Dr. Adèle Rae Tufford

Researcher
Urban Futures
a.r.tufford@uu.nl

I am an interdisciplinary researcher interested in sustainable development and just transitions, who has joined the Urban Futures and Pathways to Sustainability teams as a postdoctoral researcher starting January 2022. 

 

I completed my PhD in Neurobiology from McGill University, Canada, followed by postdoctoral training in Global Mental Health and Sustainable Food Systems. Most recently, I worked at Wageningen University on the design of a pan-European Research Infrastructure on the transition to healthy and sustainable diets, and on a citizen-science big data project to map childhood obesity in Europe.

 

At Utrecht, I am researching the ways in which institutions can radically and innovatively reorganize. What models of research, education and outreach are needed to realize the sustainable development goals? By an in-depth comparative study of global innovative institutional models, we will contribute to the dialogue surrounding the rethinking of the role(s) that universities can or should play in relation to the sustainability transition. We aim to foster institutional capacity for transformative change by providing positive imaginaries of what institutes could reorient towards. 

 

Away from academia I have worked on farms and with NGO initiatives on three continents, and am involved in urban food waste-fighting and sustainable community initiatives in Amsterdam. I am an avid yogi, gardener, DJ and user of the Dutch national treasures the Museumkaart and Cinevillepas.