Welcome to Global Food Systems Design!

Please use this site as a guide to provide information to students interested on the course.

Students that take this course will be prepared to co-create new food systems alongside urban planners, food companies, startups, government policy makers, and farmers and ranchers. The primary course goal is to solve significant problems and making decisions to help students become critical thinkers. It will be done in a collaborative, multidisciplinary way through project-based learning, dialogues, stories, field trips, journals, and co-creation and design thinking processes.


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Stefany Bolaños

Stefany is a learning experience designer at p1440 and at UFM in Guatemala. Previously she was COO at Qüilo, a platform that uses technology to provide low cost insurance to people in the base of the pyramid. Before, she did business development at Learnhub, a project-based learning platform for alternative schools that was part of Startup Chile. She has published three children books that are sold in Latin America.

Meet the Facilitators

Robyn Metcalfe

Dr. Robyn Metcalfe is a Lecturer in the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. She is an author, producer, and researcher, exploring our global food system. She was the Founder and Director of Food+City, an innovative project that explored the future of our food system. Food+City produced a Food Startup Challenge Prize in Austin, Texas for five years.

Her books include The Humans in Our Food, Food Routes, Meat, Commerce and the City, and The New Wizard War. She writes for publications such as The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, and Science Magazine and participates in podcasts and conferences. Her latest film is The Long Coast, which premiered in 2020 at The Camden International Film Festival.

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About the Course

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As of 2021, consumers have witnessed the disruption of the global food system. Whether it be a global pandemic or storms and hurricanes, the system that grows, processes, and distributes food has felt increasing pressure to become more resilient, to re-invent traditional practices, and to innovate using new technologies that will sustain both us and the natural world. There is no better time to think creatively about future food systems. Students that take this course will be prepared to co-create new food systems alongside urban planners, food companies, startups, government policy makers, and in the field with farmers and ranchers.

Learning Objectives

Three years after this course is over, students will understand the complexities and trade-offs between the food system and society, and will be responsible players with the necessary tools and skills to assess tradeoffs, identify unintended consequences, and create opportunities in this space.

  1. Identify the interaction between different aspects of the food system, how it operates, and the basic principles of the global food supply chain.
  2. Identify the main drivers of a food system (economics, policy, consumer behaviour, incentives, technology, and geography...)