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Ph.D. students

Dirpolis Institute

Enrico Mezzacapo

Bio

Enrico Mezzacapo is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Law (AgLaw Group) at the DIRPOLIS Institute of the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy). Enrico holds an LLM in Food Law from LUISS Guido Carli University School of Law (Rome, Italy). His research revolves around the sustainability of food systems with a specific focus on the legal and policy framework around the ecological restoration of agri-food ecosystems.

Enrico is currently a member of the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law (Agriculture and Soil Specialist Group) and the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER Europe) and the Italian Network for Ecological Restoration (RIRE).

Enrico worked as a visiting researcher for the IUCN Environmental Law Center (Bonn, Germany), the Food Law team of Wageningen University & Research (Wageningen, The Netherlands), and the Law Group of the University of Ghent (Ghent, Belgium). 

Enrico previously worked as a consultant for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO, Rome, Italy) and as an Intern in the political office of the Embassy of Italy to the USA (Washington, D.C.). 

Research

Research Interests:

  • Food Systems
  • Agri-food Law and Policies
  • Environmental Law and Policies
  • International Climate Change Law and Biodiversity Law
  • EU Nature conservation and restoration law and policies  
  • EU Common Agricultural Policy

International and EU Research Project Work

  • Support the research and the delivery of the EU project Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence on EU actions for Sustainable Farming and Food Systems – SUSTAIN” (2024).
  • Member of the team winning the research grant of the “FAO Transformative Research Challenge” with a project called “One Health Lex-Hub". Currently supporting the research and the delivery of the project (October 2023).
  • Support the research and the delivery of the EU project Jean Monnet “EU Law on Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Agriculture after the European Green Deal—SUSTAIN.”(2022-2023)
  • Support the research and the delivery of the EU project “Transnational Project Meeting: The Pathway to European Smart Education in the Agri-Environmental Law under the Covid-19 Crisis" (2021-2022). 

 

Publications

Courses

Teaching

  • Lecturer and organizer of the module in Agri-food Law (20h - Italian) for the course Eno-Food (CNA) Tecnico per la comunicazione, il marketing e l’innovazione dell’esperienza enogastronomica e turistica (Pisa, Italy 2025)

  • Support in the organization and lecturer (8h - English) for the Summer School “Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems in the EU - Legal and Policy Perspectives” Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy, 24-28 July 2024).

  • Support in the organization and lecturer (6h - Italian) for the 2024 Seasonal School “Cibo, diritti e Sostenibilità” Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, focusing on the New CAP 23-27 and the workshop “Food security and environmental measures: a difficult marriage for the EU?” (Pisa, Italy, Jan-Feb 2024).

  • Support in the organization and lecturer (8h - English) for the Wageningen University EU Environmental Law Course 2024 Wageningen University, with a focus on agri-food environmental issues (Wageningen, The Netherlands, Jan-Feb 2024).

  • Lecturer for the Wageningen University Food Law Course 2023 in a module (2h - English) on Food Chemical Safety and Soil Health Law (Wageningen, The Netherlands, December 2023).

  • Support in the organization and lecturer (6h - English) at the Summer School “Sustainable farming and food systems in the EU law and policy framework” Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy, 24-28 July 2023).

  • Support in the organization and lecturer (4h - Italian) for the 2023 Seasonal School “Cibo, diritti e Sostenibilità” Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, focusing on The New CAP 23-27 and the environmental sustainability aspects of the NSPs (Pisa, Italy, 06 February 2023).

  • Support in the organization and lecturer (4h - English) at the Summer School “CAP 23-27 and Sustainable Food Systems” Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies (Pisa, Italy, 18-22 July 2022).

International Conferences 

  • Speaker at the 4th IUCN WCEL World Environmental Law Congress, "Integrated Legal Protection of Air, Water, and Land" with a presentation on the Synergies between the Nature Restoration Law and the Common Agriculture Policy in the EU  (Rabat, Morocco, May 2025).

  • Speaker at the XVI World Congress on Agrarian Law (UMAU), presentation on the EU Nature Restoration Law implementation in the agri-food sector (Belém do Pará, Brazil, September 2024).

  • Speaker for the conference “Legal Issues for a Sustainable Agri-food Chain” organized by The Food Law Academic Network (FLAN), with a focus on the restoration of agri-food ecosystems under the Nature Restoration Law (Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy, 15-17 May 2024).

  • Speaker for the IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law event presentation on “Science-policy interface in the rule of Nature Restoration in the Agri-food Sector” (Online, 24 April 2024).

  • Speaker for the Event “Navigating the Future of EU Sustainable Food System” Presentation on “The Nature and Climate agenda at COP28” (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, Italy, February 2024).

  • Member of Sant’Anna University delegation to the 2023 UN Conference of the Parties on Climate Change (COP28) Reporting on Nature and agri-food negotiations (Dubai, UAE, 2-13 December 2023).

  • Speaker for the Conference “Congreso Derecho Agroalimentario de la Universidad de Lleida” Presentation on Nature Restoration Law and Agri-food ecosystems (Lleida, Spain, 16 November 2023).

  • Speaker for the World Food Forum Conference Organized by the FAO, with a project on One Health and Eco-Health legal implementation (Rome, Italy, October 2023).

  • Speaker for the Conference “The Future of Food Law” Presentation on “The New CAP and the Sustainability Challenges” (Wageningen, The Netherlands, 25-26 May 2023).

  • Speaker for the Seminar “Ciclo de seminarios del Área de Derecho administrativo” Presentation on The New CAP 23-27 and the National Strategic Plans (Universidad de Lleida, Lleida, Spain, 24 January 2023).