Stevens Azima, Ph.D.
Stevens Azima, Ph.D.
Agricultural Economist
Agricultural Economist
Postdoctoral Research Associate in Professor Meredith Niles' Lab
Brown University
Brown University
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Dr. Stevens Azima holds a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Université Laval (Canada) and is currently a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brown University in the United States.
His research spans experimental economics, new institutional economics, food systems transformations, women in agriculture, and food security, nutrition, and health. His work has been published in journals such as Food Policy, Agribusiness, Journal of Rural Studies, and Agriculture and Human Values. He has also received multiple awards and scholarships, including the 2025 Heading South Award from the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) and the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society (AARES). He is an active member of several professional organizations spanning the fields of nutrition, public health, and agricultural economics across North America and Australia.
In addition, Dr. Azima is a passionate teacher with experience dating back to 2016. He has taught courses and delivered guest lectures in experimental economics, research methods, food systems, nutrition, and health across Haiti, Canada, and the United States.
Topics covered or currently explored in his research include:
Topics covered or currently explored in his research include:
In Canada: the impacts of local food systems; women in agriculture; policy supports to alternative food systems; scaling-up challenges in local food systems and the development of farm-to-institution initiatives; farmer adoption of sustainable practices to improve water quality; vertical coordination in the pork and egg industries in fast-changing contexts; and supply chain management issues in improving food security and access to nutritious perishable foods in remote Canadian Arctic communities.
In Canada: the impacts of local food systems; women in agriculture; policy supports to alternative food systems; scaling-up challenges in local food systems and the development of farm-to-institution initiatives; farmer adoption of sustainable practices to improve water quality; vertical coordination in the pork and egg industries in fast-changing contexts; and supply chain management issues in improving food security and access to nutritious perishable foods in remote Canadian Arctic communities.
In Haiti: exploration of market-based solutions, using experimental economics, to mitigate aflatoxin contamination in the peanut supply chain across both formal and informal sectors.
In Haiti: exploration of market-based solutions, using experimental economics, to mitigate aflatoxin contamination in the peanut supply chain across both formal and informal sectors.
In the United States (ongoing): nonmarket home and wild food procurement, local food purchasing and their links with food security, dietary quality and nutrition; the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); regional self-sufficiency and climate resilience.
In the United States (ongoing): nonmarket home and wild food procurement, local food purchasing and their links with food security, dietary quality and nutrition; the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP); regional self-sufficiency and climate resilience.
In his future research, Dr. Azima will focus on the economics of regional food systems, with particular attention to innovation and critical functions such as food security, nutrition, and health.
In his future research, Dr. Azima will focus on the economics of regional food systems, with particular attention to innovation and critical functions such as food security, nutrition, and health.
Dr. Azima employs both quantitative and qualitative research methods, drawing on diverse economic frameworks ranging from microeconomics to experimental and behavioral economics, as well as new institutional economics. He complements these with interdisciplinary perspectives from fields such as sociology, gender studies, public policy, and nutrition. He is also committed to methodological innovation and collaboration, believing that the major challenges facing food systems in the 21st century demand multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary research. He regards the wicked nature of many of these challenges (e.g., achieving climate resilience), as making outreach and active collaboration with stakeholders and society not only desirable but indispensable. This belief has informed his contributions to academic service, outreach, and media engagement, fostering public dialogue on food systems within and beyond academic walls.
Dr. Azima employs both quantitative and qualitative research methods, drawing on diverse economic frameworks ranging from microeconomics to experimental and behavioral economics, as well as new institutional economics. He complements these with interdisciplinary perspectives from fields such as sociology, gender studies, public policy, and nutrition. He is also committed to methodological innovation and collaboration, believing that the major challenges facing food systems in the 21st century demand multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary research. He regards the wicked nature of many of these challenges (e.g., achieving climate resilience), as making outreach and active collaboration with stakeholders and society not only desirable but indispensable. This belief has informed his contributions to academic service, outreach, and media engagement, fostering public dialogue on food systems within and beyond academic walls.
Dr. Azima has also lectured and assisted in teaching in Canada and Haiti at both undergraduate and graduate levels for nearly a decade. His teaching experience covers food systems, research methods, applied microeconomics, and experimental economics. His teaching philosophy centers on fostering a joy of learning and encouraging students’ active engagement with real-world problems, promoting critical thinking, hands-on skill development, and the use of practical tools needed to transform food systems and prepare students to become change-oriented professionals.
Dr. Azima has also lectured and assisted in teaching in Canada and Haiti at both undergraduate and graduate levels for nearly a decade. His teaching experience covers food systems, research methods, applied microeconomics, and experimental economics. His teaching philosophy centers on fostering a joy of learning and encouraging students’ active engagement with real-world problems, promoting critical thinking, hands-on skill development, and the use of practical tools needed to transform food systems and prepare students to become change-oriented professionals.
He has also delivered guest lectures in the United States in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Vermont. In 2026, he received the Research, Training and Teaching (RTT) Award from the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES) to develop original teaching modules on home and wild food procurement to support teaching across multiple fields and topics.
He has also delivered guest lectures in the United States in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences at the University of Vermont. In 2026, he received the Research, Training and Teaching (RTT) Award from the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES) to develop original teaching modules on home and wild food procurement to support teaching across multiple fields and topics.
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