April 21, 2020
RC40 news and programming
Steven Wolf, President
Hilde Bjørkhaug, Secretary/Treasurer
Dear RC40 members,
Greetings to all during this extraordinary period of uncertainty, social distancing, isolation and risk, to people and institutions. On behalf of the RC40 Executive Committee (EC) we wanted to share some updates, encouragement, and a range of opportunities. Despite COVID-19, we are an active group and there is a lot going on. During this period when many activities are suspended, communication is vitally important. You will see a substantial report below regarding development of RC40 communications infrastructure and strategies including a website engagement survey, which we ask you to complete - https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RC40web.
The virus closes many things down, but it opens up many possibilities. Some hopeful and others scary. We must engage to support deliberation and outcomes in line with our knowledge and values.
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Major conferences rescheduled
COVID-19 has forced postponement of two major international conferences originally planned for July 2020. ISA Forum is rescheduled for Feb 23-27, 2021 - https://www.isa-sociology.org/en/conferences/forum. IRSA will be held in June or July 2021. Both of these meetings feature substantial RC40 participation. Authors and panel conveners are encouraged to develop their plans for how to take their research and their interaction forward.
Early career agrifood studies on-line seminars
In coming months we will launch a series of online seminars/workshops focused on supporting research and publishing of early career researchers. These events allow early career researchers to share work-in-progress with senior researchers as part of an effort to bring these papers to publication. The effort is led by Midori Hiraga and fellow RC40 EC members Michael Carolan and Angga Dwiartama. Midori holds the newly established seat on the RC40 EC dedicated to early career members, and so her leadership in this effort is very much appropriate and appreciated. As an online activity, it is virus- and carbon-friendly. We see this as a way to support inclusive scholarship and development of talent in the field of agrifood studies. Stay tuned for more information about this opportunity.
RC40 micro-grants for regional agrifood initiatives
Katharine Legun with support from fellow EC member Angol Naswem will announce funding awards for newly established RC40 regional initiatives. The solicitation for micro-grants produced 6 proposals, and we will recommend to that the next EC continue this tradition. Our aim is to leverage and build our network of RC40 Regional Representatives - https://www.isa-agrifood.com/links through these activities. The winning proposals will be announced in the summer newsletter and featured on our website - https://www.isa-agrifood.com/.
International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food (IJSAF)
The RC40 journal, the International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, is now indexed by SCOPUS and we have applied for membership in CrossRef, which will lead to obtaining DOIs for each article, past and present, published in IJSAF. The re-development of the journal was a project initiated by Allison Loconto and Maki Hatanaka, leaders of the previous EC. Thanks to Ray Jussaume, Claire Marris and Katerina Psarikidou, Editors of IJSAF, for their work in strengthening the journal and supporting contributors. Please note that IJSAF is actively soliciting submissions of research articles - https://www.isa-agrifood.com/ijsaf. Please share your research through this outlet. The editors have expanded the pool of reviewers and provide a quick turn around on submissions.
RC40 Community Blog Page and COVID-19
In response to COVID-19 and its social impacts and implications, we want to emphasize the RC40 Community Blog Page - bit.ly/RC40Blog. We offer a three-step plan.
1. We invite all RC40 members and friends of RC40 to post 500-100 word blog entries on the RC40 Community Blog Page on the website - bit.ly/RC40Blog. Academics, government officials, civil society leaders, entrepreneurs, students and others are all welcome to contribute. It is a multi-lingual community blog, so an essay in any language is welcome. While we aim to engage with COVID-19, we are open to a range of other topics. The blog is moderated by Angga Dwiartama, RC40EC member and acting web czar. Email blog entries and inquiries to Angga at dwiartama@sith.itb.ac.id.
2. We are soliciting thought leaders from around the world to contribute to the RC40 Community Blog Page. Please make your own solicitations or pass on nominations to me at saw44@cornell.edu.
3. We encourage all RC40 members to make their voices heard through engagement with forums established by other agrifood organizations - submitting entries, posting comments on others’ entries, reading and circulating information and stories…. Allison Loconto, past RC40 President, offers the following suggested outlets as places to express your views and experiences and stories. Please share other outlets with us through the website.
· FAO moderated Food for the Cities listserv: Here are instructions that explain the forum and how to join: http://www.fao.org/fcit/fcit-contacts/dgroups-list/en/
· IFPRI Blog: COVID-19 series on IFPRI blog. See, for example, guest post by Thomas Reardon, Marc Bellemare, and David Zilberman on the impacts on food supply chains in developing countries: https://www.ifpri.org/landing/covid-19-blog-landing-page.
· Respond to questionnaire (or share with their local partners) that is collecting information about food system adaptation measures for COVID19, this is supported by the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact Secretariat https://letsfoodideas.com/en/questionnaire-covid-19/
RC40 website and communications
Thanks to Angga Dwiartama, and others who played central roles in the past including Allison Loconto, Hilde Bjørkhaug and Paulo Niederle, there is much to share regarding RC40 communications.
Please follow and contribute to our RC40 twitter account @ISA_RC40. Angga (dwiartama@sith.itb.ac.id) and Katharine (katharine.legun@wur.nl) are mounting an effort to animate the feed and the group. Please contact them with questions and content.
RC40 has had a website for some times (https://www.isa-agrifood.com), and we would like to know your inputs about the website and how to better improve this. We’d like to invite you to fill in our web engagement survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RC40web. The survey will only take 5 minutes of your time.
The RC40 website has a membership/subscriber system. We’d like to encourage you to Sign Up to the website (if you haven’t done so already). This will allow you to receive email notifications for any new announcements and updates in the Forum (RC40 Listserv) and Blog sections.
You can find the "Sign Up or Log In" button at the upper right part of the website page.
When you’ve signed in, the default setting of your account is Email Notifications on
You can easily change the setting by clicking on your Name on the upper right corner, choose My Account, and then go to Setting on the lower left of the page.
There, you can choose which type of notifications you want to have
Lastly, in addition to an emphasis on our Community Blog Page discussed above, we’re trying out a new RC40 Mobile App (through a web platform called Wix). If you’re using a smart phone, this app is very useful in staying connected to our RC40 website, in which you can receive notifications and even share news and blog posts directly from your phone. Please join in and download the app if you’re keen. Contact Angga for support - dwiartama@sith.itb.ac.id.
A few notes about using this app:
When you have downloaded the app, you will be promptly asked to Join the RC40 Mobile for members. Please click the button to Join.
There, you can see information about RC40 [Content Tab], read, and even write your own, blog posts [Blog Tab], read and write new announcement [Forum Tab], and get to know other members [Member Tab].
You can make use of the Chat feature [a balloon icon at the bottom centre of the screen]. After clicking the icon, you’ll be directed to your Inbox page. At the top right corner, there is a ‘+’ button to add new chat.
You have the option to have a person-to-person conversation [by choosing a member from the contact list], to chat with the Admin [by clicking on the ISA-RC40 [Agri-Food] button at the top of the list], or you can create a group conversation by choosing ’New Group Chat’.
There is a hot button at the Home Tab [Get in Touch - MESSAGE] if you need any help in navigating with the app. The message will be directed to the web admin.
If you reached the end of this message, thank you very much. Please consider supporting some or all of these initiatives. Stay well.