Who we are

Giovanni Sogari is an Associate Professor at the Department of Food and Drug of the University of Parma where he teaches the principal methods and techniques of qualitative and quantitative research to explore consumer food behavior. His studies lie at the nexus of psychology, sensory analysis, and experimental economics to better inform policy-makers, private companies, and the general public on eating behavior. In particular, his main research activities and interests focus on consumers’ perception of sustainable and healthy diets, and alternative proteins from novel foods, including edible insects as food and feed.

Cristina Mora is Full Professor in Food Marketing at the Department of Food and Drug of the University of Parma. Her major activities are focused on developing qualitative and quantitative methodologies to understand consumer attitudes and behaviors related to food; applying qualitative methodologies to understand firm competition in the food sector and evaluating the effectiveness of public engagement in the agri-food sector. She is involved in several EU projects. She is the president of Gastronomic Degree Course at the University of Parma.

Dr. Rungsaran Wongprawmas is an assistant professor at the Department of Food and Drug of the University of Parma. She obtained a Ph.D. degree in Agricultural, Environmental and Food Science and Technology from Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna in June 2014. Her main research interests are agri-food marketing, healthy and sustainable food products, and studies on consumer behavior using stated preference and revealed preference, choice modeling, experimental auction, and nudging techniques. Her publications are mainly in international scientific journals on topics of applied economics, marketing and consumer behavior.

Giulia Andreani is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Food and Drug at the University of Parma, Italy. She completed her MSc in Human Nutrition and Food Sciences and holds a BSc in Biology. Her previous experience in the public sector at the European law-making level helped shape her interest in the role of consumer science to improve dietary behaviors and strategies to make healthier and more sustainable eating choices. Her current research focuses on the realm of food labeling and novel food.

Simone Mancini, Assistant Professor at the Department of Veterinary Sciences of the University of Pisa in the poultry, rabbit and aquaculture sector. Dr Mancini has a specific background in insects as food and feed referring from producing to consuming, with manifold publications on insects as food and feed. He is the referring person for the University of Pisa at the International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed (IPIFF). In the last few years, he has published several highly cited peer-reviewed articles on the animal science sector. He has been also listed in the world’s top 2% scientists according to Stanford University, in the area of Dairy & Animal Science (single year 2021).

Roberta Moruzzo, Associate Professor in Agricultural Economy, has worked on social innovation and rural development, collaborates with European and International universities as Local Coordinator of an International Master on Rural Development and is one of the University of Pisa representatives for CIRCLE U (European University Alliance). She is involved in initiatives promoting social innovation and participation in local development processes, using the Living Lab approach. In the last years, Prof. Moruzzo focused her research activities on edible insects, both as feed and food, basing her research on the marketing and circular economy point of view.

Baldassare Fronte, Assistant Professor on small animal husbandry, with focus on aquaculture and aquaculture sustainability. Specific topics of research interest are improving fish growth performances and welfare, mainly through actions related to fish nutrition. For this purpose, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) model is also used. Aquaculture sustainability is pursued by searching for alternative feed ingredients to fishmeal and fish oil and studying innovative rearing technologies such as IMTA and marine Aquaponic (Team member of the SIMTAP project, 2019 EU-PRIMA call). He is a member of the European Aquaculture Society and of the European branch of the World Poultry Science Association.

Emma Copelotti, PhD student in Veterinary Sciences (38° cycle) on the topic “Sustainability in the agri-food system: insects as feed and food”. Her project aims to experimentally rear different species of insects using substrates based on food waste, by-products, and former foodstuffs that are currently unused. Part of the project will be the evaluation of the use of insects as a feed component for small production species (aquaculture, poultry and rabbit farming) to evaluate the production performance, nutritional value, and quality of the resulting products. Based on the circular economy idea, surveys on the consumer’s acceptability are part of her project.