DC10: Nihal Douadi

About Nihal and Her Academic Background

Nihal Douadi is an Algerian agricultural economist specialising in business economics, management, and the economic analysis of the agri-food sector.

She completed a first master’s degree at the Higher National School of Agronomy in Algeria. She then moved to Greece to pursue a Master of Science in Business Economics and Management at CIHEAM-MAICh.

Through this academic background, she developed expertise in agricultural economics, business decision-making, and the evaluation of economic challenges affecting food-production systems.

About Her Research

Nihal’s PhD research is part of the SpoilControl project, an international doctoral network funded by the Horizon Europe Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.

As Doctoral Candidate 10, she is based at CIRVE, University of Padova, where she studies the economic impact of microbial spoilage in the wine, beer, and cider sectors.

Microbial spoilage can cause direct financial losses through discarded products, reduced product quality, production interruptions, additional labour, and corrective treatments. Producers must also invest in monitoring equipment, preventive measures, sanitation procedures, and stabilisation technologies.

However, the total economic impact of spoilage remains difficult to quantify, particularly at the European level and in specific wine-producing regions. Nihal’s research aims to provide a clearer understanding of what spoilage actually costs producers and which control strategies represent the most suitable investments.

Her project is structured around three main areas: quantifying spoilage-related costs, evaluating the cost-effectiveness of prevention and monitoring technologies, and identifying the non-financial barriers that may prevent producers from adopting improved control strategies.

Her research specifically focuses on:

• Assessing the direct and indirect economic losses caused by microbial spoilage.
• Analysing the fixed and variable costs of prevention, monitoring, and treatment.
• Comparing the cost-effectiveness of existing and innovative control technologies.
• Evaluating clean and sustainable stabilisation treatments.
• Investigating the economic aspects of raw-material production and spoilage prevention.
• Identifying financial and non-financial barriers to the adoption of new practices.
• Studying differences between producers according to their size, resources, and production methods.
• Developing practical decision-making tools for the beverage industry.
• Integrating economic, environmental, and social considerations into spoilage-control strategies.

During the first stage of her project, Nihal is conducting desk research and structuring a comprehensive literature review on the economics of spoilage. She is compiling information on reported economic losses, technology costs, monitoring systems, treatment methods, and barriers to adoption.

She is also developing interview guides and questionnaires for wine producers, cellar masters, and consortium representatives. These exchanges will provide primary data on the real costs experienced by companies and the practical constraints influencing their decisions.

Econometric methods will then be used to analyse producer survey data. Models such as latent class analysis may help identify different groups of producers according to their preferences, constraints, risk perceptions, and willingness to adopt new spoilage-control technologies.

As part of the project, Nihal will complete a six-month secondment at the Consorzio di Tutela Colli Euganei. This experience will allow her to work directly with wine producers and better understand the operational, organisational, and economic realities of spoilage management.

Ultimately, her research aims to produce a quantified assessment of the economic impact of spoilage and a cost-effectiveness framework comparing different prevention and monitoring technologies.

She will also develop practical tools, including decision trees and best-practice recommendations, to help producers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, identify the investments most appropriate for their situation.