Hamid El Bilali is a researcher and consultant at the International Centre for
Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM Bari), Italy. He graduated in
agronomy from IAV Hassan-II in Rabat, Morocco. He holds an M.Sc. in
Mediterranean organic agriculture from the CIHEAM Bari (2004) and a Ph.D. in
agricultural sciences from the University of Bari Aldo Moro (2008). He is engaged in research, training and cooperation activities relating
to sustainable food systems, food security, the Mediterranean diet, food losses
and waste, sustainable food consumption and production, traditional and typical
agro-food products, rural livelihood diversification, and rural policy and
governance. From February 2017 to January 2019, he was a postdoctoral
fellow on “Sustainability transitions and food security”
at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna. He is the
author of more than 200 journal and conference papers and a member of the
editorial boards of numerous journals dealing with agriculture, food, and rural
development.
Tarek Ben Hassen is an
Associate Professor of Policy, Planning, and Development at the Department of
International Affairs at Qatar University. He holds an M.Sc. in management of
innovation from the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi (2006) and a Ph.D. in
Urban Studies (specializing in economic geography) from the University of
Quebec in Montreal (2012). His research falls into the subfield of economic
geography, focusing on the dynamics of sustainability and innovation within
food systems. He has several publications in reputed international journals,
including Sustainability, Foods, Appetite, Frontiers in Nutrition, and the
Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development. He was listed among the
top 2% of the most cited scientists worldwide, according to a prestigious study
conducted by Stanford University in collaboration with Elsevier Publisher,
which was published in October 2023.