I worked for 20+ years for the UN agencies that deal with food, carrying out different tasks ranging from direct project management in Central America to research and training on various topics such as sustainable livelihoods, impact assessments, gender and food environments. More recently I worked as a research associate with the University of Cardiff on an EU-funded project on urban food systems (Food Trails) and at the moment I work as a researcher for the PAGE team on the development of agrobiodiverse value chains in the context of the DIVINFOOD project.

I hold a BA in Political Science from LUISS University in Rome, two MScs, one in Development Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), UK, and one in Food Policy more recently obtained at the City University of London, UK. I completed my PhD at the University of Pisa with a thesis that focused on food retail environments using a social practice lens.

 Research focus area

• Food retail environments and food environment policies
• New business models
• Sustainable food systems
• Urban food governance

key competences

• Rural sociology
• Agriculture and food policy
• Political economy of food
• Qualitative research methods

EU research projects

DIVINFOOD – Co-constructing interactive short and mid-tier food chains to value agrobiodiversity in healthy plant-based FOOD

FOSSNET – Food Systems Science Networks

See the list of all projects the group is involved in here

Some recent publications

Mattioni D., Galli, F. and Massari, S. (2024) “Underutilized or undervalued? The role of restaurants in valorizing agrobiodiversity”, The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food vol. 30(2)

Chiffoleau, Y., Dourian, T., Enderli, G., Mattioni, D., Akermann, G., Loconto, A., … & Desclaux, D. (2024). Reversing the trend of agrobiodiversity decline by co-developing food chains with consumers: A European survey for change. Sustainable Production and Consumption, vol.46

Spires, M., Battersby, J., Cohen, N., Daivadanam, M., Demmler, KM., Mattioni, D., Pradeilles, R., Thompson, C., Turner, C., Venegas Hargous, C., Wertheim-Heck, S., Wills, W., Hawkes, C. “The People’s Summit”: A case for lived experience of food environments as a critical source of evidence to inform the follow-up to the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit. (2023) Global Food Security, vol. 37

Massari, S., Galli, F., Mattioni, D., & Chiffoleau, Y. (2023). Co-creativity in Living Labs: fostering creativity in co-creation processes to transform food systems. Journal of Science Communication, 22(3)

Mattioni D., Milbourne P., and Sonnino R. (2022) Regime-based actors in sustainability transitions: insights from urban food systems, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions, vol. 44