HTH’s SENSE framework goes global through MAKE-SENSE

As one of the driving partners, Hotelschool The Hague has been awarded an €858,220 Horizon Europe grant to take its SENSE framework for sustainable food experiences to an international level. The MAKE-SENSE project is co-created with 11 partner organisations across 11 countries and four continents and will explore how the framework can contribute to more sustainable food experiences in hospitality, tourism and food systems.

A framework developed at HTH, explored internationally

At the heart of the project is the SENSE framework, developed at Hotelschool The Hague. Anna de Visser-Amundson, professor of the research group ‘Responsible Consumption’ explains: “SENSE stands for Seasonal, Ethical, Nutritious, Supportive and Enjoyable. The framework brings together different aspects of sustainable food experiences, recognising that lasting change depends not only on what is sustainable, but also on what people are willing and able to embrace.”

At HTH, education and research into regenerative food systems, sustainable food choices, food waste, consumer behaviour and responsible consumption have increasingly focused on an important challenge: how can hospitality contribute to more regenerative food systems while ensuring that food remains healthy and enjoyable for the people who ultimately choose, prepare and experience it?

So what began with research and education around food waste and responsible consumption at HTH has now helped inspire a much larger international research initiative.

Twelve organisations, one shared challenge

MAKE-SENSE brings together universities, higher education institutions, innovation organisations and sector networks from Serbia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, the Netherlands, Cyprus, Norway, Belgium, Cuba, Indonesia, Argentina and Kenya.

The project is coordinated by the Faculty of Economics Niš (FEUN) in Serbia, with Hotelschool The Hague participating as one of the consortium’s founding partners and work-package leaders.

A key part of the project is the MSCA Staff Exchange model. Over the four years, more than 160 person-months of international secondments will enable researchers and other professionals involved in research and innovation to work across partner organisations.

Anna is enthusiastic about this approach. “This exchange is designed to connect academic knowledge with practice. Researchers can test ideas in new contexts, while insights from industry and other organisations can feed directly into research.” Alongside scientific publications, the project will generate practical cases, research-based guidance, training sessions and roundtables to help translate knowledge into practice.

HTH leads the ‘Enjoyable’ dimension

Hotelschool The Hague will lead the work around the Enjoyable dimension of SENSE. This focuses on an important question in the transition towards more sustainable food systems: how can sustainable choices also become attractive and desirable to guests and consumers?

“A dish can be seasonal, ethical and nutritious, but its impact will remain limited if people do not want to choose it,” Anna illustrates. HTH will contribute its expertise in consumer behaviour, hospitality experiences, behavioural interventions and living-lab research to explore how sustainable food choices can become appealing and rewarding in real hospitality settings.

Contribute to sustainable food systems

Food is central to some of the biggest sustainability challenges facing hospitality and tourism - from resource use and food waste to health, sourcing and climate impact. At the same time, hospitality is about creating experiences for people. Sustainable transformation therefore cannot focus only on what is environmentally preferable; it also needs to understand what guests, businesses and communities are willing and able to embrace.

That is precisely where SENSE aims to contribute.

For Hotelschool The Hague, MAKE-SENSE provides an opportunity to connect international research with its living-lab approach to hospitality education and applied research. By bringing together different disciplines, countries and perspectives, the project aims to develop knowledge that can contribute to more sustainable food systems while keeping the human experience of hospitality at its centre.