Paola Laini holds a BSc in Sustainability and Environmental Management from the University of Leeds (UK), School of Earth and Environment. During a Summer Research Internship, she supported the university Sustainability Research Institute and the Climate Change Adaptation Group in conducting a study on climate change adaptation by UK organisations commissioned by the UK government. In Vienna, she conducted her MSc in Socio-Ecological Economics and Policy (SEEP) at WU and graduated in October 2019. She wrote her master thesis with prof. Viviana Asara on socio-ecological movements and their role in the transformation of development discourses. After finishing her Master’s degree, she turned her thesis into a paper in view of a possible publication. Since March 2020, Paola has started her internship with the European Coordination Via Campesina (ECVC) in Brussels. ECVC represents the voice of peasants and agricultural workers at the EU level and tries to influence policymaking towards a socially and ecologically just agriculture in Europe and outside.

Paola has a strong interest in grassroots agriculture and Agroecology, and she is active member of a Community Supported Agriculture project in Vienna. She is also interested in social movement research and she has collaborated with NGOs which support socio-environmental justice movements in both Italy and Austria.

Master 2019; Supervisor: Dr. Viviana Asara