Author Biographies

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.
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