Senior Resident Fellow – University of Victoria

Sophia Carodenuto

Sophia Carodenuto is an Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Victoria (UVic), Canada, where she leads the Environmental Governance Group (envirogov.org). She holds a PhD in Environmental Sciences and an MSc in Environmental Governance from the University of Freiburg, Germany. Before joining UVic, she was a Fellow at the University of Oxford’s Institute for New Economic Thinking (INET) and a Visiting Scholar at Yale University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

From 2012 to 2016, Sophia was based in Cameroon, where she established and managed a regional hub for Central and West Africa with UNIQUE land use, focusing on sustainable land management solutions. Her research integrates science and policy to address sustainability challenges in global food systems, with particular emphasis on land use, climate change, and tropical forest-risk commodities.

Sophia’s work actively bridges academia and practice, collaborating closely with policymakers, businesses, and civil society to advance environmental and social sustainability. A current research focus examines the role of commodity traders in promoting sustainability in agricultural supply chains. Her scholarship is widely recognized, including recent contributions to Nature Sustainability.

Sophia is passionate about amplifying the voices of marginalized actors, particularly smallholder farmers, in global food systems. She frequently engages in public outreach through lectures, media interviews, and articles, including features like The Atlantic’s “Chocolate Might Never Be the Same.”

Sophia Carodenuto