Gianna’s research examines the fourth energy transition towards renewable energy, exploring its impacts on human and environmental wellbeing from a post-growth perspective. While shifting to renewable energy is essential to decarbonize the economy, the transition often brings conflicts over land, water, and mineral extraction, along with growing pressures on ecosystems and vulnerable communities, meaning that an equitable sharing of burdens and benefits is not necessarily guaranteed. Because of these potential trade-offs, a successful decarbonization strategy must incorporate both production and consumption-based policies to ensure that the economy is operating within planetary boundaries while meeting people’s needs.

To explore some of these dynamics, a mixed-methods approach that combines Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models with qualitative methods is used. By analyzing various energy transition scenarios, the research aims to assess how considering natural resource constraints and including justice-oriented strategies that address regional inequalities affect human and environmental wellbeing.

The PhD project begins with an integrated impact assessment of the different socio-economic and environmental trade-offs resulting from policy changes in the energy sector. CGE models, which capture economy-wide interactions, help identify potential conflicts and guide policymaking processes. To evaluate various policy pathways, an indicator framework is developed, drawing on wellbeing and beyond-GDP literature. The framework encompasses 12 categories – water-use, energy-use, land-use, material-use, emissions, food security, energy security, equality, health, income, employment, macro economy – and is measured by 41 indicators, where possible at the sub-regional level.

To contextualize CGE results, expert-interviews with stakeholders – including industry, policymakers, and civil society – will explore the socio-political feasibility of different policy options. More precisely, the idea is to investigate how the complex CGE results can be interpreted and prioritized by different stakeholders in the studied countries, ensuring that the planning process accounts for the multidimensional impacts of the energy transition.

In conclusion, the purpose of thisdissertation is to understand how different energy transition pathways impact the economy-society-environment nexus and how these trade-offs can be effectively conveyed to stakeholders and policymakers to support long-term viable strategies. Ultimately, it seeks to provide valuable insights for planning a just energy transition.

The PhD Project is part of the ReFuel.ch Consortium (REnewable FUELs and CHemicals for Switzerland), a SWEET-funded project (Swiss Energy research for the Energy Transition) from the Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE).

• Supervisor:Prof. Dr. Ruth Delzeit, Professor of Global and Regional Land-use Change, Department of Environmental Sciences
• Co-supervisor:Prof. Dr. Janina Grabs, Professor of Sustainability Research, Department of Social Sciences

Gianna is a PhD Candidate in Sustainability Research in the Departments of Social and Environmental Sciences. She holds a MSc degree in Economic Development from Lund University and a BA in International Relations form the University of Geneva. Prior to joining the University of Basel, she gained experience in research and international cooperation across various organizations. She worked as a research assistant at Lund University, contributing to projects about the “Blue Economy in Latin America” and the “Syrian climate-migration-conflict nexus”. She also held roles at the German Development Agency (GIZ), two Swiss and Italian NGOs, and the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the UN, focusing on economic and agricultural development, environmental protection, and social inclusion. Her work spanned multiple countries, including Germany, Madagascar, Senegal, Sweden and Italy, addressing issues such as sustainable fisheries and aquaculture, circular economy, and agroecology.

Energy transition, energy justice, degrowth and post-growth, sustainability and wellbeing indicators, mixed-methods research, economic modeling

• Small-scale Freshwater Aquaculture, Income Generation and Food Security in Rural Madagascar (Angermayr, Palacio & Chaminade, 2023)
• Pathways to a Sustainable Blue Economy in Latin America and the Caribbean (Palacio, Chaminade & Angermayr, 2023)
• The Syrian Climate-Migration-Conflict Nexus: An Annotated Bibliography (Angermayr, Dinc & Eklund, 2022)

Fall semester 2025
Qualitative Research Design: How to Conduct and Analyze Interviews
Methods course for the Geography and Geosciences Masters

• Member of the PhD program in Science and Policy, Zürich-Basel PSC (Plant Science Center – UNIBAS-ETH-UZH)
• Member of the Graduate School of Social Sciences (G3S)
• Member of the Research Network Sustainable Futures