I am a post-doc researcher at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Pisa. I took my Industrial PhD in Human Sciences at the University of Macerata (UNIMC), Department of Education, Cultural Heritage and Tourism. My PhD research focused on educational tourism, place branding, rural development and innovation and, with a thesis that investigated the role of Universities in supporting and engaging in co-creation processes with rural communities, also through students’ involvement in innovative pedagogies. During my PhD I worked with a start-up – Expirit Srl – in the field of experiential community-based tourism in rural areas. In 2018 I spent some months working as a visiting PhD student at the Institute for Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon on health tourism topics and at the School of Business and Economics at UiT, the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø, on sustainable tourism. After two years as a research fellow at UNIMC working on the Erasmus+ project RE-ACT – Self-reflection tools for smart universities acting regionally, about the role of universities in RIS3 and in regional innovation, my current research at UNIPI explores multi-actor processes and dynamics in regional innovation entrepreneurial ecosystems and rural innovation ecosystems, through participatory processes and participatory-action-research.

In 2025, I got certified as a facilitator in the LEGO® Serious Play® method.

Key research interests

• Rural development and innovation
• Regional innovation and Smart specialisation strategies
• The civic/socially engaged university
• Project-based learning/Service learning
• Rural tourism

Core competences

• Qualitative research and analysis
• Participatory and design-based methods and approaches
• Participatory action research

Current EU-funded and national projects

RURACTIVE – Empowering Rural Communities to act for change

SHERPA – Sustainable Hub to Engage into Rural Policies with Actors

MOVING – Mountain Valorization Through Interconnectedness and Green Growth.

NEMOS – A new educational model for acquisition of sustainability competences through service-learning

START FOR FUTURE – Open Incubation Programme and Academy

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

Some recent publications

Tomasi, S., (2026). The future of the university’s third mission in rural areas. Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems (Third Edition). Vol. 4, pp. 42-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-15976-3.00134-3

Tomasi, S., Ferrara, A., Mignani, C., Cantalejo, M. J., Vilches, C., Navarlaz Fernandez, I., Aldaya, M. M., Dunne, J., Barry-Ryan, C., MacMahon, C., Ghnimi, S., Chriki, S., Murkovic, M., Siegmund, B., Pfeiffer, L., Cavicchi, A. (2025;), “Education for sustainable transformation: a multi-actor perspective on higher education institutions’ contribution to agrifood systems”. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-04-2024-0245

Mignani, C., Ferrara, A., Tomasi, S., Moretti, M., & Cavicchi, A. (2024). The role of EIP-AGRI Operational Groups as a driver for innovation in viticulture. Economia agro-alimentare: XXVI, 3, 2024, 215-243. DOI: 10.3280/ecag2024oa17727

Tomasi, S., Szávics, P., Aleffi, C., Ferrara, C., & Márton, A. (2022). Drivers and challenges of RIS3‐related university engagement: Insights from five European regions. Regional Science Policy & Practice, 1-21.

Tomasi, S., Ferrara, C., Paviotti, G., Aleffi, C., Cavicchi, A., & Bertella, G. (2022). Exploring the Role of the University in the Creation of Knowledge Networks in the Aso Valley, a Rural Area in Marche Region (Italy)In Iakovleva, T., Thomas, E., Berg, L.N., Pinheiro, R., & Benneworth, P. (Eds.). (2022). Universities and Regional Engagement: From the Exceptional to the Everyday (1st ed.), 58-74, Routledge, doi: 10.4324/9781003150299-5, ISBN: 9781003150299

Tomasi, S., Cavicchi, A., Aleffi, C., Paviotti, G., Ferrara, C., Baldoni, F. & Passarini, P. (2021). Civic universities and bottom-up approaches to boost local development of rural areas: the case of the University of Macerata. Agricultural and Food Economics, 9(1), 1-23, doi: 10.1186/s40100-021-00185-5

Tomasi, S., Ferrara, C., Perretta, F., Frittelloni, C., & Cavicchi, A. (2021). Innovation and Knowledge Exchange in Small-Scale Fishery and Aquaculture Sectors: Innovation Brokerage to Shape New Marketing Strategies and Practices. Journal of International Food & Agribusiness Marketing, 33(1), 36-52, https://doi.org/10.1080/08974438.2020.1860854

Tomasi, S., Paviotti, G., & Cavicchi, A. (2020). Educational tourism and local development: The role of universities. Sustainability, 12(17), 6766, doi: 10.3390/SU12176766, ISSN: 2071-1050

Volunteering experience/Engagement in local initiatives:
– RU.RA.LE APS