Technology Assessment in Agriculture and Food Systems
PhD School at the Faculty of SCIENCE at University of Copenhagen
This is a toolbox course where 80% of the seats are reserved to PhD students enrolled at the Faculty of SCIENCE at UCPH and 20% og the seats are reserved to PhD students from other Danish Universities/faculties (except CBS). Seats will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and according to the applicable rules.
Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at a Danish university (except CBS), you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to applicants on the waiting list.
Aim and Content
The course aims to provide course participants with a grounded understanding of theoretical
foundations and methodological approaches related to technology assessment and enable them to
assess relevance and limitations of different approaches to specific contexts through case-based
exercises and reflections.
The course also aims to provide understanding of the phases of
technology development (invention to product development, diffusion and technology
management) and roles of stakeholders with the purpose of equipping them with analytical and
theoretical skills to conduct multicriteria technology assessment.
To the extent possible, students will be encouraged to work on cases related to their PhD projects both during the course and for their project paper to be submitted for evaluation.
The course will cover the following themes and topics:
• Conceptual/theoretical foundations and methodological approaches to technology assessment
• Historical development of technology assessment
• Stages of technology development
• Technology readiness level (TRL) and Societal Readiness Level (SRL)
• Market segments and analysis
• Participatory approach towards sustainable solutions, and Climate smart technologies
• Potential conflicts of interest and distribution of costs and benefits
Learning outcomes
Intended learning outcome for the students who complete the course:
Knowledge
Knowledge:
• Students should know the major theories of invention, innovation, technology diffusion, and the processes and principles of technology management from the perspective of key stakeholder groups as well as the broader society.
• Students should know the driving forces behind the design, use and management of technology, and key roles of stakeholder groups as well as mechanisms to deal with potential conflicts of interest.
• Students should know a suite of methods/tools to conduct multi-criteria technology assessment, understand major differences and complementarities among tools, as well as their advantages and limitations depending on the assessment context
Skills
• Critically analyze a technology assessment problem and identify relevant methods and participatory approaches depending on the problem at hand and the objective of the assessment.
• Identify real-world problems, define desirable scenarios and propose mechanisms to get to the desired scenarios and the roles of different stakeholder categories to implement identified mechanisms and technologies.
• Apply TA tools and approaches to real or simulated cases of technology assessment.
Competences
• Students should be able to contextualize potentially conflicting interests across sustainability objectives and stakeholder groups in relation to assessing a technology.
• Students will be able to critically assess implications of technology for economic, social and environmental issues
• Students will gain competences in evaluating approaches to technology assessment, technology adoption and technology management.
Target Group
PhD students working in areas related to innovation, technology adoption, valuation, natural resources, food systems, and development studies
Recommended Academic Qualifications
Basic understanding of the drivers of innovation, technology uptake, stakeholder involvement, trade-offs in societal objectives in relation to technology development and widespread use
Research Area
Technology development
Adoption behaviour
Technology impact assessment
Innovation management
Technology management
Teaching and Learning Methods
Lectures, individual exercises, group work, student presentation, case-based debate, field work.
Type of Assessment
Active participation, at least 80% attendance, and project paper of 10 pages per student to be submitted for assessment within 3 weeks after the class-based teaching is completed. Group work is encouraged.
For the project paper, participants will be asked to individually select a critical problem of high stake in the country they come from (or related to their PhD project), describe a desirable scenario, identify a strategy to get to the desired scenario (including a technological innovation needed to tackle the problem), outline methodology for the technical, economic and social assessment of the technology, reflect on the suitability and limitations of approaches regarding participation of stakeholder groups and what implications does they have for managing the technology for overall societal benefit.
Course coordinator
Søren Marcus Pedersen, Associate Professor, marcus@ifro.ku.dk
Guest Lecturers
Tseganesh Tamirat from IFRO will participate as a co-teacher.
We plan to include 3 guest lectures from industry and academia.
Dates
23-26 February 2026
Expected frequency
To be offered every year
Course location
IFRO, Rolighedsvej 23, 1958 Frederiksvej C.
Course fee
• PhD student enrolled at SCIENCE: 0 DKK
• PhD student from Danish PhD school Open market: 0 DKK
• PhD student from Danish PhD school not Open market: 6000 DKK
• PhD student from foreign university:6000 DKK
• Master's student from Danish university: 0 DKK
• Master's student from foreign university: 6000 DKK
• Non-PhD student employed at a university (e.g., postdocs): 6000 DKK
• Non-PhD student not employed at a university (e.g., from a private company): 16.800 DKK
Cancellation policy
• Cancellations made up to two weeks before the course starts are free of charge.
• Cancellations made less than two weeks before the course starts will be charged a fee of DKK 3.000
• Participants with less than 80% attendance cannot pass the course and will be charged a fee of DKK 5.000
• No-show will result in a fee of DKK 5.000
• Participants who fail to hand in any mandatory exams or assignments cannot pass the course and will be charged a fee of DKK 5.000
Course fee and participant fee
PhD courses offered at the Faculty of SCIENCE have course fees corresponding to different participant types.
In addition to the course fee, there might also be a participant fee.
If the course has a participant fee, this will apply to all participants regardless of participant
type - and in addition to the course fee.