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

• Analysis of the Competitiveness of Environmentally Friendly Product Developments in the Swiss Food Industry / Project leader / ongoing
• CROPS - You Reap What You Sow / Deputy project leader / ongoing
• Veggies for All! / Deputy project leader / ongoing
• 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
• Agrobiodiversity Summer School / Deputy project leader / ongoing
• Farm to Table 2.0 - Wädenswil Edition / Team member / completed
• Food strategies for all: participation and transformation in smaller cities / Project leader / 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

• Jaisli, I. and Aubert, A. (2026) 'Stakeholder evaluation of livestock scenarios in Switzerland using value-based multi-criteria analysis', Agricultural Systems, 239(104937). doi: 10.1016/j.agsy.2026.104937.
• 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) 'Scientainment for sustainability : the eco-confessional as a new approach for life cycle thinking', Sustainability, 11(20), p. 5686. doi: 10.3390/su11205686.
• 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.

Book chapters, peer-reviewed

• Jaisli, I. et al. (2026) 'Exploring mountain crops as an alternative to livestock production in the transformation of Swiss mountain agriculture', in Barjolle, D., Chmieliński, P., and Miller, D. (eds) Innovation and the Future of Rural Development in Europe. Cham: Springer, pp. 335–362. doi: 10.1007/978-3-032-22570-2_13.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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

• Buchmann, F., Jaisli, I. and Bloch, R. (2026) 'Mehr als eine Nische? : Ackerbau und Spezialkulturen im Berggebiet', Agrarforschung Schweiz, 17(6), pp. 164–173. doi: 10.34776/afs17-164.
• 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.
• Forrer, C. and Jaisli, I. (2024) Scaling heights : mountain grain cultivation in the Swiss Alps in 2050. MOVING. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-31604.
• Forrer, C. and Jaisli, I. (2024) MOVING in the Swiss Alps. MOVING. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-31608.
• Forrer, C. and Jaisli, I. (2024) Mountain grain in the Grisons Alps. MOVING. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-31609.
• 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.
• Geiser, A., Jaisli, I. and Schmitt, E. (2022) Swiss Alps : mountain grain. MOVING. doi: 10.21256/zhaw-31582.
• 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.
• Mariani, E. et al. (2020) Foodscape : ein Spiel zum Schweizer Ernährungssystem. Wädenswil: ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften. Available at: https://foodscape.ch/.
• Jaisli, I. (2020) 'Wege zu einem nachhaltigen Schweizer Ernährungssystem', ProClim Flash, 2020(72), pp. 12–13. Available at: http://proclim.ch/id/xVhYd.
• 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

• Buchmann, F. and Jaisli, I. (2026) 'Resilience through crop diversification : rethinking mountain farming in Switzerland and beyond', in Jahrestagung der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Agrarwirtschaft und Agrarsoziologie (SGA), Zollikofen, Schweiz, 7.-8. Mai, 2026.
• 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.
• Kummer, C., Jaisli, I. and Trachsel, S. (2024) 'Co-creating sustainable food futures : integrating perspectives from farm to fork for local food system transformations', in 187th EAAE Seminar, Frick, Switzerland, 12-14 June 2024.
• 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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