Prof. Dr. Isabel Jaisli

Work at ZHAW

Position

• Head Sustainability Transformation and Food Systems
• Head Research Group Geography of Food

Focus

Food system transformation

Teaching

Course responsibility "Agriculture for the future" (Master of Science in Environment and Natural Resources)

Experience

• Project manager renewable energies
  NEK Umwelttechnik AG
  2008 - 2012
• Project staff
  Foundation Vivamos Mejor
  2008 - 2008
• Consultant
  ERM GmbH
  2007 - 2008
• Project development wind energy (UK)
  Energy Kontor UK
  2006 - 2007

Education and Continuing education

Education

• PhD / AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND ENVIRONMENT
  University of Pisa
  12 / 2021 - 06 / 2025
• MSc. tropical and international agriculture
  Georg-August University Goettingen
  2004 - 2007
• Diploma in environmental biology
  University of applied sciences Bremen
  1999 - 2004

Continuing Education

• CAS Leadership
  ZHAW
  2018
• CAS Didactics in higher education
  ZHAW
  2014
• MAS Management, Technology and Economics
  ETH Zurich
  2012

Network

ORCID digital identifier

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5017-3650

Social media

LinkedIn

Projects

• Sustainable Protein and Oil Crops: The potential of protein and oil crops for a transformation towards a more sustainable Swiss food system / Team member / ongoing
• Local Food Challenge – Shaping the future of local food together / Project leader / ongoing
• CirculAr, let's go! / Deputy project leader / ongoing
• Food strategies for all: participation and transformation in smaller cities / Project leader / ongoing
• Agrobiodiversity Summer School / Deputy project leader / ongoing
• Farm to Table 2.0 - Wädenswil Edition / Team member / completed
• Participatory decision-making for food system transformation / Deputy project leader / completed
• Mountain Valorization through Interconnectedness and Green Growth / Project leader / completed
• WWF Standards Evaluations / Deputy project leader / completed
• International Virtual Course - Tackling Climate Change through Global Learning / Deputy project leader / completed
• MyFoodChoice: Personal values for sustainable consumption / Project leader / completed
• Foodscape.ch – A serious game on the Swiss food system as a teaching unit / Deputy project leader / completed
• Transfood – Improving Sustainability Impact of Transnational Food Value Chains / Co-project leader / completed
• AgroInnoTool / Project leader / completed
• Pearls of Sustainability / Project leader / completed
• Global site assessment for hazelnut production / Project leader / completed
• Eco-confession-chair / Project leader / completed
• CONSUS – A GIS tool for agricultural planning / Project leader / completed
• Geography of Food Summer School & E-learning Course / Project leader / completed
• Life Cycle Assessment of Wind Power / Team member / completed
• Potential of use of biomass from alpine grassland / Project leader / completed

Publications

Articles in scientific journal, peer-reviewed

• Aubert, A. H. et al. (2025) 'Balancing reality, meaning, and play - the case of a digital game about the Swiss food system : a reflection on Foodscape's design journey and its lessons for future serious games', Gaia, 34(3), pp. 143–149. doi: 10.14512/gaia.34.3.13.
• Jaisli, I. and Brunori, G. (2024) 'Is there a future for livestock in a sustainable food system? Efficiency, sufficiency, and consistency strategies in the food-resource nexus', Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, 18(101496). doi: 10.1016/j.jafr.2024.101496.
• Jaisli, I. and Grüter, R. (2024) 'Potentials of grassland-based livestock farming in Switzerland : a scenario comparison', Sustainability, 16(23), p. 10362. doi: 10.3390/su162310362.
• Grüter, R. et al. (2022) 'Expected global suitability of coffee, cashew and avocado due to climate change', PLOS ONE, 17(1), p. e0261976. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0261976.
• Jaisli, I. et al. (2019) 'Suitability evaluation system for the production and sourcing of agricultural commodities', Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 161, pp. 170–184. doi: 10.1016/j.compag.2018.02.002.
• Jaisli, I. et al. (2019) 'Scientainment for sustainability : the eco-confessional as a new approach for life cycle thinking', Sustainability, 11(20), p. 5686. doi: 10.3390/su11205686.

Book chapters, peer-reviewed

• Jaisli, I. et al. (2021) 'Geography of food summer school : international exchange for sustainable food value chains', in Leal Filho, W. et al. (eds) Universities, Sustainability and Society : Supporting the Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Springer, pp. 107–122. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-63399-8_8.
• Jaisli, I. and Schmitt, E. (2019) 'Ernährungsgeographie', in Kluwick, U. and Zemanek, E. (eds) Nachhaltigkeit interdisziplinär : Konzepte, Diskurse, Praktiken. Köln: Böhlau Verlag, pp. 220–237.

