Mann undertook a Master of Media Practice at University of Sydney, followed by a PhD in 2011, with the thesis title Framing food sovereignty: a study of social movement communication.
Philip McMichael, Professor of Global Development at Cornell University, described it as "a wake-up call to the plunder of life-worlds and ecosystems at this geological tipping point".
[6] Her 2014 book Global Activism in Food Politics: Power Shift investigated La Vía Campesina (LVC), the central player in the food sovereignty movement, purportedly the largest social movement in the world, spanning more than 70 countries and involving more than 200 million members (small producers and landless workers).
[7] The Journal of World Systems Research called it a unique book that offered "nuanced characterization of social movement logistics" that should inspire collective action against a food regime that "undermines farming cultures, exploits agricultural workers and degrades ecosystems".
[7] Mann presented three case studies of domestic organizations: Chile's National Association of Indigenous and Rural Women (ANAMURI); Mexico's Asociación Nacional de Empresas Comercializadoras de Productores del Campo (ANEC); and the Basque Farmers’ Union Euskal Herriko Nelazarien Elkartasuna (EHNE).