Résumé de la thèse de Giulia Volpini :

This doctoral study analyses how research projects in the agricultural sector can be guided through impact-oriented monitoring and planning to achieve societal transformation. To study such a phenomenon, I define the concept of transformative innovation projects, understood as research initiatives characterised by a mission-oriented ambition, the use of experimental approaches and an inter- and transdisciplinary orientation. These projects are increasingly promoted as key instruments for addressing complex sustainability challenges, yet they often face significant difficulties in achieving their transformative ambitions.

The research draws on an intervention research, aiming at co-experimenting the ASIRPArt approach with two main French research programs, TETRAE and Occitanum, engaged in fostering agroecological transition in France. Through the co-experimentation and the adaptation of such an approach to guide transformative innovation projects in addressing nowadays big societal challenges of the agricultural sector in France, this doctoral research addresses the following research questions: Under which conditions can research projects contribute to societal transformations toward sustainable transition in the agricultural sector?

Through this question, the research explores the fundamental dynamics that can bring TIps to success or failure. First, it conceptualises and adapts impact-oriented project management and monitoring tools to guide such projects. Second, it analyses the role of conflict as an inherent and constitutive dimension of both sustainability transitions and transformative innovation projects, exploring how conflicts can be governed, mediated, or productively mobilised rather than suppressed. Third, it examines the competences, roles, and forms of expertise required within such projects to enable and sustain transformative change. Fourth, it critically examines the constraints imposed by prevailing research cultures, evaluation frameworks, and institutional settings, which often limit the transformative potential of research and innovation projects.

Bringing these axes together, the thesis argues that guiding transformative innovation projects towards societal transformation is fundamentally a matter of governance. In the context of sustainability transitions—characterised by uncertainty, contested values, and long temporal horizons—projects need to pay explicit attention to their internal and external governance. By articulating governance as a central lever of transformation, this thesis contributes to scholarly debates on sustainability research, project management and impact-oriented monitoring and planning, while offering practical insights and tools for the design and steering of research and innovation programmes aimed at supporting agroecological transition.

Détails :

Thèse, dirigée par Pierre-Benoit Joly, sera soutenue devant un jury composé de :

• Sebastian Pfotenhauer, Technical University of Munich
• Madeleine Akrich, École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris
• Pascale Château-Terrisse, INTP ENSAT
• Genowefa Blundo-Canto, CIRAD Montpellier
• Jordi Molas-Gallart, Spanish National Research Council

Voir aussi :

Article de recherche

• Giulia Volpini. Backcasting: An innovative approach to conflict management for transformative innovation projects. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2026, 233, pp.124851. ⟨10.1016/j.techfore.2026.124851⟩

Conférence

• Alexia Gobrecht, Flore Barcellini, Véronique Bellon Maurel, Jacques-Eric Bergez, Cécile Bruère, et al.. A Multilevel Evaluation Approach of Agroecological Living Labs: The Occitanum Case. Adaptation Futures 2023, Agriculture and Agrifood Canada (AAFC) and INRAE (France), Oct 2023, Montréal, Canada. ⟨hal-04843083⟩ Oral presentation