Centre For Agroecology, Water And Resilience - Cawr

The Centre for Agroecology and Food Security, Coventry University. We conduct research to contribute to the development of agricultural practices, which are economically and socially sound, and promote long-term resource protection.

The Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) is driving innovative research on the understanding and development of resilient food and water systems internationally.

Food and water security is increasingly threatened by factors such as climate and environmental change, loss of biodiversity, conflict and market volatility. New knowledge, policies and technologies are needed to develop systems that are more resilient to change and which ensure the health of our food and water supplies. Resilient systems are better able to bounce back from stresses caused by longer-term change or short-term events - be it natural processes such as flooding, or human impacts such as war or water pollution incidents.

Through its focus on food and water, the Centre’s research develops and integrates new knowledge in social, agroecological, hydrological and environmental processes, as well as the pivotal role that communities play in developing resilience. Unique to this Centre is the incorporation of citizen-generated knowledge - the participation of farmers, water users and other citizens in transdisciplinary research, using holistic approaches which cross many disciplinary boundaries. CAWR also aims to advance resilience and irresilience science through creative work on a new generation of key issues linked to the governance of food systems, hydrological change, urban water, river processes, water quality and emerging pollutants.

Research themes and groups:

• Models of resilient food and water systems

• Understanding fundamental processes of resilience and instability in environmental and social systems

• Community self-organisation for resilience

• Policies and institutions to enable resilient food and water systems

• People's knowledge and working beyond the restrictions imposed by academic disciplines (often called transdisciplinarity).