Francesca Galli

  • Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa

Contact Info:

I am a researcher with about 10 years of experience in international, national and regional research projects. I have had the opportunity to explore diverse themes benefiting from interdisciplinary perspectives and working in connection with relevant societal and policy actors and networks. By now, this work has resulted in nearly 20 scientific publications, several book chapters and other academic contributions.

I hold a PhD in ‘Economics and Territory’ obtained from University of Tuscia, Italy. In my PhD work, I particularly focussed on multi-criteria assessment of Protected Designations of Origin and Geographical Indications. My PhD and subsequent research work expanded my view on the multidimensionality of agriculture and food as well as on socio-economic and political challenges that characterise contemporary agri-food systems.

Since 2011, I have been a researcher at the Department of Agriculture Food and Environment, University of Pisa. I am currently involved in 3 EU-funded H2020 projects related to food systems and food security, rural-urban relations and impacts of digitisation in rural areas. I am also teaching a master’s course on ‘Food Policies’.

Key research interests

  • Functioning and vulnerabilities of food systems and related policies analysis
  • Food and nutrition security, socio-economic and environmental outcomes
  • Assessment of the sustainability performance of food value chains
  • Role of small farms and their contribution to territorial food system outcomes
  • Rural-urban connections and related governance arrangements

Core competences

  • Agricultural and food economics and policies
  • Multi-criteria assessment
  • Qualitative research methods
  • Participatory approaches

Current EU-funded and national projects

DESIRA – Digitisation: Economic and Social Impacts in Rural Areas

ROBUST – Rural-Urban Outlooks: Unlocking Synergies

SALSA –  Small farms, small food businesses and sustainable food security

FOOD POVERTY AND LOCAL FOOD POLICY – innovation paths through territorial food actors (funded by Fondazione CARIPLO, Milan)

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

Some recent publications

Galli, F., Cavicchi, A., & Brunori, G. (2019). Food waste reduction and food poverty alleviation: a system dynamics conceptual model. Agriculture and Human Values, 36(2), 289–300. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-019-09919-0

Galli, F., Hebinck, A., Carroll, B. (2018) Addressing food poverty in systems: governance of food assistance in three European countries. Food Security, 10(6), 1353-1370. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-018-0850-z

Hebinck, A., Galli, F., Arcuri, S., Carroll, B., O’connor, D., Oostindie, H. (2018) Capturing change in European food assistance practices: A transformative social innovation perspective. Local Environment, 23(4), 398-413. https://doi.org/10.1080/13549839.2017.1423046

Check my other publications: