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Rural Studies Laboratory

Composed of research professors in sociology, economics and geography from Isara and research professors in geography and history of the University Lyon 2, the Laboratory of Rural Studies (LER) conducts multidisciplinary research around highly entangled aspects – rurality, agriculture and food. They take into account both long term and present time, looking at scale variations and changes as well as border crossing in the relationship between cities and the countryside. They try to understand transitions to more sustainable and resilient food systems and territories.

The LER is structured around several axess.

  • The first axis deals with the long-term analysis of the relationship between sciences and societies, bringing a new perspective on the agricultural question and the environment.
  • The second axis analyzes the policy implementation process and the public policy implementation process focusing on the issues at stake around food, the environment, agriculture, territories and development.
  • The third axis examines the transitions around issues regarding food, quality and organization of food systems. This is the most international axis.
  • As for the fourth, it aims to look at rurality in a new way, in light of today’s acute questions, challenging in original and critical ways the era of metropolisation as well as access to quality food. The Isara teaching team is strongly involved in each of these axes through several research projects.

 

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