INGENIO [CSIC-UPV] - Instituto de Gestión de la Innovación y del Conocimiento

PhD in Human Rights and Democracy from the U. of Valencia; Full Professor at Universidad Politécnica de Valencia (UPV) and Deputy Director of Ingenio Research Institute (CSIC-UPV). Extraordinary Professor of the University of the Free State (South Africa). Co-ademic director of the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIPC), an international consortium of leading European research institutes and national countries working on Science, Technology and Innovation Policy. More than 130 international and national publications in the following areas: human development, social innovation, education, participation, technology and sustainability (papers, books and book chapters). Relevant research on higher education, social and grassroots innovation in the field of energy, food and digital sectors. Expert in the use of participatory methodologies to co-design, implement and evaluate policy initiatives in the field of transformative evaluation, development education and participatory policy. Large experience and records in the field of development education and global citizenship education.

From 2011-2023, PI of 15 research projects from international, national and local grant calls (total amount 979.693€) and 12 contracts with national and local public and private institutions (total amount 338.413€). With a broad network of national and partners with whom research and publish. Invited researcher at Institut Mines-Telecom- Business School, Evry-France (2022), Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana, Medellín-Colombia (2019), University College of London-UK (2016-2017), University of New York-USA (2011), Erasmus University at Rotterdam-Netherlands (2009) and University of Sussex-UK (2007).

Editor in chief of the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities and Associate Editor of the Iberoamerican Journal of Development Studies. Awarded with the University College of London Grand Challenge Prize (sept. 2019) for a meaningful engagement between academics and practitioners.

Awarded by the Spanish Research Council in 2023 for her PhD supervision career; from 2010 to 2023 has supervised 18 PhD thesis in 4 different Universities. Her doctoral students are working in the academic sector (as associate professors, lecturers and postdoc researchers), in local administrations (Valencian municipality or technical staff in universities), private sector (Ford company), educational sector (vocational education teacher), third sector (NGOs in Belgium and Spain).

Main recent papers:

Diana Velasco, Bipashyee Ghosh, Alejandra Boni, Katharina Schiller, Laura Winkler (2024), Building a knowledge infrastructure for Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP). An analytical approach based on the experimental TIP conference 2022, Environmental Science & Policy, 160.

Matias Ramirez, Alejandra Boni, Imogen Wade & Rob Byrne, (2024) How does transformative innovation policy travel across physical and cognitive spaces? Exploring the role of mutable fluid space in experimental policy engagements, Environmental Innovation and Societal Transitions 52 (2024) 100881, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eist.2024.100881

Alejandra Boni, Diana Velasco, Jordi Molas-Gallart, Johan Schot, (2023) Evaluating transformative innovation policy in a formative way: Insights from Vinnova’s food mission experiment, Research Evaluation, 2023;, rvad029, https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvad029

Joaquín M. Azagra-Caro & Alejandra Boni (2023): Enlarging the knowledge transfer realm through engagement with research stakeholders: a conversation attempt with action research, Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society, DOI: 10.1080/25729861.2023.2213596

Tabarés, R and Boni, A.(2023) Maker culture and its potential for STEM education, Int J Technol Des Educ, 33, 241-260, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-021-09725

Monique Leivas Vargas, Alejandra Boni Aristizábal & Lina María Zuluaga (2023)  Capabilities for epistemic liberation: the case of hermeneutical insurrection of the Network of Community Researchers in Medellin, Colombia, Journal of Global Ethics, 19:1, 43-62, 2023.
DOI: 10.1080/17449626.2022.2079707

Melanie Walker, Alejandra Boni, Carmen Martinez-Vargas & Melis Cin (2022). An Epistemological Break: Redefining Participatory Research in Capabilitarian Scholarship, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 23:1, 1-7,
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2022.2019987

Boni, A, Velasco, D. & M. Tau (2021), The Role of Transformative Innovation for SDGs Localisation. Insights from the South-African “Living Catchments Project, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 22, 4, pag.737-747.

Molas-Gallart, J., Boni, A., Giachi, S., & Schot, J. (2021). A formative approach to the evaluation of Transformative Innovation Policies. Research Evaluation, 30(4), 431-442.

Pellicer-Sifres, V., Simcock, N., & Boni, A. (2021). Understanding the multiple harms of energy poverty through Nussbaum’s theory of central capabilities. Local Environment, 26(8), 1026-1042.

Velasco, D., Boni, A., Delgado, C., & Rojas-Forero, G. D. (2021). Exploring the role of a Colombian university to promote just transitions. An analysis from the human development and the regional transition pathways to sustainability. Sustainability, 13(11), 6014.

Belda-Miquel, S. Pellicer-Sifres, V and A. Boni, (2020), Exploring the Contribution of Grassroots Innovations to Justice: Using the Capability Approach to Normatively Address Bottom Up Sustainable Transitions Practices,  Sustainability, 12(9), 3617. (Q1).

