Dr. Caravani’s research examines the political economy of food insecurity, environmental hazards, and the governance of risk and uncertainty. He has over fifteen years of experience in research and international development policy, alongside extensive undergraduate and postgraduate teaching experience. His work focuses on food systems, early warning systems, anticipatory action, and social protection, examining how institutions and communities understand, anticipate, and respond to food crises. He recently completed a research project at Tufts University in East Africa and the Horn of Africa, investigating community-based food production systems and local approaches to anticipating and managing food insecurity, particularly among mobile pastoral and agro-pastoral populations. Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the region, his research explores the tensions between institutional risk-management frameworks and indigenous ecological knowledge, highlighting how local every-day practices of adaptation and community-led responses are shaped by wider political and economic forces.
Recent publications
- Caravani, M. and F. Sylos Labini (accepted) Green Energy Revolution: China’s Technological Transformation from Assembler to Innovator. The Journal of European Economic History.
- Caravani, M. (2026) Social Assistance or Capital Protection? Accumulation by (un)certainty in the Era of Global Food Crises. Journal of Peasant Studies. doi: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2026.2678873
- Caravani, M. (2026) ‘Navigating Uncertainty through Institutional Adaptability: the case of Northern Uganda’, in Hassan, R., Mohamed, T. and Derbyshire, S. (eds) Pastoral Prosperities: Re-thinking African Drylands. London: UCL Press.
- Caravani, M. (2025) The Demise of USAID: A “Revolution” Against the Wretched of the Earth, Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, vol 33, no 3, pp347-354. https://bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/jpsj/33/3/article-p347.xml
- Caravani, M. and F. Sylos Labini (2025) China and the Challenge to Western Scientific and Technological Hegemony, Moneta e Credito, vol 78, no 311, pp1-22. https://rosa.uniroma1.it/rosa04/moneta_e_credito/article/view/19012
- Sylos Labini, F. and Caravani, M. (2025) Conflict, Climate and Inequalities: Convergence to a World Crisis, Springer-Verlag, China and Globalisation Series. ISBN: 978-981-96-5839-8.https://link.springer.com/book/9789819658398
- Caravani, M. (2024) The Failing Aid Complex in Uganda’s Northeast, Journal of European Development Research, vol 36, pp1573-1592. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41287-024-00651-y.
- Caravani, M., Lind, J., Sabates-Wheeler, R., Scoones, I. (2022) Providing Social Assistance and Humanitarian Relief: The Case for Embracing Uncertainty, Development Policy Review, vol 40, no 5. https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12613