From Vigo to Catania

On March 28, a new Explicit Project secondment started in Catania, Italy. The team consisting of  Salvio Nicosia, Provincial President of Federconsumatori, and Salvatore Canella, Carmela di Mauro, Alessandro Ancarani from the University of Catania, welcomed PhD student Joana Amorim from the University of Vigo. 

The secondment took place at the headquarters of Federconsumatori, a non-for-profit association whose main objectives are to inform and protect consumers and users. The consumer experts collaborate with different institutions such as universities and the Parliament, as they have been working for years to defend consumer rights and have contributed to their constitution. 

This secondment comes at a very opportune moment since one of the main performance areas of Federconsumatori concerning consumers is the energy problems, which are closely linked to the performance areas of the circular economy (CE). During the secondment, PhD student Joana Amorim accompanied Provincial President Salvio Nicosia and the rest of the Federconsumatori team in their daily work, advising consumers in Catania on issues such as water, energy, gas and waste, food, banking and insurance, housing, prices and tariffs, shopping and e-commerce, school and university, telecommunications, transport and tourism, politics and society, and economic policy. Thus, it is possible to analyse the wide range of issues and problems on which Federconsumatori offers advice and assistance to consumers.