F. Oncini
Filippo Oncini is an Assistant Professor at the Maastricht Sustainability Institute, Maastricht University. He earned his PhD in Sociology and Social Research from the University of Trento in 2018, with a dissertation on children's food inequalities and access to school meals in Italy. His research focuses on food consumption and provision systems, with an emphasis on social inequalities, cultural stratification, food insecurity, and urban poverty. He employs a range of methodologies, including ethnographic fieldwork and large survey data analysis.
His recent projects, funded by the Marie Curie Fellowship and the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science, and conducted in Manchester and Kyoto, explored the dynamics of cooperation and competition among various food charities in the UK and Japan, with particular attention to the relationship between social and environmental sustainability. From January 2025, he will further pursue these topics through the ERC Starting Grant for his project, FOOD CHARITIES.
He is currently the Master’s thesis coordinator for the "Sustainability Science, Policy, and Society" program.
Expertises
My work primarily investigates food consumption and provision systems, with a strong focus on diverse research methodologies and theoretical frameworks. I view food as a powerful lens through which to examine and understand broader social phenomena such as inequality, stratification, solidarity, and sustainability.
My research is characterized by methodological eclecticism, utilizing a range of approaches depending on the project. I have used and/or combined long-term ethnographic fieldwork, semi-structured interviews, large-scale surveys, and social network analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of food systems and their wider social implications.
Career history
- Since October 2023: Assistant professor at Maastricht Sustainability Institute, Maastricht University (NL)
- October 2022–August 2023: Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellow, Kyoto Prefectural University (JP)
- November 2019–September 2022: Marie Curie Fellow and Honorary Research Fellow at the Sustainable Consumption Institute, University of Manchester (UK)
- June 2018–May 2019: Research Fellow – Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento (IT)
- Jan 2018–Jun 2018: Research Fellow – Bruno Kessler Foundation (IT)
- November 2013–February 2018: PhD candidate in Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento