Mónica Truninger, a sociologist, joined the Social Sciences Institute of the University of Lisbon in 2008 as an assistant researcher and in 2013, under the Researcher Program FCT 2012 was hired as Principal Investigator. Graduated in Sociology from ISCTE in 1996, she works as research assistant in the Observes Program between 1997 and 2001 in several projects on environment and society. In 2001 she went to England where she received his PhD in Sociology from the University of Manchester. Her thesis entitled ‘Organic Food in Portugal: Conventions and Justifications’ is about consumption and the ‘bio’ market (organic farming products) in Portugal, particularly in the Lisbon area.
Between 2005 and 2008 she joined an interdisciplinary team from the Universities of Bangor (Wales) and Surrey (England) as a postdoctoral researcher. The project, co-ordinated by Gareth Edwards-Jones and included in the UK’s Rural Economy and Land Use program, examined the nutritional, environmental and social impacts of the production and transport of fresh vegetables from countries like Kenya and Spain to the UK, comparing these impacts with those of the more localized production and transport (United Kingdom). One of the contributions of this project was to question the concept of ‘food miles’ (or ‘food miles’) as a reliable indicator of food sustainability. In this project, the sociological part was dedicated to the investigation of food cultures around the local products in rural space. The opportunity to work in an interdisciplinary team (with soil scientists, environment scientists, biochemists, nutritionists and health economists) was very enriching in the analysis of complex problems such as climate change, consumption and food. Perhaps because of this, the first postdoctoral articles she published are inscribed in interdisciplinary journals.
Before returning to Portugal, she also attended the University of Cardiff (Wales) where she was research assistant in a comparative project between the United Kingdom and Italy on school meals and sustainability. The path of Sociology of Environment, Food and Consumption would not have been possible without the important influences of both the lively classes of Sociology of the Environment and the dynamic projects developed in the OBSERVA Program.
The projects currently under development are in the area of food safety and hygiene and health issues in consumers; fresh food; food insecurity in vulnerable populations; school food system and sustainable public procurement; renewable energy; household technologies and cooking practices; sustainable consumption. The theoretical approach focuses on the theories of practice informed by a material semiotic sensitivity. The methodological approaches are mixed, from quantitative to qualitative methods.
Projects
Coordination
SafeConsumE: Safer food through changed consumer behavior
Transe-AC: transição social e ambiental: alternativas e comuns [TRANSE-AC : Social and Environmental Transition]
Families and Food Poverty in Three European Countries in an Age of Austerity
INSEGALM – Pobreza e Insegurança Alimentar Doméstica das Famílias com Crianças
Entre a escola e a família: conhecimentos e práticas alimentares das crianças em idade escolar
Sustentabilidade e Consumo Alimentar em Portugal: os produtos de qualidade em espaço urbano e rural
Collaboration
Trânsitos: cultura material, migrações e vida quotidiana
Enacting freshness in the UK and Portuguese agri-food sectors
Electroteen – Rotinas, reflexividade e mudança no consumo de energia associado ao uso dos media eletrónicos pelos adolescentes em tempo de escassez
Tornando profissões de sonho realidade: transições para novos mundos profissionais atractivos aos jovens
Consensos e controvérsias socio-técnicas sobre energias renováveis
CHANGE: Mudanças Climáticas, Costeiras e Sociais – erosões glocais, concepções de risco e soluções sustentáveis em Portugal
