Dr Ferne Edwards
About
Biography
I am a cultural anthropologist with close to twenty years international research and teaching experience on just and sustainable cities, food systems and social change. My work explores the socio-cultural contexts, ethics, politics and sustainability potential of diverse social food economies in cities. I have conducted ethnographies on food waste, urban beekeeping, non-monetised alternative food economies, and food sharing in Australia, Venezuela, Spain, Norway and the UK. This research contributes knowledge to urban natures, conservation, design, and healthy and resilient cities. Awarded my PhD on 12 May 2015, I have published more than 40 academic refereed publications, including 3 edited books (1 forthcoming), with 1 monograph (another under contract). I also have experience designing and delivering global, cross-cultural, interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral research panels, programs and networks. Positions held include: UrbanA Fellow for Just and Sustainable Cities (EU project, 2019-2021), leading the governance infrastructure, networks and institutionalisation work package for the EU H2020 IA project EdiCitNet to establish an international edible cities network (RMIT Europe, Barcelona 2018-2020), World Social Science Fellow on Urban Issues in the Global South (International Social Science Council, 2013), Australian Anthropology Society Fellow (2016 ongoing), and Honorary Research Associate for the Centre for Urban Research (RMIT University, 2016-2019). At the University of Surrey, I am a Research Fellow on Sustainable Food Systems leading two work packages on the EU FoodCLIC project.
Areas of specialism
University roles and responsibilities
- Research Fellow in Sustainable Food Systems
Supervision
Completed postgraduate research projects I have supervised
2021-22: Co-supervisor of PhD candidate (completed), Bjørn Inge Melås.Title of PhD: Ecologies of urban gardening.Department of Planning and Architecture, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
2020-22: Co-supervisor of PhD candidate, Berilsu Tarcan Title: Exploring the Transformation of Making Practices within Culture: Felting as a design activityDepartment of Design, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
2021: Co-supervisor of Master of Industrial Design candidate, Miriam Knudsen Hjertholm. Title: Urban agriculture in underused spacesDepartment of Design, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
2021: Co-supervisor of Master of Industrial Design candidate: Nora K. BakkeTitle: Redesigning urban wasted spaces for sustainable food activities in TrondheimDepartment of Design, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
2021: Co-supervisor of Master of Industrial Design candidate: Julie Marzano FreyTitle: Introducing gleaning to Norway: Redesigning relationships to reduce agricultural waste and urban needsDepartment of Design, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
2021: Co-supervisor of Master of Industrial Design candidate: Kristine Lygre HoffTitle: Introducing gleaning to Norway: Redesigning relationships to reduce agricultural waste and urban needsDepartment of Design, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
2021: Co-supervisor of Master of Industrial Design candidate: Caroline Syse Title: Hatching the Future of Urban Chicken Keeping: Designing for Increased Quality of Life in TrondheimDepartment of Design, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
2021: Co-supervisor of Master of Industrial Design candidate: Ida Maria MelenTitle: Hatching the Future of Urban Chicken Keeping: Designing for Increased Quality of Life in TrondheimDepartment of Design, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.
Publications
Additional publications
MONOGRAPHS (1)
Edwards, F. (2023) Food Resistance Movements: Journeying through Alternative Food Networks. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave.
EDITED VOLUMES (2, 1 forthcoming)
Edwards, F., Popartan, L. A. & Pettersen, I. N. (forthcoming 2023) Urban Natures: Living the More-than-Human City. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Edwards, F., Gerritsen, R. & Wesser, G. (2021) Food, Senses and the City. London and New York: Routledge.
Nelson, A. & Edwards, F. (2021) Food for Degrowth: Perspectives and Practices. London and New York: Routledge.
JOURNAL ARTICLES (15)
Manderscheid M., Fiala V., Edwards F., Freyer B. & Säumel I. (2022) Let’s do it online?! Virtual challenges for inclusive participation, Special issue: ‘Participatory Action Research in a Time of COVID’, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 16 May 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.732943
Davies, A.R., Cretella, A., Edwards, F. & Marovelli, B. (2020) The social practices of hosting P2P social dining events: Insights for sustainable tourism, Journal of Sustainable Tourism. DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2020.1838526.
