CIPolFoodS

Emanuele Castelli (University of Parma) 

Marco Clementi (University of Pavia) 

Michael Driessen (John Cabot University) 

Alessandra Ghisalberti (University of Bergamo) 

Simone Papale (University of Parma) 

Alessandro Ricci (University of Bergamo) 

Ruth Hanau Santini (University “L’Orientale” of Naples) 

Martino Tognocchi (University of Pavia) 

Paolo Wulzer (University “L’Orientale” of Naples)

Emanuele Castelli is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Parma, where he teaches Political Science and International Politics. He serves as Chair of the Political Science Programme (BA in Political Science and MA in Global Politics and International Relations) and as Director of the Centre for Studies in European and International Affairs (CSEIA). Since September 2024, he has been the Coordinator of the European Project FOSTER (Food Security Team of Early-Career Researchers) Jean Monnet Centres of Excellence. His current research focuses on food security and the weaponization of food. Among his most recent publications is “Food, Terrorism, and the Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab Insurgencies” (in Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 2025) and “Russia, Ukraine, and Food Warfare” (in International Affairs, 2025), both co-authored with Simone Papale.

Marco Clementi holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Florence and is Full Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Pavia. His research interests include international relations theory, with a particular focus on hegemony studies, international security, and the geopolitics of food security. He is Principal Investigator of the research project “Coping with food crises: A comparative analysis of anti-crisis policies for food security”, within the PNRR projectONFOODS (Research and Innovation Network on Food and Nutrition Sustainability, Safety and Security) (Spoke 7 – Policy, Behaviour and Education), and Head of the University of Pavia Local Research Unit of the PRIN 2022 project New dimensions of regional security in the broader Middle East. He has published articles and research in national and international journals. Among his books are: La politica dell’abbondanza. Cibo, sicurezza alimentare e Relazioni Internazionali (Mondadori, 2024, with M. Tognocchi); Primi fra pari. Egemonia, guerra e ordine internazionale (Il Mulino, 2011); Relazioni Internazionali (Il Mulino, 2012, with F. Andreatta, A. Colombo, M. Koenig-Archibugi and V. E. Parsi); US Foreign Policy in a Challenging World. Building Order on Shifting Foundations (Springer, 2018, co-edited with M. Dian and B. Pisciotta); and, Cibo: politiche, comportamenti, educazione, Vol 1 - Disordine e Crisi (Feltrinelli, 2026 co-edited with C. Ricci, F. Villa, A. Ferrante and H. Cena). On the topic of food security, he has also published "Crisi alimentari e politica internazionale", in C. Ricci, M. Clementi, F. Villa, A. Ferrante and H. Cena (eds), Cibo: politiche, comportamenti, educazione, Vol 1 - Disordine e Crisi (Feltrinelli, 2026, pp. 83-101, with M. Tognocchi); “Food and Food Security in the US Security Strategy (1987–2022)”, in Political Science Quarterly, 140(2), pp. 285–308, 2025; “Il cibo come arma nella politica internazionale contemporanea”, in Le sfide,15, pp. 76–82, 2024 (with M. Tognocchi); and “Politica del cibo e sicurezza alimentare”, in Il Mulino, 72, 523(3), pp. 58–67 (with M. Tognocchi).

Michael Driessen is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs and the inaugural Director of the MA program in International Affairs at John Cabot University. He also directs the Rome Summer Seminars on Religion and Global Politics. Michael received his doctorate from the University of Notre Dame and has been a post-doctoral fellow at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Doha, Qatar as well as a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence. He has taught at John Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies in Bologna and holds a research affiliation with Cambridge University’s Von Hügel Institute. He also serves as an advisor for the Adyan Foundation in Lebanon. Driessen’s books include The Global Politics of Interreligious Dialogue (Oxford University Press, 2023), Human Fraternity and Inclusive Citizenship: Interreligious Engagement in the Mediterranean (ISPI, 2021; co-edited with Fabio Petito and Fadi Daou), and Religion and Democratization (Oxford University Press, 2014). He has published scholarly articles in Comparative Politics, Sociology of Religion, Politics and Religion, Constellations and Democratization and essays in America Magazine and Commonweal.

