Beatrice Walthall has successfully defended her doctoral thesis at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin

On July 01, 2026, Beatrice Walthall successfully completed her PhD at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. Her thesis, entitled “Transformative Food System Governance: Aligning Principles, Tools, and Processes for Systemic Change in the Berlin-Brandenburg Region”, was awarded the honour of “magna cum laude”.

This doctoral thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr Peter Feindt at HU Berlin and by Dr Annette Piorr at the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research. The dissertation committee was chaired by Prof. Dr Marcel Robischon (HU Berlin); the examining board members were Prof. Dr Peter Feindt (HU Berlin), Prof. Dr Ulrich Schmutz (Coventry University, UK) and Dr Ina Säumel (HU Berlin). Dr Susanna Hönle (HU Berlin) and Dr Annette Piorr (ZALF) were further members of the examination committee.

Beatrice Walthall has been a researcher in the ZALF research group ‘Land-use decisions in spatial and systemic contexts’ since early 2020. As part of the EU project ‘FOODSHIFT2030’, she focused on the development and support of the implementation of urban food strategies within multi-stakeholder processes. Her work centred on the following questions: How can a holistic, regional food system be developed and gradually put into practice? What policy frameworks, measures and forms of collaboration (governance) are needed to successfully support this transition?

As part of her doctoral thesis, Ms Walthall developed a holistic approach that combines scientific knowledge with practical applications. To this end, she analysed discourses on agroecological transformation, formulated conceptual and methodological recommendations, and developed interactive planning tools, which were tested and evaluated in collaboration with partners from the field in the Berlin-Brandenburg region. The work contributes in particular to the ongoing discussion on the transformative governance of food systems by:

Bridging governance theory with real-world experimentation to inform both academic and policy contexts;
Offering a dynamic and adaptable framework that reflects the complexity of food systems and evolving governance needs;
Mapping key phases of transformation, from problem framing to institutionalisation, and aligning strategic governance responses accordingly;
Providing actionable insights and tools for policymakers and practitioners at the city-region scale.

Our warmest congratulations to Beatrice Walthall on the successful defence of her doctoral thesis!