Ilaria Ravazzolo

Email: Ilaria.Ravazzolo@warwick.ac.uk

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Current PhD student & Graduate Teaching Assistant

Biography

Ilaria is a PhD candidate in Global Sustainable Development, where she also works as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. She holds a BASc in Economic Studies and Global Sustainable Development and an MASc in Global Sustainable Development also from the University of Warwick and has experience mentoring and supporting undergraduate students, both in the department and in the wider university. Her research interests lie at the intersection of gender, food, and identity, with a particular interest in the sense of belonging among Italians in Switzerland. Ilaria is passionate about valuing women's voices, embodied knowledge and everyday histories, both within academia and for a wider audience. She is putting this into practice in her research, teaching and student support work as well as in her role as editor for Women's History Today, the journal of the Women's History Network.

Being Swiss-Italian, Ilaria brings a personal connection to her research, combining her heritage with her academic expertise. Her work draws on interdisciplinary approaches to examine identity and belonging and challenge popular stereotypes and essentialist narratives. She is particularly interested in how everyday food work - such as food preparation and sharing meals - intersects with gender and social norms. Through her teaching and research, Ilaria is committed to creating inclusive, engaging learning environments and fostering a deeper understanding of the social and cultural dimensions of sustainability.

Research Overview

Ilaria's doctoral research explores how Italian mothers and grandmothers in Switzerland experience identity and belonging through everyday food practices. Drawing on gastrofeminism, her work examines the kitchen as both a physical and conceptual space where cultural knowledge, family relationships, and gendered labour intersect. By centring women's narratives, the research highlights how cooking, feeding, and sharing meals function not just as domestic activities but as sites of cultural preservation, intergenerational knowledge transfer, and subtle forms of resistance to patriarchal norms.

To capture these dynamics, Ilaria uses oral history interviews in the form of kitchen table conversations, inviting participants to reflect on culinary practices and their impact on notions of identity and belonging. This methodology emphasises embodied, sensory, and relational ways of knowing, enabling rich insights into how traditions, recipes, and cultural values are transmitted and adapted across generations. Ilaria's research situates individual and family practices within broader social, cultural, and historical contexts, addressing intersections of gender, migration, and diasporic identity while challenging stereotypes of Italian motherhood and food practices.

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Academic Background

PhD Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick (2024 - present)

• Thesis: 'Cooking Identity: A Gastrofeminist Oral History of (Grand)Mothers' Belonging and Identity in Everyday Food Practices'

MASc Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick (2023 - 2024)

• Thesis: 'The Language of Integration: Exploring the Importance of Language in the Intergenerational Integration of Italians in Switzerland' under the supervision of Professor Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla

BASc Economic Studies and Global Sustainable Development, University of Warwick (2020 - 2023)

• Thesis: 'Challenging the "Success Story" of Italian Integration in Switzerland: The Perspectives of Italian Women' under the supervision of Dr Maria Gavris

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Supervisors

• Dr Edward Loveman - Assistant Professor in Global Sustainable Development and Design Studies
• Professor Stéphanie Panichelli-Batalla - Professor in Global Sustainable Development and Academic Director for Sustainability
• Dr Gioia Panzarella - Associate Professor in Global Sustainable Development

Research Interests

• Food and identity
• Everyday belonging
• Women's narratives
• Oral history

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Teaching Experience

As a GTA, Ilaria has been involved in the teaching of the following modules in the School for Cross-Faculty Studies:

• Economic Principles of Global Sustainable Development (GD104)
• Global Sustainable Development Project (GD107)
• Health and Sustainable Development (GD204/212)
• Security, Sovereignty, and Sustainability in the Global Food System (GD205) - guest lecture
• Consuming Cultures (IP205) - guest lecture

In addition, she has been involved in the marking of assessments for the following modules:

• Economic Principles of Global Sustainable Development (GD104)
• Dissertation/Independent Study (GD307)
• Health and Sustainable Development (GD204/212)

Ilaria also works as a GTA supporting undergraduate students in regular drop-in advice sessions through the Faculty of Arts' Writing Lab.

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Conference Papers

'The Politics of the Everyday: Gastrofeminism and the Gendered Meanings of Food Work' - Graduate Seminar Series Session 1: (In)Formal Labour and the Role of Women's Bodies, Centre for the Study of Women and Gender, University of Warwick, November 2025

‘Gastrofeminism in the Kitchen: The Role of (Grand)Mothers in the Evolution of Food Practices’ – International Conference on Food Studies: "Culinary Evolutions", London Centre for Interdisciplinary Research, August 2025

‘Cooking Identity: A Gastrofeminist Oral History of (Grand)Mothers, Belonging and Identity’ – Global Sustainable Development PhD Symposium, University of Warwick, June 2025