Prof. Joost Dessein (°1971) is Associate Professor (tenured) at the department of Agricultural Economics (Ghent University, Belgium), and an affiliated member of the Centre for Sustainable Development (Ghent University). He holds an Msc in Agricultural Engineering and a Msc and PhD in Social and Cultural Anthropology. Joost is president of the European Society for Rural Sociology.

With colleagues of the research group INSPIRA (Institutional, Socio-economic and Political Issues in Rural-urban Areas) he focuses on the governance of local food system, and related themes such as social and environmental justice and food democracy. He also studies the political and epistemological context of agro-ecology and the role of different knowledge systems in the transitions of the food system. His research has a strong though not exclusive focus on the Global South.