Simone Papale is Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Law, Politics and International Studies of the University of Parma. He is also Adjunct Professor at the University of Bologna, where he teaches Food Security in International Politics. Simone has a PhD in International Relations from the University of Nottingham, where he is Associate Member of the Centre for the Study of Subversion, Unconventional Interventions and Terrorism (SUIT). His research activity focuses on the study of contemporary warfare, dynamics of counter-terrorism, and mobilisation to violence. His research has appeared in international peer-reviewed journals including International Affairs, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Critical Studies on Terrorism, and International Peacekeeping. Currently, Simone is writing a book on Food Warfare in global politics.

Alessandro Ricci is Associate Professor of Political Geography at the University of Bergamo and Secretary General of the “Geopolitica.info” Research Center. In 2018 he was awarded the Accademia dei Lincei Prize for scientific writings in Geography. He has published articles and essays on issues related to early globalization and early modern political geography, on historical-political cartography, and on the geopolitics of the Islamic State. He is the author, among other works, of The Geography of Uncertainty (Routledge, 2023) and Cartografia, arte e potere tra Riforma e Controriforma(Franco Cosimo Panini, 2020). He has carried out research periods at the University of Trento and at Roma Tor Vergata, and has been a visiting scholar at the universities of Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Groningen.

Ruth Hanau Santini is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Naples L’Orientale. She recently collaborated (2020-2023) with the World Food Programme (UN) on conflicts and food insecurity in North Africa, the Middle East, the Sahel, and Ukraine. Previously, she held positions at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAECI) (2012-2013) and with think tanks in Europe (ISPI, CEPS, SWP) and the USA (Brookings, Transatlantic Academy). Her research interests include the geopolitics of the Middle East, regional security, and Italian/European foreign policy, with a recent focus on conflicts and food insecurity. She
coordinates a university research project on “Risks and Promises of Measuring Political Risk” (RAP-RISK) and a Ministry of Foreign Affairs–funded project on “Italy and International Food Security Policy” (ITALIM). She has published in journals such as Third World Quarterly and International Spectator. She has edited: Hybrid Governance in the Middle East and Africa (Routledge 2019), Rethinking statehood in the Middle East and North Africa (Routledge 2018); and her latest monograph is Limited statehood in post-revolutionary Tunisia (Palgrave 2018).

Martino Tognocchi is Research fellow at the University of Pavia and adjunct professor reading in the courses Geopolitics and Natural Resources and Political Science and Global Governance at the same university. He obtained his PhD in Political Studies from the University of Milan in 2022. His work focuses on the transformation of warfare and, in parallel, on the international politics of food. His research has been published in national and international peer-reviewed journals. In 2024, together with Marco Clementi, he published La politica dell’abbondanza, cibo, sicurezza alimentare e Relazioni Internazionali (in Italian) with Mondadori Università press.

Marco Clementi (University of Pavia)
Marc J. Cohen (Center for Strategic and International Studies)
Mario De Prospo (University of Pavia)
Fabio Parasecoli (New York University)
Carola Ricci (University of Pavia)
Ida Rudolfsen (Peace Research Institute Oslo)

