Rate My Professor Francesca Marzatico

Dr Francesca Marzatico serves as a Lecturer in the School of Surveying at the University of Otago, specializing in traditional governance, land tenure, and natural resources management. She holds a PhD from the University of Naples, a MASt and DEA from the University of Salamanca, an LLM with honors from Naples, and an LLB-Grado with honors from Salamanca. With over two decades of professional experience, Marzatico has worked extensively in post-conflict and transitional contexts across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. Her previous roles included advising governments and communities for United Nations agencies such as FAO, UNDP, UN-Habitat, and IOM, as well as multilateral development banks including the Asian Development Bank and World Bank, and various NGOs. She joined the University of Otago in 2019, bringing her expertise in human rights, natural resources governance, indigenous land rights, and traditional governance systems.

Marzatico's research interests encompass land tenure, natural resources governance, climate change, human mobility, conflicts, and the participation of marginalized groups including women, youth, and vulnerable communities, particularly in the Pacific region. Her current projects address gender-based violence and land dispossession, land governance and traditional systems in the Pacific, and climate change impacts on land and housing in Aotearoa New Zealand. She coordinates and lectures in land tenure courses including SURV 206 (Land Tenure 1), SURV 306 (Land Tenure 2), SURV 456/556 (Land Tenure 3/Advanced), and contributes to GEOG 401 (Theories of Development). Notable publications include "Southern Sudan referendum on self-determination: Legal challenges and procedural solutions" in the Journal of African Elections (2011), "Mine action and land rights in South Sudan: Key findings and recommendations" (2013), and co-authorship in "Glacier intervention research isn't just for glaciologists" published in Eos (2025). At Otago, she serves as the School of Surveying Research Seminar coordinator since 2022, Kaiāwhina for Māori students, Pacific Islands student support liaison, and Auckland liaison. She has delivered public lectures, such as "The Law from below," reflecting on her fieldwork with the West Rennell community in the Solomon Islands.