Viviana Asara is a visiting student at the European University Institute and a doctoral candidate at the Institute of Environmental Science (ICTA) of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She is currently undertaking research on degrowth and democracy, and the political ecology of the indignados movement in Spain. She holds a master’s degree in Environmental Policy from the University of Cambridge, another master’s degree (“laurea specialistica”) in Political Science from the Università di Bologna and a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication (with a focus on sociology and semiotics). During her bachelor’s and master’s studies she has also undertaken exchange programs at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and at the Université Libre de Bruxelles of 10 months each. She is currently working with Joan Martinez-Alier and Giorgos Kallis for the European (FP7) project RESPONDER, focused on the contradictions between economic growth and sustainable consumption and on knowledge brokerage between policymakers, academics and civil society representatives.

Research interests: democracy, social movements, degrowth, and political ecology