I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics at the University of Florence (Italy), and I joined the ecological economics (EE) community during my Ph.D., about ten years ago. Since then, I tried to contribute to academic, organizational, and dissemination activities.

My research relates to the field of Ecological Macroeconomics with a specific focus on elaborating policy scenarios to show that there exist several ways to get an equitable and sustainable transition, an alternative to the green growth paradigm. Our results are thought to be used as a base of discussion with grassroots movements, NGOs, and policymakers. I am also collaborating with scholars from Colombia and Nepal to study the relations between extreme poverty and local ecological exploitation.

I am the Country Contact of ESEE for Italy and a member of the coordination group of the Postgrowth Economics Network (PEN, https://www.postgrowtheconomics.org/) and of the Editorial Board of the PEN Working Paper series. PEN’s goal is to create and consolidate a network of young researchers and activists committed to the principles of EE. Also, I was the co-organizer of the last XIV ESEE Conference held in Pisa (https://esee2022pisa.ec.unipi.it/) and of the related summer school together with MIT and Virginia Tech.

I developed, with the University of Padua, the podcast “Back to the future: talks on Ecological Economics” (https://ilbolive.unipd.it/index.php/it/taxonomy/term/10992) that collects interviews and comics to disseminate EE’s ideas toward a broad public. I am also engaged in socio-political activities in my own town.

Then, I’d be really keen on being part of the ISEE Board with the hope that EE can become a milestone both in public opinion and at the political level. Of course, it would be a great opportunity to discuss with and learn from other people how to contribute to the ISEE activities and reinforce the international relevance of EE.

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/tdistefano

Email: tiziano.distefano@unifi.it