Philippe Mathys is a doctoral student in Biomedical Ethics at the University of Basel (IBMB) with a background in agricultural sciences and economics. He obtained a Master’s degree in agricultural sciences at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zürich, Switzerland) with a thesis combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to study the expert discourses and their impact on citizens during the Swiss Citizens’ Assembly on Food Policy.

During his studies, he worked in two research groups at ETH Zürich: The Agricultural Economics and Policy group (AECP) and the Food System Economics and Policy group (FSEP) and also briefly joined the Swiss national agricultural research institute (Agroscope) and the Swiss research institute for Forest, Snow and Landscapes (WSL) as part of internships and civil service. Overall, his studies and experiences have led him to question the way modern food systems function, and in particular the way in which their development and transformation are justified throughout time and by the various political norms projected onto them.

Philippe’s research at the IBMB is part of the Swiss NRP84 “Social and Ethical implications of new plant breeding techniques: integrating stakeholder perspectives on planetary health”.