Where ideas take root:

Meet the team

Dr. Vivian Valencia is Research Chair in Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Action at Bishop’s University, National Geographic Explorer, formerly Assistant Professor at Wageningen University & Research. With a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Columbia University, her work lies at the intersection of sustainability science, agroecology, and deep systemic change. Dr. Valencia leads interdisciplinary research on food systems transformation, exploring how farming practices, public policies, and institutional and market arrangements can foster resilience, biodiversity, and climate action. A central focus of her work are “lighthouse” farms and networks—exemplary initiatives that illuminate pathways toward just and sustainable food futures. She is a collaborator in international initiatives such as the Global Network of Lighthouse Farms (Wageningen University & Research) and has published widely in journals such as Science, PNAS, and Environmental Research Letters. Beyond academia, she actively contributes to high-level dialogues at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), engages in diplomacy through platforms like the Global Diplomacy Lab, and advises initiatives at the intersection of biodiversity, climate change and impact investing.

Graduated with a Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the University of Luxembourg (2023), Julia Ros Cuellar has developed a strong interdisciplinary profile at the intersection of policy analysis, sustainability, and socioecological systems. Her academic journey began with a Bachelor’s in Biology (Universidad Veracruzana, 2013) and a Master’s in Natural Resource Management (INECOL, 2017), which laid the foundation for her research on policy coherence for sustainable development and a safe and just space. She has worked as a research assistant and project coordinator in various institutions in Mexico and Luxembourg, including CIDE, CENTROGEO, and the University of Luxembourg, where she also served as editorial production manager for the journal Regions & Cohesion. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the SPICES project: Strategic Policymaking for Integrated and Coherent Environmental and Social Sustainability in Food Systems, in collaboration with Dr. Vivian Valencia. Her research focuses on the transformations for sustainability of food systems drawing on “seeds of the future” such as lighthouse farms, looking at the policy environment that enables their scaling. Passionate about nature preservation, transdisciplinary approaches, and social network analysis, Julia aims to contribute to more coherent and inclusive sustainability policies—for a better and brighter future.

Laura has over 15 years of experience in community-based, circular economies, social innovation, and entrepreneurship in connection with local food systems development. She is the Co-Founder and former Director of Partnerships and Business Development of the Québec-based social enterprise Collectif Récolte, a not-for-profit organisation that seeks to catalyze social innovation in the food system through impact-oriented projects and enterprises. She also co-founded the organisation Taking Root, a pioneer in leveraging the forest carbon offset industry to promote economic development amongst smallholder farmers in Central America, for which the 4 Co-Founders received The Meritorious Service Decoration (Civil Division) in 2018. She has worked with agricultural communities around the world, supported the early-stage, start-up phases of a FoodTech company focused on farm-to-restaurant sourcing solutions, and is now working daily with a diversity of stakeholders throughout Québec and across Canada to create needed systemic shifts in support of the future of food. Her Master’s research explores how innovative financing models, particularly blended finance solutions, can support the creation and scaling of agricultural land trusts. By analyzing successful initiatives and stakeholder perspectives, it examines how such mechanisms can improve land access, promote agroecological farming, and address structural challenges like land speculation, inequality, and climate change. The study focuses on the Canadian context, with a particular emphasis on Québec.

Samuel Baudoux is a biologist and graduate student in Environmental Sciences whose work bridges ecological research and social justice. At the Nordson Green Earth Foundation, he leads community-based projects linking biodiversity, health, and equity in Chicago. Curious and passionate about learning from diverse communities, he is currently studying how social and ecological resilience intersect in areas affected by climate change.

Passionate about food, community and land, Sophie (she/her) can be found with her hands in the ground. She is a settler in so-called Canada, living on the unceded territory of the Kanien‘kehà:ka. In recent years, she has worked as a small-scale farm manager for the Hudson Heartbeet Community farm, deepened her knowledge on the politics of food on Parliament Hill, and supported the development of Young Agrarian’s New Farmer Framework, exploring the policy needs to support the next generation of farmers. Sophie’s research interests include the intersections between agroecology, decolonial feminism, community-led initiatives, and our food system.