Daniela Spina

Daniela Spina is a Tenure-Track Researcher (RTD-A) in Agricultural Economics and Appraisal [AGRI/01] at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment (Di3A) of the University of Catania, where she is involved in research activities within Spoke 1 – Firms’ Sustainability of the GRINS (Growing, Resilient, INclusive, and Sustainable) project, funded by the Next Generation EU programme and the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR).

She graduated cum laude in Political Science from the University of Catania and earned her Ph.D. in Agri-food Economics in 2009. Her doctoral dissertation was awarded the “Giuseppe Medici” Prize by the National Institute of Rural Sociology (INSOR) as the best Ph.D. thesis in Italy in the field. She also completed the Advanced Master in Agricultural Economics and Policy at the University of Naples “Federico II” in Portici. Over the course of her academic career, she has held several research fellowships within national and international projects, gaining extensive experience in scientific collaboration with scholars and institutions across Europe.

She serves as Scientific Coordinator of the PROMESERVAGRI 4.0 project, funded by the INTERREG NEXT Italy–Tunisia programme, for which the University of Catania is the lead partner. She actively participates in numerous national and international research projects, contributing to the development of themes related to farm sustainability, innovation in agri-food systems, and consumer behaviour analysis.

She currently teaches Strategic Management of the Farm in the Master’s Degree Programme in Agricultural Science and Technology and Agricultural Economics in the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Management of Mediterranean Agricultural Production Systems. In previous years, she taught Agri-food Business Management in the Master’s Degree Programme in Food Science and Technology and Agri-food Firms and Consumers (ASFI, Class A031). Within the Ph.D. Programme in Agricultural, Food and Environmental Science at the University of Catania, as well as at the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra (Slovakia) and the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu (Portugal), she has delivered courses and workshops for Ph.D. students and post-doctoral researchers on research methodology and consumer behaviour.

She holds the National Scientific Qualification (Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale) for the position of Associate Professor in the disciplinary field 07/A1 – Agricultural Economics and Appraisal.

In 2024, she received the Best Viticulture Paper Award from the Australian Society of Viticulture and Oenology (ASVO) for the article “From Roots to Leaves: Understanding Consumer Acceptance in Implementing Climate-Resilient Strategies in Viticulture.”

She has presented papers at numerous national and international scientific conferences and has served on several scientific and programme committees. She acts as a referee for leading international journals and is Associate Editor of CABI Agriculture and Bioscience (Springer Nature, Q1). She is a member of the Italian Society of Agri-food Economics (SIEA) and the Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), and she is fluent in English and French.

She plays an active institutional role within the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, where she has served as Communication Delegate since 2023 and Researcher Representative on the Department Board for the 2022–2026 term. She has also been a member of the Quality Assurance Management Group (GGAQ) of the Master’s Degree Programme in Food Science and Technology (LM-70), of the Department Quality Committee, and serves as Faculty Advisor for the Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Management of Mediterranean Agricultural Production Systems (L-25). She is also part of the Green Lab – Permanent Laboratory for Sustainability at Di3A.

Last edit: 11/03/2025