Secretariat

The Work of the Food Imbizo is supported by a Secretariat which is located within the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security at the University of the Western Cape (UWC) and the University of Pretoria (UP). The secretariat consists of Florian Kroll (UWC), Camilla Adelle (UP) and Bruno Losch (UWC). The Secretariat is funded by the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security.

Florian Kroll is a food systems researcher with an interest in the biopolitics of urban food systems
governance in African cities. His particular interest is in governmentalities and statecraft around adaptive food governance, with a focus on its implications for agroecological transitions, equitable economic participation, and public health. He is currently completing his PhD studies on this topic with the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) at the University of the Western Cape.

Camilla Adelle is a researcher in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria. Her research focuses on the role of knowledge in decision-making and policy formulation. Her current research is within the Governance programme of the CoE-FS where she focuses on facilitating and studying stakeholder processes for joint learning and the co-production of knowledge to inform decision-making on local food governance. 

Bruno Losch is a political economist at CIRAD (UMR ArtDev), currently posted at the Institute of Social Development, University of the Western Cape, where he directly collaborates with the DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Food Security and coordinates projects in its Governance programme. His current research focuses on the territorial dimension of food systems. He has published extensively in the field of territorial policies, rural studies, employment, structural change, and the political economy of development. 

Reference Group

The Food Imbizo is also guided by a wider group of members who help guide the activities and topics for discussion within the gatherings. These members comprise of local and provincial government officials, university researchers, civil society, practitioners and farmers. The reference group meets 3-4 times a year.