Institute of Agricultural Economics – Romanian Academy
Romanian Association of Rural and Agri-Food Economy “Virgil Madgearu”
Research Institute for Agriculture Economy and Rural Development – Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences
& European Rural Development Network
invite to the
XXI European Rural Development Network Conference
“Food systems transition for sustainable rural development”
23-25 September 2025
Bucharest, Romania
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Summary:
The European Rural Development Network, together with Romanian partners: the Institute of Agricultural Economics – Romanian Academy, the Romanian Association of Rural and Agri-Food Economy “Virgil Madgearu”, the Research Institute for Agriculture Economy and Rural Development – Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences, and in collaboration with the FOODPathS project, organized a conference entitled “Food Systems Transition for Sustainable Rural Development”, which took place in Bucharest from September 22-26. The conference aimed to present the results of the FOODPathS project and work related to the sustainable transformation of food systems in the context of rural development and agriculture. Ninety people, primarily from Central and Eastern European countries, attended the conference. Among the opening presentations was a presentation by Paweł Chmieliński, prepared jointly with Hugo de Vries from the National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE) (France). The paper was titled “Building Tomorrow’s Sustainable Food Systems Together: The FOODPathS Way,” which presented the approach to building sustainable food systems used in the FOODPathS project.
A key point of the conference was the presentation of the main results of the FOODPathS project in the form of the FoodPathS Exibition, moderated by Barbara Wieliczko. This exhibition included, among other things, a presentation of the role of co-creation in creating a partnership management system for sustainable food systems, how partnerships are conducted, and a systems approach to financially supporting sustainable systemic transformation.
During one of the presentation sessions Adam Wasilewski, the leader of the ERDN INSPIRE team had a presentation entitled “Smart Village Labs for Social Inclusion: Enhancing Rural Governance through the INSPIRE Project”.
During the poster session several of ERDN’s projects were presented, including:
- Tools4CAP – ERDN PL Team – Zbigniew Floriańczyk, Barbara Wieliczko and Bogdan Buks – presented a poster “How to improve agri-rural policy design? Key tools overview” presenting the Tools4CAP Academy and invited everyone to the coming Tools4CAP Academy Module VI – Integrated data and digital tools: user story approach to implement Common Agricultural Policy taking place on 5th November.
- Vision4Food – Agnieszka Kurdyś-Kujawska showed “Key Factors in the Transformation of Regional Food Systems in Poland: A Stakeholder Perspective”.
- SOILSCAPE – Katarzyna Gizińska demonstrated a poster on “SOILSCAPE Soil Orchestras. The Living Labs methodology in SOILSCAPE”.
- INSPIRE – Agnieszka Kurdyś-Kujawska talked about “Network of Interest (NoI): A Tool for Social Inclusion in Rural Areas.M.
- RIBES – Marcin Adamski presented the project “Regional Inclusive Biobased Entrepreneurship Solutions (RIBES)”.
General information:
Conference web site: http://erdn.eu/conference/21erdn2025/
we are very pleased to invite you to the international scientific conference organised by the European Rural Development Network (ERDN) that will be held in Bucharest, Romania on 23-25 September 2025!
The conference registration is now open until 1st of August 2025.
Conference email: conference@erdn.eu
The registration form will be available here, on the conference website, soon!
Important dates:
• Abstract submission (for oral presentation or poster): 1 June 2025.
• Acceptance of the abstracts: 15th June 2025.
• Registration to the conference: 1st of August 2025.
• Submission of research letters – 1st September.
• Conference: 23 th -25th September 2025.
• Publication of research letters (short papers) in Rural Areas and Development in 2025.
Our conference has an inclusive character. Participants can decide to do an oral presentation or a poster. Your proposal will be accepted, but we reserve the right to ask you to prepare a presentation in the form of a poster, which will allow us to actively manage the agenda.
Together with FoodPathS (foodpaths.eu) project, we warmly invite EU-cofinanced HE projects related to food systems, rural development and soil issues to present their results, which will serve to develop recommendations that are valuable for the development of rural, agricultural and food systems in Europe.
The conference will be subsidised, which means that, according to ERDN custom, participants will mainly cover their travel expenses. However, the number of conference places is limited.
Invitation:
Dear Colleagues,
ERDN is organising its 21st international scientific conference: Food systems transition for sustainable rural development. It will be co-hosted by our network member, the Romanian Academy – Institute of Agricultural Economics (and partners) and will take place on 23-25 September in Bucharest.
