Ariane Fragnon

 

I followed a multidisciplinary study program between Paris and Leipzig, focusing on humanities, as well as on management and sustainable development. I am currently preparing a doctoral thesis in sociology, under the supervision of Dr. Rachel Reckinger. My research focuses on the analysis of the Interreg AROMA project (Cross-Border Organisation of Local Food Supply for Out-of-Home Catering), which aims to set up tools and support for the creation of a local supply chain.

My research is taking place both within the AROMA project (by actively contributing to its deliverables) and it provides a participant yet critical meta-reflection on the AROMA project, in order to optimise this type of socio-technical intervention process in the context of qualitative and sustainable food systems. I will ensure sociological follow-up in the various working groups set up to identify the tools to be developed for enhanced cross-border organisation and their implementation, using a qualitative research approach (in-depth interviews with about 80 actors located in the four territories of the Greater Region).

To go beyond technical fixes, I propose a qualitative and sociological approach, in order to enable a deeper analysis of the development and subsequent appropriation of the tools produced by the people involved, thus ensuring a more successful dissemination in the field. I will apprehend the impact of the implementation of these tools, the reasons for adhering to them (or not) on behalf of the target actors and I will propose a critical and empirical analysis of the modelling of the transferability methodology proposed by the AROMA consortium.

My overarching research question is at the crossroads between the increasing societal demand for healthy, local and high-quality food, and the challenge for producers of such products to supply collective catering, as a major territorialised actor, affecting a maximum number of consumers.