Marta Antonelli

Trained as an economist, Marta Antonelli holds a doctorate from King’s College London in Environment, Politics and Development, with a thesis on food and water security in the Middle East and North African region. She received two Masters degrees in International Economics (La Sapienza University of Rome), and Development Studies (SOAS, University of London).

She worked as a postdoc research scientist in several universities, such as the Swiss Federal Institute on Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), City University London, the University of Roma Tre, the University of Siena.

Currently, she serves as Project Coordinator of the EU-funded LIFE Climate Smart Chefs Project. The project seeks to promote sustainable food systems by leveraging on the role of chefs as game changers, both in their working environments and with citizens.

She is Scientific Advisor on Sustainable Proteins for the Swiss Food & Nutrition Valley.

She is a Senior Research Associate at the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Climate Change (CMCC) where she works on the climate-food nexus in the EU projects SWITCH and FoodCLIC.

Since 2018, Dr. Antonelli has been the Head of Research at the Barilla Foundation, where she contributed to establish a robust research portfolio in its cross-cutting areas of expertise. Key collaborations include the Economist Impact, the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the Columbia Center on Sustainable Development. 

She was also one of the 45 experts identified by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre to inform the legislative framework of the Farm to Fork Strategy, at the core of the European Green Deal.

She worked as the Research Manager of the EU project Su-Eatable Life (2018-2022) and as Senior Scientist at Global Footprint Network on projects related to the ecological footprint of food (2021-2023).

She is a member of the Refresh Working Group and the CDSB Water Working Group.

Dr. Antonelli’s research has been presented across Europe and European institutions, China, the US and the Middle East. She has authored 50+ publications in scientific journals (including Nature Food), reports, books, as well as articles on media outlets such as The Guardian, the MIT Technology Review, National Geographic, Food Tank, Diplomatic Courier, ES GLOBAL, GreenBiz, Huffington Post Italia etc.

She regularly gives lectures and seminars. Over the past years, she has contributed to the teaching programs of The Graduate Institute in Geneva, Basel University, Thomson Reuters Foundation, IBM Foundation Italy, University of Naples Federico II , University of Arizona, University of Siena, Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS), University of Siena, Gustolab University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Venice IUAV, University Roma Tre, King’s College London.

Her research has been featured on international media outlets such as, among others, Inter Press Service, Food Tank, Marie Claire UK, Il Sole 24 Ore, Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica, La Stampa, Sky TG24, RSI – Radiotelevisione Svizzera Italiana. She is an opinion maker at The Brussels Media and has a blog on Huffington Post Italia.