Boni, A, López-Fogués, A, Millán G y Belda-Miquel, S. 2020. Analysing participatory video thorugh the capability approach - A case study in Quart de Poblet (Valencia-Spain), Action Research, 8, 3, 282-301, DOI: 10.1177/1476750317715073

Boni, A and D. Velasco, 2019, Epistemic Capabilities and Epistemic Injustice: What is the Role of Higher Education in Fostering Epistemic Contributions of Marginalized Knowledge Producers?,  GLOBAL JUSTICE : THEORY PRACTICE RHETORIC (12/1) 2019 https://doi.org/10.21248/gjn.12.01.228

Sergio Belda-Miquel, Alejandra Boni & Carola Calabuig (2019), SDG Localisation and Decentralised Development Aid: Exploring Opposing Discourses and Practices in Valencia's Aid Sector, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 20:4, 386-402, DOI: 10.1080/19452829.2019.1624512

Alejandra Boni, Aurora López-Fogués, Álvaro Fernández-Baldor, Gynna Millan & Sergio Belda-Miquel (2019)  Initiatives towards a participatory Smart city. The role of digital grassroots innovations, Journal of Global Ethics, 15:2, 168-182, DOI: 10.1080/17449626.2019.1636115

Boni, A., Sastre, J.J. y C. Calabuig, (2019) Educating engineers for the public good through internships in developing countries: An exploration based on a case study at the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain) Science and Engineering Ethics, 2019, 25:1799–1815 DOI 10.1007/s11948-015-9728-z

Boni, Alejandra; Belda-Miquel, Sergio & Pellicer-Sifres, Victoria, (2019) Innovación transformadora. Propuestas desde la innovación social colectiva para el desarrollo humano. Recerca. Revista de Pensament i Anàlisi, 23, pp. 67-94.

Boris Lazzarini, Agustí Pérez-Foguet and Alejandra Boni, (2018) Key characteristics of academics promoting Sustainable Human Development within engineering studies, Journal of Cleaner Production, 2018, Volume 188, 1 July 2018, Pages 237-252

Victoria Pellicer-Sifres, Sergio Belda-Miquel, Iván Cuesta-Fernández and Alejandra Boni, (2018) Learning, transformative action, and grassroots innovation: Insights from the Spanish energy cooperative Som Energia. Energy Research & Social Science, Volume 42, August 2018, Pages 100-111.

A. Boni, G. F. Millán Franco & M. A. Millán Franco (2018), When Collectivity Makes a Difference: Theoretical and Empirical Insights from Urban and Rural Communities in Colombia, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 19, 2, 216-231.

Boni, A. & Calabuig, C. (2017) Education for global citizenship at universities. Potentialities of formal and informal learning spaces to foster cosmopolitanism,  Journal of Studies in International Education, 2017, 21 (1), pp. 22-38 DOI: 10.1177/1028315315602926

Hueso, Andrés; Boni, Alejandra; Fernández-Baldor, Álvaro, Embracing the complexity of policy processes in sanitation: insights from India, Development Policy Review 10.1111/dpr.12246 2017

Victoria Pellicer-Sifres, Sergio Belda-Miquel, Aurora López-Fogués & Alejandra Boni Aristizábal, (2017) Grassroots Social Innovation for Human Development: An Analysis of Alternative Food Networks in the City of Valencia (Spain), Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 2017, DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19452829.2016.1270916    

Belda-Miquel S, Boni Aristizábal, A. y M.F. Sañudo Pazos, (2015) Informal learning for citizenship building in shared struggles for rights:Cases of political solidarity between Colombian and Spanish organizations, Voluntas. 10.1007/s11266-015-9598-7.

Boni Aristizábal, A. & Calabuig-Tormo, C.Enhancing pro-public-good professionalism in technical studies, Higher Education 2016, 71, 6:791-804. 10.1007/s10734-015-9916-4

A. Frediani, A. Boni and Des Gasper  "Approaching Development Projects from a Human Development and Capability Perspective", Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 2014, 15:1, 1-12.

Books and book chapters

- Walker, M, Boni, A & D. Velasco eds (2024), Reparative Futures and Transformative Learning Spaces, Springer.

- Belda-Miquel, S. & A. Boni (eds) (2023), Innovación para la Transformación Social y Ambiental, Tirant Humanidades.

- Velasco, D., Boni, A., & Chalela, S. (2021), Developing Transformative Innovation Through Policy Experimentation in Two Colombian Universities. In Science, Technology, and Higher Education (pp. 181-204). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
- A. Boni  and A.A. Frediani (2021), Expanding capabilities through participatory action research in The Cambridge Handbook of the Capability Approach, Martinetti, Osmani and Quizilbash (eds), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 477-495.
- Boruncle, Imbach, Zamora, Urueña and Boni  (2021), Building Local Strategies for the adaptation to climate change of farming livelihoods. Review of a participatory approach in Mesoamerica in Lachapelle, Gutierréz-Montes and Butler (eds) Community Capacity and Resilience in Latin America, Routledge, New York/London. Pp.32-51.
- M. Walker and A. Boni (ed.) (2020), Participatory Research, Capabilities and Epistemic Justice. A transformative agenda for higher education, Palgrave McMillan, Springer, Switzerland.

- Boni, Belda-Miquel y Calabuig, 2020, Educación para la ciudadaniá global crítica, Sintésis, Madrid.

- Boni, A y M. Walker (2016), Universities and Global Human Development. Theoretical and empirical insights for social change, World Sustainability Series,  Routledge,  London
- Boni and Walker, (eds.) (2013) Human Development and Capabilities. Re-imagining the university of the twenty-first century, Routledge.