Marco Clementi holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Florence and is Full
Professor of International Relations at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the
University of Pavia. His research interests include international relations theory, with a particular focus on hegemony studies, international security, and the geopolitics of food security. He is Principal Investigator of the research project “Coping with food crises: A comparative analysis of anti-crisis policies for food security”, within the PNRR projectONFOODS (Research and Innovation Network on Food and Nutrition Sustainability, Safety and Security) (Spoke 7 – Policy, Behaviour and Education), and Head of the University of Pavia Local Research Unit of the PRIN 2022 project New dimensions of regional security in the broader Middle East. He has published articles and research in national and international journals. Among his books are: La politica dell’abbondanza. Cibo, sicurezza alimentare e Relazioni Internazionali (Mondadori, 2024, with M. Tognocchi); Primi fra pari. Egemonia, guerra e ordine internazionale (Il Mulino, 2011); Relazioni Internazionali (Il Mulino, 2012, with F. Andreatta, A. Colombo, M. Koenig-Archibugi and V. E. Parsi); US Foreign Policy in a Challenging World. Building Order on Shifting Foundations (Springer, 2018, co-edited with M. Dian and B. Pisciotta); and, Cibo: politiche, comportamenti, educazione, Vol 1 - Disordine e Crisi (Feltrinelli, 2026 co-edited with C. Ricci, F. Villa, A. Ferrante and H. Cena). On the topic of food security, he has also published "Crisi alimentari e politica internazionale" in C. Ricci, M. Clementi, F. Villa, A. Ferrante and H. Cena (eds), Cibo: politiche, comportamenti, educazione, Vol 1 - Disordine e Crisi (Feltrinelli, 2026: 83- 101, with M. Tognocchi); “Food and Food Security in the US Security Strategy (1987–2022)”, in Political Science Quarterly, 140 (2): 285–308, 2025; “Il cibo come arma nella politica internazionale contemporanea”, in Le sfide, 15: 76–82, 2024 (with M. Tognocchi); and “Politica del cibo e sicurezza alimentare”, in Il Mulino, 72, 523 (3): 58–67 (with M. Tognocchi).

Marc J. Cohen is senior associate (non-resident) with the Humanitarian Agenda at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Prior to joining CSIS, he was lead researcher for development finance and food systems at Oxfam, and earlier, research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. He has worked in the field of humanitarian studies for more than 40 years, focusing primarily on food insecurity in humanitarian crises and humanitarian finance. His publications include Food as a Weapon (2024 in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Food Studies, written with Ellen Messer) and Turning the Humanitarian System on its Head: Saving lives and livelihoods by strengthening local capacity and shifting leadership to local actors (2015, written with Tara R. Gingerich). He is a member of the International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA) and has presented papers on humanitarian policy topics at the IHSA’s world conferences and the International Studies Association’s annual conferences, among others. He has been quoted on humanitarian issues in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Politico, USA Today, Le Nouvelliste (Haiti’s most widely read newspaper), and the Associated Press, as well as on Voice of America, France 24, and Canadian Broadcasting. Cohen received his BA in French
from Carleton College and an MA and PhD in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has taught at American, George Washington, and SAIS-Johns Hopkins Universities. He acknowledges with respect the Algonquian Nanticoke people on whose land he lives and works.

Mario De Prospo is currently Tenure Track Assistant Professor (RTD-B) in Contemporary
History at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Pavia. His
research interests focus primarily on the history and agency of 20th-century ruling classes,
particularly the relationships between technical and intellectual elites and policymakers. He
has previously held research grants at other Italian universities, focusing on the history of
20th-century ruling classes, social, economic, and institutional interdependence, and the role of experts in international organizations. Among his recent publications are “Promoting a multilateral ‘revolution’ in rural development: Manlio Rossi-Doria from Southern Italy to Latin America”, in Historia Agraria, 95, 2025: 137-167; and, “Mediation Hub or Active Agent? FAO’s Commitment to Rural Welfare During Its First Thirty Years” in Journal of World History, 35 (3), 2024: 469-498.

Fabio Parasecoli is a Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies. He is also a
fellow at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He has
a Doctorate in Agricultural Sciences (Dr.sc.agr.) from Hohenheim University, Stuttgart (Germany), MA in Political Sciences from the Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples (Italy), BA/MA in Modern Foreign Languages and Literature from the Università La Sapienza, Roma (Italy). He also holds a certificate in Islamic Studies from the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies, Rome (Italy) and a graduate fellowship in the History Department at Beijing University, Beijing (China). Fabio’s research explores the cultural politics of food, particularly in media, design, heritage, and international affairs. After covering Middle and Far Eastern political issues, he wrote for many years as the U.S. correspondent for Gambero Rosso, Italyauthoritative food and wine magazine. He has collaborated for food-related exhibitions with museums such as the Victoria and Albert (London, UK), M9 (Mestre, Italy),the Museum of the City of New York (New York City, USA), and the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology (New York City, USA). Recent books include Al Dente: A History ofFood in Italy (2014, translated into Italian, Korean, and Chinese), Feasting Our Eyes: Food,Film, and Cultural Citizenship in the US (2016, authored with Laura Lindenfeld), Knowing Where It Comes From: Labeling Traditional Foods to Compete in a Global Market (2017), Food (2019, translated into Chinese), Global Brooklyn: Designing Food Experiences in World Cities (2021, coedited with Mateusz Halawa), Gastronativism: Food, Identity, Politics (2022), Practicing Food Studies (2024, coedited with Amy Bentley and Krishnendu Ray) and The Pierogi Problem: Reinventing Polish Food for Cosmopolitan Appetites (authored with Agata Bachórz and Mateusz Halawa, 2025). He has been quoted in national and international
media, such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, The
Guardian, and ARTE Channel. His writing has appeared in Foreign Policy, the MIT Technology
Review, and Tank magazine, among others.

Carola Ricci is associate professor of International and Human Rights Law at the University
of Pavia (since 2008) and of the University Advanced School of Pavia (Scuola Universitaria
Superiore IUSS, since 2024). She is currently Rector’s Delegate for Cooperation and Africa
for the University of Pavia (since October 2025). Previously Senior Researcher and Post-Doc
Research Fellow of international and EU law at the law school of the University of Milan, she
holds a PhD in international law from the same University, where she also specialized in EU
law and economics after graduation.
She is member of the Scientific Board of the interfaculty PhD Course in Public Law, Criminal
and International Justice at the University of Pavia and of the National PhD Programme on
Sustainable Development and Climate change (PhD SDC).
She is ‒and have been since many years‒ principal investigator of different research projects, among which some on the multilevel protection on economic, social and cultural rights with a special focus on right to food and on judicial cooperation (financed both by private and public sponsors, selected in open calls). She is currently PI of a multidisciplinary project on Digital Accessibility (called RISID) funded by Fondazione Cariplo and is member of two multidisciplinary projects financed by the European Union – NextGenerationEU (2022- 2025) on different issues pertaining sustainable food systems and agri-food tech, respectively named ONFOODS (“Research and innovation network on food and nutrition sustainability, safety and security ‒ working on foods”, under Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.3, PE0000003, F13C22001210007) and NODES (“Nord Ovest Digitale E Sostenibile”, Digital and Sustainable Italian NorthWest, grant agreement no. ECS00000036).
She had been previously member of a EU Cost Action project on food waste valorisation,
called “EUbis”, a pan-European network comprising of experts from 32 European countries
(2015-2017); and of the Italian delegation in the “Working Group on Food Right for All”, with
the mission of drafting the final document for States’ delegates present at Expo2015 in
Milan. She has been visiting scholar at Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California at
Berkeley; at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (London, UK); at the
Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law (Hamburg, Germany); at
the London School of Economics (LSE) and invited visiting fellow at Nairobi University (Kenya). She is author of three monographs (one of which on the right to food) and edited different collective works, including two on food safety in a multilevel perspective, as well as many others on economic, social and cultural rights of vulnerable people, and private international law issues (with a specific focus on EU judicial cooperation in civil matters). She published widely in academic journals, edited different collective books and co-authored thematic reports for the European Commission (DG Justice) and Parliament. She has been external expert for various European Commission DG Justice Programs on cooperation in civil justice and private international law. She is a member of the board of (peer reviewed) law journals (Rivista di Diritto Internazionale Privato e Processuale, Alimenta and Quaderni di Scienze Politiche) and member of the Scientific Committee of the International Center on Law Science and New Technologies – ICLT, and of the Milan Bar Association (since 2002).

Ida Rudolfsen holds a Phd in Peace and Conflict Studies from the Uppsala University and she is Senior Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo. She is also Desk Editor for the Journal of Peace Research. Her research interests include social disorder and violence; civil society; state repression; food price and insecurity; autocratization; research methods and causal inference. She has recently published “War and food insecurity in Ukraine”, in World Development, 2024 (with Henrikas Bartuseviˇcius, Florian van Leeuwen and Gudrun Østby);“Nothing compares? Investigating the cost of food as a driver of urban unrest”, in International Interactions, 2024, DOI:10.1080/03050629.2024.2319096)(with Tood G. Smith); “Food insecurity and unrest participation: Evidence from Johannesburg, South Africa”, in International Studies Quarterly, 2023, 67(3); squad069; “Food price increase and urban unrest: The role of societal organizations”, in Journal of Peace Research, 2021, 58(2): 215–230; “Food insecurity and domestic instability: A review of the literature”, in Terrorism and Political Violence, 2020, 32(5): 921–948.

CIPolFoodS is conceived as a physical and intellectual space devoted to analysing the
relationship between food and politics, with a particular focus on its international dimension and its multiple manifestations. The interest in the international dimension of the politics of food is not only a precise disciplinary choice but also an opportunity to expand research agendas by valuing the pluralism that characterizes international politics and connecting the topic to the various areas, cultures, paradigms, and logics that coexist irreducibly in the international space. In particular, the centre aims to explore the implications of the unequal distribution of food on the global scale and the political consequences of such an imbalance. Among its main objectives are the analysis of food production, logistics, and consumption models; policies to counter poverty and malnutrition as aid and development; issues related to land access; and the impact of nutrition models on health and the environment. Since the centre is interested in the political implications of food, its focus is on both the role of individuals and that of institutions and collective actors, including governments, unions, social movements, the food industry, and civil society more broadly.
While adopting an international politics approach to the study of food – analysing the issue
through key concepts such as structure, conflict, power, and compromise – the Center has among its primary objectives the creation of an interdisciplinary research forum capable of fostering dialogue between the study of international politics and related disciplines such as history, law, sociology, economics, geography, and anthropology. Likewise, the centre intends to establish a fertile space for interaction between theoretical and empirical knowledge by involving journalists, humanitarian workers, officials from international organizations, and independent researchers. Direct experience in the field of food security is considered a fundamental value to be integrated into theoretical research on the international politics of food.
 

Research Areas

The research centre aims to study the relationship between food resources and international politics across three main thematic areas:

- Food as a contested resource in space and time: the history and geopolitics of food resources, including water.

- Food aid and policies to mitigate scarcity and hunger: actors, policies, effectiveness,
instrumentalization, challenges, and future perspectives.

- Food regimes as models of food production, circulation, and consumption (economic, political, legal, social, and anthropological-cultural): their role as factors of regional or domestic
stability/instability and international order/disorder.

Thanks to the presence of a stable scientific committee and a standing steering committee, the research centre pursues a dual objective. On the one hand, it aims to be a forum for discussion and continuous updates on the dynamics of international food politics, with the possibility of identifying new research areas and agendas over time. In this perspective, it particularly seeks to foster engagement with academic communities in the Global South and in regions affected by persistent poverty and food insecurity, particularly in the Middle East-Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa. On the other hand, the center aims to produce and disseminate both scientific and outreach-oriented content. It intends to act as a bridge between universities, educational institutions such as schools, observatories, and other research centres within the framework of the so-called “public engagement”. The centre’s research products may take the form of public events—including conferences, roundtables, and graduate seminars—as well as research products, outreach publications, and policy-oriented papers.