Mirta Alessandrini earned a PhD in Food Law at Doctoral School on the Agro-Food System (AGRISYSTEM) – Universitá Cattolica Sacro Cuore (UNICATT). She has a legal background, holding a Master's degree in Law (cum laude) from Universitá degli Studi di Milano.
In her PhD thesis, she investigates the role of small farmers and the Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs) within the EU legal framework to understand whether the latter inhibits or rather fosters this alternative system of production and supply. Using a comparative approach, she completes the analysis with an overview of the regulatory approach adopted on the subject matter by California to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the two legal models. She conducted a research visit at the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC).
At WUR Mirta Alessandrini is a Lecturer and Researcher in the Law Group. She coordinates the 'Regulation and Legal Transformation of Food Systems' course and the 'Agri-environmental Law and Policy' course. She also teaches in the Food Law course.
She is the Academic Coordinator for the Master's 'Food Law & Regulatory Affairs' and the leader of the WUR Academy - Seminar 'EU Farm to Fork Food Laws'.
She was a Researcher for the SmartChain project until 2021. The project promotes innovation in the short food supply chains, fosters rural development with a multi-actor approach, and provides pioneering solutions to concrete problems.
Having a specific focus on food legislation, she tackles scientific research with an interdisciplinary approach – from sociology to environmental disciplines -. In particular, she is an expert in Short Food Supply Chains with a deep interest in all the legal issues this topic involves.
Her research also addresses the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and food waste legislation.