Rosario Michel-Villarreal | Royal Agricultural University

Biography

Programme Manager for the Business courses, Lecturer in Food Supply Chain Management.

Before joining the Royal Agricultural University, I worked at the University of Lincoln and Tecnologico de Monterrey (Mexico). Prior to joining academia in 2014, I worked in the food manufacturing industry as Quality Assurance Technician and Quality Engineer. I have a keen interest in interdisciplinary research including food supply chain management, operations management, digitalisation, resilience and sustainability. My pedagogical research centres around the use of Challenge-based Leaning (CBL), an innovative teaching approach that incorporates reflection, critical analysis and real-life problem solving.

Professional memberships/Board positions

Member of The Institution of Engineering and Technology (MIET)
Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
Member of the European Operations Management Association
Member of the Production and Operations Management Society
Member of the Women’s Engineering Society
Member of the Academic Group of the Network of Highly Skilled Mexicans in the UK
STEM Ambassador for STEM Learning UK

Rosario has now left the RAU.

Research

My research interests lie at the intersection of sustainable operations, food supply chains and rural development, with a primary focus on driving change towards more sustainable and resilient enterprises and food supply networks. I am particularly interested in the role that Short Food Supply Chains (SFSCs) can play in food systems sustainability and resilience, which can contribute towards the improvement of small-farmers' socio-economic conditions and livelihoods.

My recent projects include research on how to improve the potential for adoption of digital technology and implementation of industry 4.0 solutions among rural SMEs, using challenge-based learning to connect relevant stakeholders. Her work on challenge-based learning was awarded the Nigel Slack Teaching Innovation Award 2020 by the European Operations Management Association.

Teaching

I am a fellow of the HEA and my teaching approach integrates experiential and student-centred learning as well as research-led teaching. I’m a strong advocate of ‘students learning by doing’ through meaningful experiences that actively engage them in the construction of their own knowledge.

Module leader

4407 Managing your food and agri-business supply chains

4411 Delivering trust an integrity within the food supply chain

Publications

Academic Journal Papers

Michel-Villarreal, R., Vilalta-Perdomo, E. and Hingley, M. Exploring producers’ motivations and challenges within a farmers’ market. British Food Journal, 122 (7), 2089-2103. ISSN 0007-070X.
Michel-Villarreal, R., Vilalta-Perdomo, E., Hingley, M. and Canavari, M. (2019) Evaluating economic resilience for sustainable agri-food systems: The case of Mexico. Strategic Change Journal, 28 (4). ISSN 1099-1697.
Michel-Villarreal, R., Hingley, M., Canavari, M. and Bregoli, I. (2019) Sustainability in Alternative Food Networks: A Systematic Literature Review. Sustainability Journal, 11 (3) 859. ISSN 2071-1050.

Book chapters

Vilalta-Perdomo, E.L., Michel-Villarreal, R., Lakshmi, G. and Ge, C. (2020) Challenge-Based Learning. A Multidisciplinary Teaching & Learning Approach in the Digital Era: UoL4.0 Challenge, a CBL implementation. In: Engineering Education Trends in the Digital Era. IGI Global. ISBN10: 1799825620.
Vargas-Florez, J., Vilalta-Perdomo, E.L., Hingley, M. and Michel-Villarreal, R. (2019) Microbusiness Collaboration as a Strategy to Increase Resilience in Natural Disasters: The Case of Coastal El Niño in Peru 2017. In: Handbook of Research on Urban and Humanitarian Logistics. IGI Global, pp. 330-346. ISBN 9781522581604
Michel-Villarreal, R., Vilalta-Perdomo, E. and Hingley, M. (2018) Evaluating economic resilience for sustainable agri-food systems: The case of Mexican entrepreneurs and the rural census. In Lindgreen, A., Vallaster, C., Maon, F., Yusofzai, S. and Palacios-Florencio, B. (eds) Sustainable Entrepreneurship: Analyzing, designing, implementing, and monitoring for socially and environmentally responsible entrepreneurship. Routledge.

Selected conference contributions

Michel-Villarreal, R. and Vilalta-Perdomo, E.L. (2020) Embedding industry 4.0 in operations management education using a challenge-based learning approach. In: EurOMA conference 2020, June, 28-30, 2020, University of Warwick, UK (online). It was awarded the Nigel Slack Teaching Award.
Michel-Villarreal, R. and Vilalta-Perdomo, E.L. (2020) Challenge-Based Learning Approach for Introducing Sustainability Concepts: The case of the Food Waste Hub in Lincoln. In: 7^th International EurOMA Sustainable Operations and Supply Chains Forum, February 10-11, 2019, University of Nottingham, UK.
Michel-Villarreal, R. (2019) Towards a framework for mapping and evaluating sustainability in Short Food Supply Chains. In: EurOMA Doctoral Seminar 2020, June 15-16, 2019, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki, Finland.
Michel-Villarreal, R. and Vilalta-Perdomo, E.L. and Hingley, M. (2019) Towards an understanding of farmers’ motivations and challenges within Short Food Supply Chains: The case of farmers’ markets in Mexico. In: 6^th International EurOMA Sustainable Operations and Supply Chains Forum, March 18-19, 2019, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Michel-Villarreal, R., Hingley, M. and Bregoli, I. (2018) Defining alternative food networks: A systematic literature review. Proceedings of the 2018 International Food Marketing Research Symposium, Bournemouth, UK.
Vilalta-Perdomo, E., Michel-Villarreal, R. and Corliss, J. (2017) On defining ‘sustainability’. An impossible task? Institute of Industrial Engineering, IISE Annual Conference and Expo 2017, Pittsburg, PA. May 2017. It was awarded 2017 IISE Best Track Paper for the Sustainable Development Track.
Michel-Villarreal, R. and Vilalta-Perdomo, E. (2016) An initial exploration on the drivers for integrating small-farmers in supply chains and networks: propensity to collaborate. Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers, IISE Annual Conference and Expo 2016, Anaheim, CA. May 2016.
Michel-Villarreal, R. and Vilalta-Perdomo, E. (2016) Overcoming barriers to sustainable food supply chains: The role of rural organisation. Proceedings of the 21^st Annual Logistics Research Network Conference, Hull, September 9, 2016.