Susanna Klassen

  • Ph.D. with the Institute for Resources, Environment & Sustainability, University of British Columbia, 2022
  • M.Sc. in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, 2016
  • B.Sc. (Honours) Agricultural and Environmental Science, McGill University, 2013

Bio

Susanna completed a PhD with the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability in 2022, co-supervised by Hannah Wittman and Navin Ramankutty. Susanna is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Sociology at the University of Victoria.

Her research is about the social dimensions of food system transformation towards justice and sustainability, and draws from the fields of sociology, geography and political ecology. Her PhD research explores the contributions of organic certification to food system sustainability in Canada, with a focus on labour and agroecological diversification. She is the Vice Chair of Food Secure Canada and an Articling Agrologist with the BC Institute of Agrologists. Susanna grew up on Treaty 4 land, in the traditional territories of the nêhiyawak, Anihšināpēk, Dakota, Lakota, and Nakoda, and the homeland of the Métis/Michif Nation.

Doctorial Dissertation

Just in principle?: assessing the contributions of organic farming to socio-ecological sustainability in Canadian agriculture

Publications

Sampson, D., Cely-Santos, M., Gemmill-Herren, B., Babin, N., Bernhart, A., Bezner Kerr, R., Blesh, J., Bowness, E., Feldman, M., Gonçalves, A. L., James, D., Kerssen, T., Klassen, S., Wezel, A., & Wittman, H. (2021). Food Sovereignty and Rights-Based Approaches improve Food Security and Nutrition: A systematic review.Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systemshttps://doi.org/doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2021.686492

Klassen, S., & Murphy, S. (2020). Equity as both a means and an end: Lessons for resilient food systems from COVID-19. World Development, 136, 105104. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105104

Nawaz, S., Klassen, S., & Lyon, A. (2020). Tensions at the boundary: Rearticulating ‘organic’ plant breeding in the age of gene editing. Elem Sci Anth, 8(1), 34. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.429

Chapman, M., Klassen, S., Kreitzman, M., Semmelink, A., Sharp, K., Singh, G., & Chan, K. M. A. (2017). 5 Key Challenges and Solutions for Governing Complex Adaptive (Food) Systems. Sustainability, 9(9). https://doi.org/10.3390/su9091594

Klassen, Susanna E., & Wittman, H. (2017). Place-based Food Systems: “Re-valuing local” and fostering socio-ecological sustainability. In J. Duncan & M. Bailey (Eds.), Sustainable Food Futures: Multidisciplinary Solutions. Routledge.

Klassen, S. E. (2016). Decreasing Distance and Re-Valuing Local: How Place-Based Food Systems Can Foster Socio-Ecological Sustainability. Solutions, 7(4), 22–26.