drs. TJ (Thom) Achterbosch

Thom is a senior researcher on sustainable food systems at Wageningen Economic Research. A development economist by training, his research interests include transition towards sustainable food systems; healthy and sustainable diets; reducing food loss and waste; research and innovation systems. In his interdisciplinary research work he engages with stakeholders to develop foresight on future food systems and foster innovation towards sustainable practices, using participatory and quantitative methods.

Thom establishes and co-leads multidisciplinary research programs in EU and Africa: he leads on impact investing in food systems innovations in the EU, for accelerating urban food transitions in FOOD TRAILS and plant-based eating in CLEVERFOOD. Recent work has been on reorienting the governance of EU research and innovation systems in FOSTER and before that in FIT4FOOD2030. He is a member of the task force for the knowledge agenda for the European Partnership on Sustainable Food Systems for People, Planet and Climate. He leads the design of transition pathways towards low-emission food systems in Kenya in the Mitigate+ Initiative.

He was the coordinator of the EU-funded project SUSFANS on healthy diets and a sustainable food system in the EU; co-leader on diagnosis and foresight on Food systems for healthier diets under the research program Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) of the CGIAR; co-leader on Future Scenarios under the research program Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) of the CGIAR.