Research Activities at AFEPA Partner University Departments and Main Faculty Members
The following paragraphs contain a short description of the responsible agricultural economic
departments at the AFEPA partner universities and their respective faculty members with
regardto academic and research interests. The description is to further the AFEPA student
understanding of the academic environment at the various universities and therefore enable them
to make a more educated decision when choosing their university for the first and second year of
the programme. All five universities in the AFEPA consortium have an excellent reputation and
students should therefore try to match their own research interests with the emphasis placed on
the various subjects of agricultural, environmental or food policy analysis at each partner
university. The short description of selected members of faculty should also enable students to
select a topic and/or advisor for their Master’s thesis to be written in their second year of study.
More information on the departments can also be obtained from the website of each partner
university.
1.
Corvinus University of Budapest (CUB) ................................................. 2
2.
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) ............................... 3
3.
Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms University Bonn ................................... 4
4.
Université catholique de Louvain (UCL) ................................................ 5
5.
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) ............................................ 6
1. Corvinus University of Budapest (CUB)
Faculty members and their specialization in the different sub-fields relevant for the programme:
Faculty Member
Specialization
Prof. I. Fertö
trade theory and policy
Prof. Forgacs
agribusiness management, agri-food marketing, agric. policy
Prof. A. Jambor
agri-environmental policy
Prof. T. Mizik
rural development policy
Prof. J. Tóth
food market analysis
More specifically,
Prof. Dr. Imre Fertő is the Head of Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural
Development at CUB. Recently, his research focuses on international agricultural trade and price
transmission, production efficiency, vertical coordination along food chain. He is teaching
agricultural policy, international agricultural trade, economics of agricultural markets. He
published numerous articles in various international journals.
Professor Forgacs has taught classes in agricultural economics, agricultural policy, agro-food
marketing, agribusiness management, marketing management and rural development. His
research focuses on agricultural economics, agricultural policy, rural development as well as the
vertical coordination in food economy (food chains).
Professor Jámbor has a PhD in economics and is specialised in agricultural policy and
agricultural trade issues. He teaches classes in agricultural policy, agri-environment and rural
economics, while his research focuses on the CAP post 2013 as well as the analysis of NMSEU15 agricultural trade.
Professor Mizik's main fields of interest are competitiveness, profitability, agricultural and rural
development and biofuels. He has regular classes on agricultural economics, EU CAP,
agrobusiness management, international agricultural trade and development and rural
development.
Professor Tóth is educated in economics and has extensive skills in quantitative analysis and
experience in project management and research agricultural economics as well as the
econometric analysis of agricultural sectors.
2. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)
The research activities of SLU’s Agricultural and Food Economics unit in the department
concern assessment of agricultural and trade policies, modeling of agri-food markets and studies
of agricultural, - resource- and environmental related issues by application of econometric tools
and methods. Another important field is supply chain analysis of the food marketing chain
accounting for quality and safety standards where analyses are both theoretical and empirical
using primarily econometric methods.
The unit of Environmental and Natural Resource Economics has interest and focus on
research relevant for environmental policy. Some particular areas are: Effects of policy
instruments on carbon emission in a long term perspective; Expected developments in nonrenewable resource prices; Bio-energy and climate change; Compliance with environmental
regulations and Design of environmental policies.
Faculty members and their specialization in the different sub-fields relevant for the programme
Faculty Member
Specialization
Prof. H. Andersson
production economics and farm management
Dr. C. Eriksson
environmental and resource economics with emphasis
in growth policy implications
Prof. M. Gren
environmental and resource economics with emphasis
in international issues and applied policy modeling
Dr. C. Lagerkvist
agricultural finance, risk management and consumer
and information economics
Dr. Katarina Elofsson
Environmental policy; applied policy modeling
Dr. Rob Hart
Directed technological change, CO2 emissions,
resource prices; policy implications
Dr. Ficre Zehaie
Growth, innovation and environment, policy
implications
Prof. Y. Surry
agricultural and trade policy analysis with emphasis in
applied econometric methods and general equilibrium
modelling
More specifically,
Professor Gren’s research primarily focuses on environmental policy instruments, international
environmental problems, and the valuation of non-marketed services from ecosystems, in
particular, pollutant sequestration.