The conference aims to present current research and to discuss the future development of rural areas in Europe in the context of food systems’ transition, modern rural communities and endogenous rural resources. We will seek recommendations for the creation of effective policies for stronger, connected, resilient and prosperous rural areas by 2040. Our activities are also in heart of Food 2030 – the EU’s research and innovation policy framework supporting the transition towards sustainable, healthy and inclusive food systems and the Mission ‚A Soil Deal for Europe’. The exchange of experiences of research teams from various countries, that share the values of the ERDN, of an interdisciplinary and intergenerational character, is extremely valuable here to talk together, above all to exchange views and experiences, to make recommendations and to have a real impact on the process of building a better, more sustainable Europe, both within the EU and beyond! Our approach in organising collaboration between science and practice and our new perspective on the exchange of knowledge and experience is a unique contribution of the ERDN to the understanding and implementation of the principles of the New European Bauhaus: beautiful, sustainable, together!!
ERDN is an active member of Rural Pact Coordination Group, Soil Mission, Pact for Climate, Pact for Skills, New European Bauhaus, Sustainable Food Systems Network and many other EU initiatives to support research, policy making and development in Europe. Our conference will be an opportunity to promote your knowledge and experience in these bodies, to share research results and jointly developed recommendations!
The formula of the conference is innovative, involving the organisation of 3 days in sessions with most of the focus on debate and discussion – moderated by great experts, focused on the results that will flow from the added value we will generate during the conference, through the collation of individual research results, in the process of collective working sessions.
Description of the sessions
Research sessions will be held on 23 and 25 September.
The conference’s most important part are thematic sessions that will bring together the valuable papers you provide. But you will only have 7-10 minutes to present your approach and, above all, your results, reflections and conclusions of your work!
The 4-5 papers in this format will serve as an introduction to an open, hour-long debate with the other participants and the moderator (carefully prepared for this role) will guide the discussion, and also will wrap-up and collect recommendations, which will be brought together and published in our Rural Areas and Development yearbook, as a collective work.
Horizon Projects Discussion Session will be held on 24 September.
Our members are partners of various Horizon Europe consortia, acting as a bridge between researchers from different organisations and countries. We want to make use of this rich activity of our members and create a platform of dissemination of results and also of active pooling of knowledge, developed in projects. We therefore especially invite representatives of consortium leaders and HE projects’ representatives to join our special session that will take place on the second day of the conference. We plan short project presentations and structured debate aimed at exchanging experiences and project findings in three discussion panels:
I. Contribution to Rural Pact and Long Term Vision for Rural Areas in Europe.
II. Engaging our societies in the transformation towards Sustainable Food Systems.
III. Heathy Soil for our future: Land governance in the local communities.
Each project will have a time to present itself, and then we will focus on an in-depth discussion of the synergies between the projects’ activities, results and possible cooperation for greater added value.
Equally important will be our Poster Sessions, which will provide a graphic introduction to the moderated discussion of the presented research results, which will also serve to develop conclusions, combining the results of the various studies. In this way, all active participants in our conference will have the chance to include their thoughts in the collective work that the ERDN wants to promote in Europe. Let this unique formula be the hallmark of our environment. The ERDN has always distinguished itself by valuing community as the core value that unites scientists, free thinkers and people with real passion, bringing them together in our Network.
We hope you will honour us with your presence and become actively involved in our conference!
Paweł Chmieliński, Barbara Wieliczko, Monica Tudor, Dan Marius Voicilas
on behalf of the Organising Committee of the ERDN Conference
XXI ERDN 2025 Conference
Food systems transition for sustainable rural development
Provisional agenda
23.09 TUESDAY
10.00 WELCOME and PLENARY
11.30 Research sessions (coffee included)
13.00 LUNCH and activities to refresh the mind
14.30 Research sessions
16.00 Refreshment break
16.30 Poster sessions / Presentations by our friends (books, achievements, projects)
19.00/20.00 Dinner and the Traditional Romanian Party
24.09 WEDNESDAY
10.00 Horizon Projects Discussion Session I (and coffee break)
12.00 Horizon Projects Discussion Session II (and refreshment break)
14.00 Horizon Projects Discussion Session III (and tea break)
15.30 LUNCH and the STUDY VISIT
… to be announced!
19.00 Dinner
… and the ERDN Party (optional).
25.09 THURSDAY
10.00 Research sessions
11.30 Refreshment break
12.00 Research sessions
13.30 LUNCH
14.30 Research sessions/Posters II
16.00 Closing
16.00-22.00 Various activities in Bucharest for those who are willing to stay:)
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