From 18 to 21 June 2025, the University of Mons hosted the XXVI International Conference of the Society for Human Ecology (SHE), convening under the theme “Ecology, Politics, and Justice: Working Towards the Pluriverse.” This gathering brought together scholars, practitioners, and policymakers from across the globe to explore the intersections of environmental science, social equity, and sustainable futures.
Our HortiBonn team attended the conference and shared impact driven work spanning Africa, Asia and Europe. Our team uses a systems-thinking approach, integrating quantitative models with participatory fieldwork to co-design solutions that are both scientifically rigorous and culturally appropriate. This commitment guided every discussion and poster session our team led at SHE.
Sanghyo Moon presented a poster on an interactive application “Optimal Priming” developed as part of the “HortiPrimed” project, which is based on holistic decision analysis. The presentation highlighted how decision analysis can bridge science and practice to support sustainable tomato cultivation. (Image 1)
As part of the NIFAM project, Dr. Cory Whitney and Kien Dang presented work on traditional knowledge and the agroecological potential of edible forest foods of the Dzao Indigenous community in Ba Vi National Park. (Image 2)
Hoa Do gave a talk on agroforestry adoption and adaptation among smallholder farmers in Vietnam, emphasizing the importance of farmers' adaptability through diverse pathways to integrate agroforestry into their farming routines. The presentation highlighted the need for research and development efforts to focus on understanding and supporting these varied adaptation strategies to ensure the long-term impact of agroforestry interventions. (Image 3)
Dorcas Sanginga from the Sustainable Land Management project gave a talk on the impact of Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) and presented a gendered probabilistic framework that assesses and forecasts impact in an inclusive and equitable way. Using this framework, this study assesses the benefits and trade-offs of ISFM on multiple sustainable intensification outcomes and the economic benefit for different farmers typologies in northern Ghana. The study emphasizes the need for complementary innovations on ISFM for different farmer typologies. (Image 4)
A collaborator of the Holistic Systems Analysis (Hosyana) team Yvonne Tamba from the University of Greifswald participated in the poster session, presenting on ‘Agroforestry household diversity and the microclimate effect in a semi-arid zone of Tanzania’. The study combined agroecology and socioecology to quantify the impact of agroforestry on crop yields and to identify farmer archetypes in a semi-arid region. Agroforestry field trials and household surveys were carried out in Dodoma region by two projects, the SCARF (Scaling Agroforestry for holistic climate resilience-building in rural Tanzania) and Africa RISING (Africa Research in Sustainable Intensification for the Next Generation) projects. The projects’ objectives were to scale promising food technologies and address the root causes of non-adoption of agroforestry in the region. (Image 5)
To cap these talks, Dr. Cory Whitney hosted an interactive session "Adaptation, Resilience, and Knowledge" in which participants reflected on the dialogues and conflicts that form the ethics & motivation of their work and how they operationalize transdisciplinary insights.
Attending SHE conference has reinforced our commitment in transdisciplinary research where people who are affected by our research should be included in the process from the beginning. We left SHE with new insights that will continue to inspire us to shape a future where agriculture sustains both people and planet.
References
Dang, Kien, and Cory Whitney. “Edible Forest Foods of the Dzao Community in Ba Vi National Park -Traditional Knowledge and Agroecological Potential.” In 26th International Conference of the Society for Human Ecology. Mons, Belgium, 2025.
Do, Hoa, Cory Whitney, and Eike Luedeling. “Adaptation rather than adoption: Adaptive agroforestry management among smallholder farmers in Vietnam.” In 26th International Conference of the Society for Human Ecology. Mons, Belgium, 2025.
Moon, Sanghyo, and Cory Whitney. “Bridging Science and Practice for Sustainable Tomato Cultivation.” In 26th International Conference of the Society for Human Ecology. Mons, Belgium, 2025.
Sanginga, Dorcas, Cory Whitney, Javier Miranda, Peter Asare-Nuamah, Janina Dierks, and Eike Luedeling. “Unpacking the Outcomes and Trade-Offs of Integrated Soil Fertility Management with Probabilistic Modeling Approaches.” In 26th International Conference of the Society for Human Ecology. Mons, Belgium, 2025.
Tamba Yvonne, Mpelangwa Eziacka, Maskell Gina, Kimaro Anthony and Achola Sarah Murabola (2025). “Understanding agroforestry household diversity and the microclimate effect on yields in semi-arid Tanzania”. In 26th International Conference of the Society for Human Ecology. Mons, Belgium, 2025.