I am currently an RTDA (Assistant Professor – fixed-term researcher, Law 240/2010, Type A, part-time) at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (DAFE), University of Pisa, where I work on food system design, educational innovation, and interdisciplinary research methodologies. I coordinate teaching activities and research-based learning formats within the department’s Tenuta Labs, a collaborative environment for in-situ experimentation, place-based education and transdisciplinary engagement.

I hold a Ph.D. in Food Experience Design from the University of Florence (Engineering Department – Interaction Design), with a dissertation on the role of digital technologies and design practices in shaping sustainable food behaviors.

After nearly 15 years working at the intersection of design, food experience, and consumption, I have increasingly shifted my focus toward the upstream stages of the food system — production, rural innovation, and collaborative foodscapes — where design can actively contribute to shaping sustainability and resilience. My current research explores food design as both a scientific field and a design discipline, integrating sustainability, human-food interaction, and socio-technical innovation. I use systemic and participatory design approaches to investigate the complex interrelations between food, culture, and territory (participatory and design-driven approaches living labs). For this reason, the PAGE research group and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Pisa offer an ideal ecosystem to advance this line of research, combining agricultural sciences with interdisciplinary and design-driven innovation for food systems transformation.

I am a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Food Design and the Design and Engineering Ecosystems (D+E) book series, coordinated by the DESTEC Design Team at the University of Pisa.
Before joining the PAGE group, I served as Director of Gustolab International and as Academic Director of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Food Studies programs in Rome, where over 12 years I designed and coordinated 50+ academic programs and 150 initiatives on food and sustainability for leading international universities.
Over the past 15 years, I have taught and developed courses on Food Design, Sustainability Design Thinking, and Transdisciplinary Innovation at ISIA Roma Design, Roma Tre, UNISG, SPD, Elisava, CHIEAM Bari, New School, Universidad Austral, Politecnico di Milano, Basque Culinary Center, SDG Academy, the University of Parma, and the Universities of Siena, among others.
I am co-founder of FORK – Food Design for Opportunities, Research and Knowledge, an international non-profit advancing research and experimentation in food and design.

Key research interests

• Food Design and Human-Food Interaction
• Co-creation and Co-learning in Transdisciplinary Contexts, Living Labs
• Sustainable Food Systems and Participatory Innovation
• Place-Based Education and Design-Driven Learning Environments

Core competences

• Participatory and Systemic Design Methods
• Innovative Pedagogies in Food Studies and Sustainability Education
• Design Strategies for Agri-Food System Transformation
• Innovation in Teaching for Agricultural Economics and Rural Development

Current EU-funded and national projects

DIVINFOOD – Co-constructing interactive short and mid-tier food chains to value agrobiodiversity in healthy plant-based food. Programme Funding: Horizon Europe (2022-2027)

ONFOODS –OnFoods is the italian research and innovation network for sustainable food and nutrition.

CIRCLE U –nine European universities creating international opportunities

Design, Food, Agriculture: More Connected Than We Imagine? A Two-Day Event at the University of Pisa

February 10-11, 2025, University of Pisa, Department of Agricultural, Food and Agro-Environmental Sciences

The complexity of food environments addressed with participatory methods: the mini-doc from the four-day workshop of Spoke 1.

Spoke 1 organized a four-day workshop on the tools and methods of participatory research dedicated to young researchers.

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

Some recent publications

• Massari, S., Galli, F., Colombo, L., & Goretti, G. (2025). DIVINFOOD, NUCs and agrobiodiversity. Agile food design and Living Labs for sustainable innovation. Agathón, 17, 384–397. https://doi.org/XXXX
• Zehr Gantz, S., Massari, S., McDonagh, D., & Vokoun, J. (2025). Addressing food insecurity: Leveraging empathy and design thinking to achieve transformative learning. Agathón, 17, 384–397. https://doi.org/XXXX
• Massari, S. (2025). Food design for the real world. Design by and for food: Place-based innovation and transformative design. Franco Angeli.
• Mattioni D, Galli F.,& Massari S.  (2024). Underutilized or undervalued? The role of restaurants in valorizing agrobiodiversity. The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 30(2), 27–43. https://doi.org/10.48416/ijsaf.v30i2.609
• Brunori, G., Arcuri, S., Cavicchi, A., De Conno, A., Galli, F., Massari, S., Mattioni, D., & Vasile, M. (2024). Shaping micro and macro food environments: The role of Mediterranean Diet. In Dernini, S. & Capone, R. (Eds.), Sustainable food systems: Change of route in the Mediterranean Bari: CIHEAM.
• Marti, P., Massari, S., & Recupero, A. (2023). Transformational design for food systems: Cultural, social and technological challenges. International Journal of Food Design, 8, 109–132. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijfd_00053_1
• Massari, S., Galli, F., Mattioni, D., & Chiffoleau, Y. (2023). Co-creativity in Living Labs: Fostering creativity in co-creation processes to transform food systems. JCOM – Journal of Science Communication, 22(3), A03. https://doi.org/10.22323/2.22030203
• Massari, S. (Ed.) (2021). Trans-disciplinary case studies on design for food and sustainability. Woodhead Publishing (Elsevier). https://doi.org/10.1016/C2018-0-02572-4

Check my other publications: