for the programme
Faculty Member / SpecializationProf. M. Hartmann / agricultural and food market and policy analysis
Prof. T. Heckelei / agricultural and food policy analysis with emphasis in micro-econometrics
Prof. K. Holm-Müller / resource and environmental economics with emphasis in agri-environmental measures
More specifically,
ProfessorHeckelei’s research concentrates on policy simulation modelling, the estimation of agricultural supply models, international trade and more specifically, econometric methodology.
Professor Holm-Müller’s work focuses on environmental policy related to land-use; conservation of genetic resources, monetary valuation of environmental Goods, renewable energies.
Professor Hartmann is full professor in Agricultural and Food Market research. Her research interests are in the areas information and communication in the food sector, food demand and consumer protection policies, ethical consumption, corporate social responsibility as well as competitiveness of the food sector.
4.Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)
Faculty members and their specialization in the different sub-fields relevant for the programme
Faculty Member / SpecializationProf. F. Gaspart / environmental and development economics with a theoretical focus
Prof. B. Henry de Frahan / agricultural and trade policy, economic modelling, micro-simulations
Prof. Ignace Adant / economic properties of networks in the circular economy and of freight transport.
More specifically,
Professor Henry de Frahanteaches in the area of agricultural economics and policy, rural development and policy simulations using bio-economic models. He likes to conduct research in agricultural and trade policy using applied economic methods, in particular micro-econometrics and micro-simulations. In particular, he is currently interested in the farm income problem, agricultural risks and insurances, the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, and non-tariff barriers in agricultural trade. Potential thesis topics could cover: poverty in agriculture, price volatility, risk and insurance, north-south trade, most topics addressed with quantitative methods.
Professor Gaspartis professor of game theory, development economics and environmental economics at the College of Bioscience Engineering of UCL. His research interests encompass social choice theory, the economics of the informal sector and institutional economics.
ProfessorIgnace Adant is a senior researcher at the Earth and Life Institute of UCL. He studies neglected economic properties of networks in the circular economy and of freight transport. His methodology interfaces in-depth field studies with econometric and other formal treatments.
5.Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Faculty members and their specialization in the different sub-fields relevant for the programme
Faculty Member / SpecializationDr. O. Alfranca / Natural resource economics with a focus on water use
Prof. J. Gil / Food economics with emphasis in theoretical micro-economic models and quantitative applications
Dr. Z. Kallas
Dr. Teresa Serra-Devesa
Dr. Marta G. Rivera / Food marketing with special focus on valuation methods and evaluation of public policies.
Production economics (efficiency, productivity, investment decisions,..), microeconometrics, assessing impacts of agricultural policies on farms
Assessing agricultural, food and environmental policies from a sociological point of view, climate change, food sovereignty
More specifically,
AFEPA students will be supervised by researchers from the Center for Research in Agro-food and Development Economics (CREDA) ( a research institute participated by UPC and the Catalonian Agricultural Research Institute (IRTA) who will help students in designing and writing the Master Dissertation.
José M. Gil. Since 2005, he is Professor of Agricultural Economics at the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) and Director of the Centre for Agro-food and Development Economics (CREDA), being also responsible for the team of food chain analysis and consumer behaviour. Current research focuses on the economics of food quality and safety and related policy issues with respect to the consumer, the food industry and trade. The analysis of the competitiveness of the food supply chain is the second significant research interest. Also, he has considerable experience in econometric and statistical methods for analysing food chains and household purchasing behaviour. Apart from my teaching and research activity, I have worked for the University of Wales as external examiner for validated degrees and recently for the Lithuania Government as member of the international committee for accreditation of new degrees.
- Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
- University of Alberta, Canada