Edwards, F. (2020) Overcoming social stigma by consuming food waste at the Open Table, Agriculture and Human Values. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-020-10176-9.
Edwards, F. & Davies, A. (2018) Connective Consumptions: Mapping Melbourne’s Food Sharing Ecosystem, Urban Policy and Research. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08111146.2018.1476231
Davies, A., Edwards, F., Marovelli, B., Morrow, O., Rut, M., & Weymes, M. (2017) Making visible: Interrogating the performance of food sharing across 100 urban areas, Geoforum, 86, Nov, 136-149. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2017.09.007
Davies, A., Edwards, F., Marovelli, B., Morrow, O., Rut, M. & Weymes, M. (2017) Creative construction: Crafting, negotiating and performing urban food sharing landscapes, Area, April. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12340.
Edwards, F. & Dixon, J. (2016) The hum of the hive: Negotiating conflict between humans and honeybee towards an ecological city, Society & Animals, December, 24(6): 535-555. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15685306-12341430
Edwards, F. & Mercer, D. (2013) Food waste in Australia: The freegan response, Waste Matters: New Perspective on Food and Society, The Sociological Review Monograph Series, 60(S2), December: 174–191. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-954X.12044
Banwell, C., Dixon, J., Bambrick, H., Edwards, F., & Kjellstrom, T. (2012) Socio-cultural reflections on heat with implications for health and climate change adaptation in Australia, Global Health Action, October, 5: 19277. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/gha.v5i0.19277
Edwards, F. (2011) Small, Slow and Shared: Emerging Social Innovations in Urban Australian Foodscapes, Australian Humanities Review, November: 115–134. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22459/AHR.51.2011.08
Edwards, F., Dixon, J., Friel, S., Hall, G., Larsen, K., Lockie, S., Wood, B., Lawrence, M., Hanigan, I., Hogan, A. & Hattersley, L. (2011) Climate change adaptation at the intersection of food and health, Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, March, 23: 91S–104S. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1010539510392361
Edwards, F. (2010) Food Sovereignty and Social Change in Venezuela, Chain Reaction, 109, July: 21–23.
Edwards, F. & Mercer, D. (2010) Meals in Metropolis: Mapping the urban foodscape, Local Environment, 15(2), February: 153–168. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13549830903527662
Edwards, F. & D. Mercer (2007) Gleaning from Gluttony: an Australian youth subculture confronts the ethics of waste, Australian Geographer, 38(3), November: 279–296. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00049180701639174
Edwards, F. (2006) Dumpster dining: Freegans consume waste food to protest consumer waste, Alternatives Journal, July, 32(3): 28–29.
SCHOLARLY BOOK CHAPTERS (19, 3 forthcoming)
Edwards, F., Popartan, L. A. & Pettersen, I. N. (forthcoming) Introduction: Mapping the Multispecies City in Theory, Methods and Practice, in Edwards, F., Popartan, L. A. & Pettersen, I. N. (eds), Urban Natures: Living the More-than-Human City. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Edwards, F. (forthcoming) Making Urban Nature Visible (With a Focus on Insects), in Edwards, F., Popartan, L. A. & Pettersen, I. N. (eds), Urban Natures: Living the More-than-Human City. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Edwards, F. (forthcoming) Conclusion: Reflections and Future Directions for Researching Convivial Urban Natures, in Edwards, F., Popartan, L. A. & Pettersen, I. N. (eds), Urban Natures: Living the More-than-Human City. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Edwards, F. and Davies, A. R. (2020; reprint) Connective Consumptions: Mapping Melbourne’s Food Sharing Ecosystem, in Gurran, N., Maginn, P. J., Burton, P., Legacy, C., Curtis, C., Kent, A. and G. Binder (eds.) Disruptive Urbanism. Implications of the ‘Sharing Economy’ for Cities, Regions, and Urban Policy. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Davies, A., Cretella, A., Edwards, F., & Marovelli, B. (2022) ‘The social practices of hosting P2P social dining events: Insights for sustainable tourism’, in P. Minoia and S. Jokela (eds.) Platform-mediated tourism: Social Justice and Urban Governance before and during Covid-19. London & New York: Routledge.
