Valentina Materia

Dr. Valentina Materia is an Associate Professor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Wageningen University's Business Management and Organisation group. She holds a PhD in Economics from Università Politecnica delle Marche, Italy. Her research focuses on sustainable food systems governance, women entrepreneurship in challenging environments, and innovation dynamics in agri-food chains. She applies mixed methods and has published in journals like Agricultural Systems and Ecological Economics. Currently, she co-promotes five PhD projects and manages grants from Horizon 2020 (e.g., InbestSoil, Grass Ceiling) and Erasmus+. As education coordinator, she leads courses on entrepreneurship, institutional economics, and sustainable food systems transformations.

Her work emphasizes institutional and organizational perspectives in sustainability transitions, with a focus on inclusivity for marginalized groups. She reviews for top journals (Food Policy, Journal of Cleaner Production) and serves on conference committees. Key research themes include crop diversification, agribusiness innovation strategies, and knowledge management in agricultural systems.