Markus Frank (MSc Sustainable International Agriculture)

Phd scholar

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Phone: +49 (0)5542 607 32 (Office)
Skype: mf-frank
Training Markus Frank studied organic agricultural science at the University of Kassel (BSc) and finished his MSc on sustainable international agriculture in 2015 (University of Kassel and University of Göttingen). Currently, he is doing his Phd in Agricultural Sciences (University of Hohenheim) at DITSL.
Career Before starting his academic career, he gathered working experience in practical agriculture and extension in Germany and abroad. He did long-term internships in practical organic agriculture (Argentina/Germany) and in rural development projects (India/Argentina/Bolivia). Since 2009 he is involved in several research activities and conference management at DITSL. From 2015 to 2019 he coordinated the project 'Postdoctoral fellowships for African researchers in the engineering sciences' at the Department of Agricultural Engineering of the University of Kassel, funded by the Volkswagen Foundation. Currently, Markus is doing his Phd project, holding a scholarship granted by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes).
Research

His main research interest is on organic agriculture, agroecology and transdisciplinary action research in smallholder innovation systems. In his MSc tesis, he did an 'assessment of an on-farm experimentation and extension approach for innovation in smallholder livestock production systems in the Neuquén Province, Argentina'. Currently, he is conducting his Phd study 'exploring transition pathways towards agroecological farming in Argentina’, including long-term field research stays at the University of Rio Negro, Argentina (financial support provided by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Foundation fiat panis, and German Academic Scholarship Foundation).

Recent publications:

Frank, M., Amoroso, M. M., Propedo, M. and Brigitte Kaufmann (2022). Co-inquiry in agroecology research with farmers: transdisciplinary co-creation of contextualized and actionable knowledge. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 46:4, 510-539, " DOI: 10.1080/21683565.2021.2020948
 
Frank, M., Kaufmann, B., Ejarque, M., Lamaison, M. G., Nessi, M. V., & Amoroso, M. M. (2022). Changing conditions for local food actors to operate towards agroecology during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6:866004. DOI: 10.3389/fsufs.2022.866004

 
Experience abroad
 Markus Frank has long-term experience in India and Latin America, and short-term experience in Kenya.