Edwards, F., Gerrtisen, R. & Wesser, G. (2021) ‘The food, senses and city nexus’, Chapter 1, in Edwards, F., Gerrtisen, R. & Wesser, G. (eds.) Food, Senses and the City. London and New York: Routledge.
Edwards, F. (2021) ‘Humming along: Heightening the senses between urban honeybees and humans’, Chapter 4, in Edwards, F., Gerrtisen, R. & Wesser, G. (eds.) Food, Senses and the City. London and New York: Routledge.
Edwards, F. (2021) ‘Future directions for food, the senses and the city’, Chapter 16, in Edwards, F., Gerrtisen, R. & Wesser, G. (eds.) Food, Senses and the City. London and New York: Routledge.
Nelson, A. & Edwards, F. (2021) ‘Food for degrowth’, Chapter 1, in Nelson, A. & Edwards, F. Food for Degrowth: Perspectives and Practices. London and New York: Routledge.
Edwards, F. & Espelt, R. (2021) ‘Technology for degrowth: Implementing digital platforms for community supported agriculture in Catalonia’, Chapter 9, in Nelson, A. & Edwards, F. Food for Degrowth: Perspectives and Practices. London and New York: Routledge.
Edwards, F., Pedro, S. & Rocha, S. (2021) ‘Institutionalising degrowth? Exploring multi-level food governance’, Chapter 11, in Nelson, A. & Edwards, F. Food for Degrowth: Perspectives and Practices. London and New York: Routledge. Pp.141-155.
Edwards, F. & Nelson, A. (2021) ‘Future research directions: Food for degrowth’, Chapter 16, in Nelson, A. & Edwards, F. Food for Degrowth: Perspectives and Practices. London and New York: Routledge.
Edwards, F., Dixon, J. & Beilin, R. (2018) Adopting a public health ecology approach to a key food security issue: apiary, bio-diversity and conservation. In Marsden, T. (ed) The SAGE Handbook of Nature. May, Pp. 1075-1089. London: SAGE Publications.
Edwards, F. (2016 [2nd edition]) ‘Venezuelan Food Sovereignty Movement’ in Thompson, P. & D. Kaplan (eds.) Encyclopaedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. New York, Heidelberg, Dortrecht, London: Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_514-1
Edwards, F. (2016 [2nd edition]) ‘Alternative Food Networks’ in Thompson, P. & D. Kaplan (eds.) Encyclopaedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. New York, Heidelberg, Dortrecht, London: Springer. Pp. 1-7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6167-4_513-1.
Edwards, F. (2016) Urban food security and alternative economic practices. In Horne, R., Fien, J., Beza, B. & Nelson, A. Sustainability Citizenship and Cities: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge. Pp.40-50.
Edwards, F. (2016) ‘Free-ing foods? Social food economies towards secure and sustainable food systems’, in Allen, A., Lampis, A. & Swilling, M. (eds.) Untamed Urbanisms: Practices and narratives on socio-environmental change for urban sustainability. London: Routledge. Pp. 284-295.
Banwell, C., Dixon, J., Bambrick, H., Edwards, F., & Kjellstrom, T. (2015) The sociocultural context of climate change adaptation in Australia with a focus on hot weather. In Butler, C., Dixon J. & Capon, A. (eds.) Health of People, Places and Planet. Reflections based on Tony McMichael’s four decades of contribution to epidemiological understanding. Canberra: ANU E-Press. Pp.379-392.
Edwards, F. & Mercer, D. (2013) 'Food waste in Australia: The freegan response', in Evans, D., Campbell, H. & Murcott, A. (eds.), Putting Waste on the Food Studies Agenda: Production, Politics and Everyday Life. London: Wiley-Blackwell. Pp.174–191.
Edwards, F. & Mercer, D. (2011) ‘Gleaning from Gluttony: An Australian Youth Subculture Confront the Ethics of Waste’ (reprint), in Williams-Forson, P. & Counihan, C. (eds.) Taking Food Public: Redefining foodways in a changing world. London: Routledge. Pp. 195–210.
Edwards, F. (2010) Seed industry, in Mulvaney, D. (ed.) Green Food: An A-Z Guide. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Pp. 388–392.
Edwards, F. (2010) Counter culture, in Mulvaney, D. (ed.) Green Politics: An A-Z Guide, Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE. Pp. 89–91.