Mathews Virch Lopes
PhD candidate, University of São Paulo (USP) | Special Advisor, Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Farming (MDA) | APIICC Project: fieldwork in Brazil
He is an architect and urban planner, graduating from the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of São Paulo (FAU/USP) in 2018. He is currently a doctoral candidate in environmental sciences at the Institute of Energy and Environment at the University of São Paulo (PROCAM/IEE/USP) since 2022, and has served as a special advisor to the Minister of Agrarian Development and Family Farming (MDA) since 2024. He is also a member of the United Nations Food Systems Coordination Hub's Young Leadership Program on Food Systems (YLP) (2024). He has over eight years of experience in the formulation, management, and implementation of public policies focused on family farming and food systems. He has held positions including Production Chain Manager at the São Paulo Development Agency (ADE SAMPA) (2023–2024), Director of Agriculture at the São Paulo Municipal Secretariat for Economic Development (2022–2023), Project Manager for the “Connect the Dots” initiative (2022), and Project Analyst (2019–2021). He holds a specialization in Design for Sustainability from Gaia Education. Within the APIICC project, he supports the Brazilian team and is responsible for analyzing national instruments (WP2), particularly the resolutions of the National Monetary Council that link rural credit in Brazil to environmental requirements and good agricultural practices. His research interests include public policy, institutional innovation, family farming, food systems, climate governance, rural development, and information and communication technologies.