Professor Surry has extensive research experience in the modeling of agri-food sectors, as well
as in applied econometrics and the evaluation of agricultural and trade policies. He is also
engaged in input-output modelling.
Professor Andersson’s research involves production economics, risk handling strategies and
uncertainty
3. Rheinische-Friedrich-Wilhelms University Bonn
Faculty members and their specialization in the different sub-fields relevant for the programme
Faculty Member
Specialization
Prof. M. Hartmann
agricultural and food market and policy analysis
Prof. T. Heckelei
agricultural and food policy analysis with emphasis in
micro-econometrics
Prof. K. Holm-Müller
resource and environmental economics with emphasis in
agri-environmental measures
More specifically,
Professor Heckelei’s research concentrates on policy simulation modelling, the estimation of
agricultural supply models, international trade and more specifically, econometric
methodology.
Professor Holm-Müller’s work focuses on environmental policy related to land-use;
conservation of genetic resources, monetary valuation of environmental Goods, renewable
energies.
4. Université catholique de Louvain (UCL)
Faculty members and their specialization in the different sub-fields relevant for the programme
Faculty Member
Specialization
Prof. F. Gaspart
environmental and development economics with a
theoretical focus
Prof. B. Henry de Frahan
agricultural and trade policy, economic modelling,
micro-simulations
Dr. Matthieu Delpierre
development economics: migration, risk and insurance,
applied game theory.
More specifically,
Professor Henry de Frahan teaches in the area of agricultural economics and policy, rural
development and policy simulations using bio-economic models. He likes to conduct research
in agricultural and trade policy using applied economic methods, in particular microeconometrics and micro-simulations. In particular, he is currently interested in the farm income
problem, agricultural risks and insurances, the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, and
non-tariff barriers in agricultural trade. Potential thesis topics could cover: poverty in
agriculture, price volatility, risk and insurance, north-south trade, most topics addressed with
quantitative methods.
Professor Gaspart’s research looks at development economics, social choice, game theory,
microeconomics, microeconometrics.
Dr. Delpierre is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research
and has the microeconomics of development as main research area. He is particularly interested
in informal insurance mechanisms and their interaction with other key issues in development
such as migration, remittances and land tenure.
5. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Faculty members and their specialization in the different sub-fields relevant for the programme
Faculty Member
Specialization
Dr. O. Alfranca
Natural resource economics with a focus on water use
Prof. J. Gil
Food economics with emphasis in theoretical microeconomic models and quantitative applications
Dr. Z. Kallas
Food marketing with special focus on valuation methods
and evaluation of public policies.
Dr. Teresa Serra-Devesa
Production economics (efficiency, productivity,
investment decisions,..), microeconometrics, assessing
impacts of agricultural policies on farms
Dr. Marta G. Rivera
Assessing agricultural, food and environmental policies
from a sociological point of view, climate change, food
sovereignty
More specifically,
AFEPA students will be supervised by researchers from the Center for Research in Agro-food
and Development Economics (CREDA) (www.creda.es), a research institute participated by
UPC and the Catalonian Agricultural Research Institute (IRTA) who will help students in
designing and writing the Master Dissertation.
Professor Kallas conducts research that deals with food demand, consumer behaviour, organic
agriculture adoption, agricultural investment, choice experiments valuation method.
Professor Gil’s research looks at food demand, Consumer behaviours, economics of obesity,
price analysis, valuation methods in agro food economics, experimental auctions
Dr. Teresa Serra-Devesa’s research interests are related to production economics, efficiency,
investment decisions, farmers’ expectations and the potential of agricultural policies at farm
level.
Dr. Marta G. Rivera is involved in assessing the economic, social and environmental impact of
agricultural and food policies in developed and developed countries, sustainability indicators
and food sovereignty.