1 Center, over 100 researchers, 9 Departments, with activities organized into 5 thematic areas:
- Food and Environmental Sustainability: Life Cycle Assessment; biodiversity; water management.
- Urban Metabolism and Circular Economy
- Quality and Traceability
- Food Security: food poverty; access to food; food deserts.
- Dietary Patterns: diets; novel foods; functional foods; ingredients; ethics, values, and status.
- Food and Environmental Sustainability: Life Cycle Assessment; biodiversity; water management.
The Food and Environmental Sustainability thematic area analyzes the impacts of agri-food systems across their entire life cycle, applying Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodologies to evaluate emissions, resource use, and environmental effects from production to consumption. The focus includes the protection of biodiversity, understood as genetic, species, and ecosystem diversity, as a key factor for the resilience of food systems. Particular attention is devoted to water management, through the analysis of water footprint, water-use efficiency, and strategies for the sustainable management of water resources in agriculture and food processing.
The following faculty members and researchers are affiliated with this thematic area: Andrea Galimberti; Massimo Labra; Maurizio Casiraghi; Ilaria Bruni; Patrizia Di Gennaro; Sandra Citterio; Roberta Fraschini; Antonia Bruno; Federica Fumagalli; Jessica Zampolli; Guido Grassi; Alice Armanni; Paolo Biella;Emily Rose Palm; Giulia Ghisleni; Jessica Frigerio; Luisa Zecca; Werther Guidi Nissim; Fausto Ramazzotti; Nicola Tommasi; Maurizio Gualtieri; Chiara Montagnani; Rodolfo Filippo Gentili.
2. Urban Metabolism and Circular Economy
The Urban Metabolism and Circular Economy thematic area investigates the flows of materials, energy, and resources within urban systems, analyzing processes of supply, consumption, transformation, and waste generation. Through the urban metabolism approach, interactions between cities, the environment, and infrastructure are assessed in order to identify inefficiencies and opportunities for optimization. The integration of circular economy principles aims to reduce the use of primary resources, minimize waste, and close material and energy loops, promoting more resilient, sustainable, and regenerative urban models.
The following faculty members and researchers are affiliated with this thematic area: Paola Branduardi; Renata Anita Tisi; Stefano Bertacchi; Claudio Greco; Anna Ranaudo.
3. Quality and Traceability
The Quality and Traceability thematic area focuses on monitoring, control, and certification systems along production chains, with the aim of ensuring product safety, transparency, and reliability. Through the analysis of traceability processes, material and information flows are reconstructed along the entire value chain, from production to distribution. Quality is addressed from an integrated perspective, encompassing technical standards, environmental sustainability, regulatory compliance, and consumer protection.
The following faculty members and researchers are affiliated with this thematic area: Massimo Labra; Maurizio Casiraghi; Ilaria Bruni; Andrea Galimberti; Luca Campone; Stefania Pagliari; Rosario Musumeci; Fabio Gosetti; Davide Maggioni; Luca Daconto; Matteo Colleoni.
4. Food Security: food poverty; access to food; food deserts
The Food Security thematic area examines the conditions that ensure food availability, access, and appropriate utilization, with particular attention to social and economic inequalities. The focus includes the study of food poverty, barriers to access to healthy and nutritious food, and the phenomenon of food deserts, defined as areas where access to quality food is limited or absent. The objective is to promote equitable, inclusive, and resilient food systems that safeguard the right to food and the well-being of communities.
The following faculty members and researchers are affiliated with this thematic area: Luca Campone; Stefania Pagliari; Fabio Gosetti; Luca Daconto; Matteo Colleoni.
5. Dietary Patterns: diets; novel foods; functional foods; ingredients; ethics, values, and status
The Dietary Patterns thematic area analyzes food consumption models in relation to nutritional, cultural, and socio-economic dimensions. It includes the study of diets and their effects on human health and the environment, the evolution of novel foods and functional foods, as well as the role of ingredients and innovative formulations. Attention is also given to ethical dimensions, values, and social status dynamics that influence food choices, contributing to the orientation of individual and collective behaviors toward more sustainable and conscious food systems.
The following faculty members and researchers are affiliated with this thematic area:: Paola Coccetti; Paola Alessandra Fusi; Patrizia Di Gennaro; Maria Elena Regonesi; Colombo Sonia; Alessandra Bulbarelli; Maurizio Lonati; Elena Sacco; Renata Anita Tisi; Michela Clerici; Emanuela Cazzaniga; Roberto Giovannoni; Rosario Musumeci; Paola Palestini; Ilaria Bruni; Alessia Lambiase; Stefania Pagliari; Luca Campone; Matilde Emma Forcella; Lorenzo Guzzetti; Stefano Bianchini; Valeria Maria Teresa Mapelli; Valentina Pasquale; Michela Ceriani; Daniele Brioschi; Jessica Zampolli; Federica Boivio; Simone Domenico Guglielmetti; Cristina Airoldi; Paola Branduardi; Valentina Alice Botto; Sarah Caronni; Sandra Citterio.