Written conference contributions, peer-reviewed

• Trachsel, S., Jaisli, I. and Schmitt, E. (2018) 'Finding and Analysing Social Hotspots in a Global Food Value Chain as a Basis for Livelihood Improvement', in 13th European IFSA Symposium, 1-5 July 2018, Chania (Greece). Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, pp. 1–18.
• Mariani, E. and Jaisli, I. (2018) 'Didaktische Herausforderungen bei der Erstellung eines frei verfügbaren Onlinekurses', in Lucke, U. and Strickroth, S. (eds) Innovation und Nachhaltigkeit – (k)ein Gegensatz? Potsdam: Universitätsverlag Potsdam, pp. 29–40. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-3413.
• Schmitt, E. et al. (2018) 'The potential of digital platforms to facilitate the diffusion of diversification strategies in agriculture', in Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (ed.) 13th European IFSA Symposium. IFSA Publishing. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-3875.
• Jaisli, I. et al. (2018) 'Scientainment for sustainability : the eco-confessional as new approach for awareness raising', in 1st Life Cycle Innovation Conference (LCIC), Berlin, 29-31 August 2018.
• Schmitt, E. et al. (2018) 'Diversifizierung in der Landwirtschaft : Potentiale der digitalen Vernetzung für Innovationen und Nischenmärkte', in Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Agrarwirtschaft und Agrarsoziologie (SGA). Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Agrarwirtschaft und Agrarsoziologie. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-3868.

Other publications

• Jaisli, I. and Trachsel, S. (2026) Vision PLANT50 : für ein zukunftsfähiges Ernährungssystem der Schweiz: pflanzlich – lokal – ausgewogen – nachhaltig – tiergerecht. Wädenswil: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-36163.
• Grüter, R. et al. (2022) Standortanalyse von Spezialkulturen und Spezialitäten im Ackerbau für den Kanton Luzern (Offensive Spezialkulturen). Wädenswil: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-31812.
• Jaisli, I. (2020) 'Wege zu einem nachhaltigen Schweizer Ernährungssystem', ProClim Flash, 2020(72), pp. 12–13. Available at: http://proclim.ch/id/xVhYd.
• Mariani, E., Schmitt, E. and Jaisli, I. (2020) Foodscape - Begleitdossier für Lehrpersonen : Lernspiel und Unterrichtsmaterial zum Schweizer Ernährungssystem. Wädenswil: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-21287.
• Jaisli, I. (2019) 'Digitale Bildung zur Nachhaltigkeit', LVT Lebensmittel Industrie, 2019(1-2).
• Jaisli, I. et al. (2019) 'Food trade between Brazil and Switzerland : pathways to drive family farming and sustainability', in Jahrestagung der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Agrarwirtschaft und Agrarsoziologie (SGA), Wädenswil, 4.-5. April 2019. Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Agrarwirtschaft und Agrarsoziologie. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-3319.
• Jaisli, I. et al. (2018) Designing sustainable food systems : an open E-learning course. Wädenswil: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften.
• Jaisli, I. and Schmitt, E. (2017) 'Geography of food summer school : designing food value chains', in 1st Global Conference of the 10 YFP Sustainable Food Systems Programme, Pretoria, 23 June 2017. ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-3663.
• Jaisli, I. and Stauffacher, S. (2016) 'CONSUS : ein neues Tool für die Agrarplanung', Transfer, 2016(1), p. 3. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-5720.
• Jaisli, I. and Laube, P. (2015) 'Food production in smallholder farming systems : developing a spatially explicit decision-model for trade opportunities', in Tackling World Food System Challenges: Across Disciplines, Sectors, and Scales, Ascona, 22. Juni 2015. ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-3737.
• Jaisli, I., Rohrer, J. and Stucki, M. (2014) 'Macht Fotovoltaik im freien Gelände Sinn?', in 12. Nationale Photovoltaik-Tagung 2014, Lausanne, 10. April 2014.

Oral conference contributions and abstracts

• Aubert, A. and Jaisli, I. (2025) 'Rethinking livestock future : behavioural insights from value-focused thinking and MCDA', in 34th European Conference on Operational Research (EURO), Leeds, United Kingdom, 22-25 June 2025.
• Aubert, A. and Jaisli, I. (2025) 'Actors' trade-off preferences matter : an illustrative case based on Swiss agricultural policy for the future of livestock production', in 53. Jahrestagung der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Agrarwirtschaft und Agrarsoziologie (SGA), Bern, Switzerland, 8-9 May 2025.
• Geiser, A., Schmitt, E. and Jaisli, I. (2022) 'Cereal production in a Swiss mountain region : analysing drivers of change for more resilient mountain food systems', in 14th Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE 2022), Pisa, Italy, 14-17 June 2022.
• Trachsel, S., Jaisli, I. and Lüchinger, M. (2020) 'Motivations for sufficiency in individual dietary decisions : a typology', in The 8th World Sustainability Forum, virtual, 15-17 September 2020.
• Jaisli, I. et al. (2018) 'Educating for sustainable food value chains : insights from an open online course', in Tropentag 2018 : Global food security and food safety: the role of universities. Weikersheim: Margraf Publishers.
• Jaisli, I. and Bättig-Frey, P. (2017) 'Ökobeichtstuhl - Provoking and Entertaining : Confessions of a 'Scientainment' Project', in EUPRIO Conference, Mannheim, Deutschland, 1. Juli 2017.

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