Researcher 4: Júlia Tena: Retracing precarious self-employment: self-sustainable networks in the food sector // University of Trento

Within an overarching Action Research framework, the project focuses on work precariousness and solo self-employment in the context of food industry and policies. The PhD student will engage with grassroots food organizations as well as institutional stakeholders in Italy, Croatia, and partly Denmark (see "Planned secondment(s)" below), to map their practices, discourses, and network of collaborations. The research will identify good practices and barriers —at the economic, political, and cultural level— for/to both human and social (e.g. decent work), and environmental sustainability. The study will also explore participatory approaches to designing for the improvement of work, social, and ecological conditions in the food sector.

 PhD candidate:  Júlia Tena

Júlia Tena is a PhD student in Sociology and Social Research at the University of Trento and a researcher within the Reworlding Doctoral Network. She holds a Double Master’s Degree in Sociology and Demography from Pompeu Fabra University and University of Groningen and a Bachelor’s Degree in Statistics from University of Barcelona. As part of the “Re-Worlding” MSCA Doctoral Network, her PhD research focuses on re-tracing precarious self-employment in the food sector, specifically looking at the role of alternative food networks on individual realities. Her research employs ethnographic and participatory action research approaches. Before starting her PhD, she worked as a research assistant at JHU-UPF Public Policy Center and as a teaching assistant at the University of Groningen. Her main research interests include alternative food systems, grassroots movements, sociology of food and social inequalities. Júlia is also interested in political ecology, studying topics such as Degrowth, commons, North/South relations, and environmental justice.