Valerie Stull

Dr. Valerie Stull (she, her, hers) is an interdisciplinary environmental health scientist with a BA in English and nutritional science, a master’s degree in public health, and a PhD in environment and resources. She is a Faculty Associate in the Department of Community and Environmental Sociology and a Research Scientist in the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment at UW-Madison. In August 2022, Valerie joined the new Soil Health, Agroecology, and Liberation Lab (SHALL), and she has helped to lead the Livelihood, Agroecology, Nutrition and Development (LAND) Project in South Africa since 2013.

Valerie has more than a decade of experience in social and natural science research, international development, nonprofit management, and teaching. She has worked across the globe, including in the Middle East, India, Latin America, and sub-Saharan Africa with research support from a national Agriculture Innovation Prize and a Fulbright award to Zambia.

Currently, Valerie’s mixed methods research centers on themes related to sustainable food systems and planetary health, with attention to linkages between agriculture, climate change, health, well-being, and sovereignty. A primary objective of her past work has been exploring the potential social, environmental, and health implications of eating and farming edible insects. In 2014, Valerie co-founded a collaborative international research initiative on this topic. Valerie is currently engaged in scholarship seeking to understand the social dynamics of farmer decisions related to soil health in Wisconsin, global health impacts of sustainable diets, and utilizing insects to efficiently recycle food, crop residue, and other waste streams. Outside of academia, Valerie enjoys hikes to mountain vistas, melancholy music, and political podcasts. She is also an amateur poet who does indeed eat insects.