Teaching

Courses

I have taught 8 courses at undergraduate and Master’s level in fields of Experts in Teamwork, Social Science, Industrial Design and Landscape Architecture, Environment and Planning, Food Studies, and Geography. These subjects showcase diverse themes of sustainability, including multi-level sustainability policy and strategies, urban food sustainability, disasters, urban greening and just and sustainable transitions. These include:

  • Meals in Metropolis (RMIT, 2008)
  • Experts in Teamwork – Designing In Urban Natures (NTNU, 2021)
  • Experts in Teamwork – Envisioning Urban Natures (NTNU, 2022)
  • Sustainability Transitions (NTNU, 2022)
  • Foundations of Social Research (RMIT, 2013)
  • Strategies for Sustainability (RMIT, 2015)
  • Politics of Food (University of Melbourne, 2015)
  • Disaster Resilient City (University of Melbourne, 2015)

Teaching approach

I employ a variety of teaching techniques to make learning accessible to diverse students, including working in small groups, organising outdoor activities such as site tours (including longer study tours), and arranging events to inspire, such as guest lectures and thought-provoking trips to art galleries. I also host activities in which to engage student participation, such as hosting workshops, game brainstorming, and alternative approaches such as relational deep mapping and sensory nature walks to help students consider connections between stakeholders for sustainability. You can see articles about my teaching practice at:

Edwards, F. & Mercer, D. (2010) Meals in Metropolis: Mapping the urban foodscape, Local Environment, 15(2), February: 153–168. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13549830903527662

Edwards, F. (forthcoming, Sept. 2023) Making Urban Nature Visible (With a Focus on Insects), in Edwards, F., Popartan, L. A. & Pettersen, I. N. (eds), Urban Natures: Living the More-than-Human City. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books.

Edwards, F. & Pettersen, I. N. (forthcoming) Envisioning Urban Natures: Speculative Futures for the More-than-Human City, Cities.

Gutierrez Gonzalez, M. A., Edwards, F., Manderville, C. and Rice. P. M. (under review) Innovating Interdisciplinarity in Higher Education: Exploring the Impact of a Grassroots’ Community of Practice, Teaching & Learning Inquiry. 

I also have demonstrated digital teaching skills, having taught online for Experts in Teamwork since 2021, where I use NTNU online interactive platforms such as BlackBoard, Miro, padlets, and MS Teams to support lectures and to facilitate individual and group work. My experience of online engagement builds on my international work, where for example in the EdiCitNet project, we trialed a range of methods for cross-cultural communication following the outbreak of Covid-19 (see Manderscheid et al. under review). An article about digital engagement:

Manderscheid M., Fiala V., Edwards F., Freyer B. & Säumel I. (2022) Let’s do it online?! Virtual challenges for inclusive participation, Special issue: ‘Participatory Action Research in a Time of COVID’, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 16 May 2022. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.732943

Supervision

In 2020, I began to formally co-supervise PhD and Master students in the Department of Design and the Department of Planning and Architecture. This includes supporting PhD student, Berilsu Tarcan, in social science methods and theory. Tarcan’s research explores human-material connections in design culture. In 2021, I took on supervision of a second PhD student, Bjørn Inge Melås, in his artistic-based PhD that investigates the ecologies of urban gardening in Trondheim.

2021-22: Co-supervisor of PhD
Candidate (completed), Bjørn Inge Melås
Title: Ecologies of urban gardening.
Department of Planning and Architecture, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

2020-22: Co-supervisor of PhD
Candidate, Berilsu Tarcan
Title: Exploring the Transformation of Making Practices within Culture: Felting as a design activity
Department of Design, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

In 2021, I suggested research themes based on my own research for Master of Industrial Design students to explore. Six students embraced these topics contextualising them within local themes and conditions. Resulting thesis topics ranged from the redistribution of resources between country and city, an analysis of the potential revaluing of wasted urban space, and more-than-human relations between humans and chickens in cities.

2021: Co-supervisor of Master of Industrial Design
Candidate, Miriam Knudsen Hjertholm.
Title: Urban agriculture in underused spaces
Department of Design, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

2021: Co-supervisor of Master of Industrial Design
Candidate: Nora K. Bakke
Title: Redesigning urban wasted spaces for sustainable food activities in Trondheim
Department of Design, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

2021: Co-supervisor of Master of Industrial Design
Candidate: Julie Marzano Frey
Title: Introducing gleaning to Norway: Redesigning relationships to reduce agricultural waste and urban needs
Department of Design, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

2021: Co-supervisor of Master of Industrial Design
Candidate: Kristine Lygre Hoff
Title: Introducing gleaning to Norway: Redesigning relationships to reduce agricultural waste and urban needs
Department of Design, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

2021: Co-supervisor of Master of Industrial Design
Candidate: Caroline Syse
Title: Hatching the Future of Urban Chicken Keeping: Designing for Increased Quality of Life in Trondheim
Department of Design, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

2021: Co-supervisor of Master of Industrial Design
Candidate: Ida Maria Melen
Title: Hatching the Future of Urban Chicken Keeping: Designing for Increased Quality of Life in Trondheim
Department of Design, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway.

Mentoring

I mentored team members in research and environmental advocacy roles, managing teams as Sustainable Living Festival Coordinator, Australia, and in fieldwork techniques and data analysis for the SHARECITY research team, Ireland. This mentorship role extended to cross-cultural contexts where in Cambodia I worked with Engineers Without Borders to facilitate skills on ‘Communication and Cultural Sensitivity’ and ‘Learning in the Field’ for engineering students. Alternatively in Venezuela, I co-hosted a study tour on the food sovereignty movement, introducing international attendees to strategies and activities by the Venezuelan government and people to foster improved nutrition and autonomy.