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Professor for Rural Sociology at the Bern University of Applied Sciences, School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences – Switzerland.

Sandra Contzen (PhD in Human Geography) is carrying out applied social science research on topics such as gender equality, farm succession, quality of life, and poverty in (Swiss) agriculture.  
With her research she thus contributes to the scientific knowledge on work and employment in agriculture as well as on the social dimension of sustainability in agriculture.
Through teaching and supervising students’ term papers and thesis at BSc- and MSc-level, as well as through a strong contact to practitioners, Sandra Contzen transfers and exchanges scientific knowledge to and with the practice.

Contact:

Laenggasse 85
3052 Zollikofen
Switzerland
41 (0)31 910 22 03
sandra.contzen[at]bfh[dot]ch

Publications

Contzen, Sandra; Häberli, Isabel (2021). Exploring dairy farmers’ quality of life perceptions – A Swiss case study. Journal of Rural Studies, 88, p. 227-238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2021.11.007

Contzen, Sandra (2019). Bäuerliche Familienbetriebe – eine Vielfalt an Arbeits- und Lebensformen.  Agrarwirtschaft und Agrarsoziologie 2019, p. 19-43, https://www.sse-sga.ch/fileadmin/redaktion_sse-sga/dokumente/Jahrbuch/2019/Langer_Text_Yearbook_2019.pdf

Contzen, Sandra; Crettaz, Eric (2019). Being a poor farmer in a wealthy country: A Swiss case study. Sociologia Ruralis, 59(3), p. 393-418. https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12230

Contzen, Sandra; Zbinden Gysin, Karin; Neuenschwander, Cécile; Métrailler, Michèle (2017). Retirement as a discrete life-stage of farming men and women's biography? Sociologia Ruralis, 57(S1), p. 730-751. https://doi.org/10.1111/soru.12154

Contzen, Sandra; Forney, Jérémie (2017). Family farming and gendered division of labour on the move: a typology of farming-family configurations. Agriculture and Human Values, 34(1), p. 27-40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-016-9687-2