Changing the Food Game - BIP

Changing the Food Game - BIP | February - March 2024 | WG Interdisciplinary

In March the physical week of the Blended Intensive Programme  “Changing the Food Game” took place in Izmir (Türkiye), hosted by Dokuz Eylul University. This BIP was developed by the Businet Interdisciplinary Working group spearheaded by Barbara Brooijmans. The participating universities in this amazing adventure were Universitatea 1 Decembrie 1918 din Alba Iulia (Romania), EPHEC (Belgium), Dokuz Eylül University (Türkiye), Fontys UAS and Windesheim UAS (both from the Netherlands).

The assignment was to provide all kinds of sustainability advice to Köstem Olive Oil, a family business that produces olive oil and at the same time operates a museum, a shop, a restaurant and a guesthouse. An inspiring workshop on sustainable food practices and improving the food supply chain was provided by the “driving forces” of this programme, Özge Özgen and Lara Vanderstichelen. Anca Nichita taught our students how to prepare for the final pitches and Ferdi Hofstede and Janneke Busser-Kanis contributed with an Intercultural Awareness workshop. The mixed project teams worked hard and everything came together in a lively apotheosis, the presentations for the highly committed and enthusiastic company owner Tuğrul Özbaş, who was very grateful for all the ideas and insights shared by our students.

A wonderful and rich project in which sustainability, entrepreneurship and internationalization  came together in a setting of collaborative online and face-to-face learning.

Finally, a big thank you to our great hosts from Dokuz Eylül University for their unparalleled hospitality: Banu Durukan, Çağnur Balsarı, Isinsu Atalay, Yeliz Güler, Özge Özgen, Murat Ay and İrem Bidarcan. And not to forget, everyone truly enjoyed the social programme including a visit to beautiful Ephesus!