Gianelli contribute to expanding desirable futures for the ocean by engaging diverse people and actors, drawing on existing innovative sustainability initiatives, collaborating with artists, and using storytelling to inspire and involve broader audiences.

Gianelli is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the INSPIRI project (Imaginative Narratives and Scenarios for Inspiring Restoration and Innovation for European Seas and Water Systems). He coordinates co-creation processes across the Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Bay of Biscay, and the Danube Delta, supporting the collective envisioning of desirable futures. Through these collaborative processes, communities, stakeholders, artists, researchers, among others, imagine and embody sustainable futures and pathways, while working hand-in-hand with local and regional actors to outline and enact concrete actions. INSPIRI also serves as a cross-site learning platform, facilitating the exchange of experiences and insights to scale up desirable futures across European waters.

In his first postdoctoral position, Gianelli worked at CNRS (France) under the supervision of Joachim Claudet, where he facilitated a group of marine and coral reef experts in envisioning future trajectories for coral reefs and identifying pathways to achieve them. He also co-led an art–science collaboration aimed at embodying future imaginaries through storytelling and visual arts.

Gianelli completed a PhD in Marine Science at the University of Santiago de Compostela in January 2025, supervised by Sebastian Villasante. His doctoral research examined the multiple meanings of transformative change in small-scale fisheries using a multiscale and transdisciplinary approach. This work involved creating a transformative space with fishers, gastronomes, entrepreneurs, artists, designers, and researchers connected to small-scale fisheries in Uruguay, alongside several art–science collaborations, including the production of a short film.

Gianelli holds an MSc in Ecology from the University of the Republic (Uruguay), supervised by Omar Defeo, focusing on the effects of increasingly harsh weather conditions on small-scale fishery dynamics. Prior to this, he worked at the university’s Marine Science Unit and later served as a consultant for Uruguay’s Fisheries Management Agency as an expert in fishery resources.

Gianelli is part of the extended secretariat of the Earth Commission 2.0, contributing to the Transformation Pathways Workstream. He also serves on the Organizing Committee of the Interdisciplinary Marine Early Career Research Network (IMECaN - IMBER), fostering collaboration, capacity building, and knowledge exchange among early-career researchers across marine disciplines.

Gianelli is also affiliated as a Research Associate with the South American Institute for Resilience and Sustainability Studies (SARAS) in Uruguay, and as an Honorary Research Fellow with the Centre for Sustainability Transitions (CST) at Stellenbosch University in South Africa.

Awards and achievements

• The project Fishing Transformations, co-led by Gianelli, was longlisted for the 2026 Food Planet Prize.
• The short film Fishing Transformations, produced by Gianelli, was selected as a finalist in the category “Transforming Agri-Food Systems” at the World Food Forum Film Festival (2023).
• Gianelli was awarded the Future Earth Pathways Communication Grant for the project “The Backstage of Transformations: Envisioning Small-Scale Fisheries Futures in a Global South Context.”
  

Supervisor

Laura Pereira