Joost Dessein - Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics

Joost Dessein (°1971) is associate professor (tenured) at the department of Agricultural Economics (UGent), an affiliated member of the Centre for Sustainable Development (UGent) and a senior researcher at the Flanders Research Institute for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (ILVO). He holds an Msc in Agricultural Engineering and a Msc and PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology, all of which obtained at the Catholic University of Louvain.

Joost’s teaching and research expertise lies in the fields of Sociology of Agriculture and Food and Rural Development. Current research themes include the governance of local food systems and related issues of social and environmental justice, the role of innovation platforms in knowledge creation and dissemination, and complex decision-making as a ‘political matter', including the societal debate on GM-crops. 

Joost is member of the Executive Committee of the European Society for Rural Sociology, and co-editor of the book series ‘Routledge Studies in Culture and Sustainable Development