Position/Role

Full Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the Scuola Superiore Universitaria della Difesa, Rome. Professor of Political Violence and Terrorism and of Sustainability and Civil Society at the OSCE Academy Bishkek.

Professional career

Graduated in International Political Sciences at the University of Messina; PhD in International Relations, University of Catania in 2004. Adjunct Lecturer of International Relations at the University of Palermo and research fellow at the University of Messina from 2004 to 2008. In 2008, she obtained her first tenured positions as Assistant professor of Political Science at the University of Catania. In 2013, she qualified as Associate Professor of Political Science and in 2016 obtained a tenured position as associate professor at the University of Catania. In 2017, she obtained the national qualification as Full Professor of Political Science.

Until September 2023, she is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Catania, where she holds the positions of Rector's Delegate for Erasmus Institutional Coordination, President of the Master's Degree Course in Global Politics and Euro-Mediterranean Relations (GLOPEM) and Deputy Coordinator of the Doctorate in Political Science.

Daniela Irrera is member of the executive committee of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) and Chair of the ECPR Working Group on Academic Freedom.  She has been member of the Governing Council of the International Studies Association  (2019-2021), Secretary General of the Italian Political Science Association (SISP) (2018-2021), Chair of the ECPR Standing Group on International Relations (2019-2021), President of the European Peace Research Association (EuPRA) (2017-2022). 

Scientific results

Her current research focuses on the influence of non-state actors in global politics, bridging knowledge about the positive (civil society groups and NGOs) and negative actors (criminals and terrorists).  She has been supported by several scholarship and grants, including Fulbright,  DAAD and Marie Curie action. 

She is Principal Investigator of the UNICT unit of the Mapping and Organizing Research on Dictatorships: Open access Repository (MORDOR) project, funded by the Erasmus + Cooperation Partnership for higher education K220.

She is secondary proposer of the COST CA21133 – Globalization, Illicit Trade, Sustainability and Security (GLITSS).

Editorial work and publications

Daniela Irrera is associate editor of Journal of Contemporary European Studies and coeditor of the Springer book series Non-State Actors in International Relations, together with Marianna Charountaki.  

She has extensively published monographs, edited volumes, book chapters and journal articles (among others, on Global Crime, The European Union Review, Perspectives in European Politics and Society, European Foreign Affairs Review).

Here below, a selection.

[2022] Irrera D. Les ONG et la vulnérabilité en temps de crise, entre continuité et innovation. HERMÈS, 89: 135-140.

[2021] Irrera D. Non-state actors and conflict management in proxy wars. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies, Oxford University Press. 

[2021] Irrera D. Managing African conflicts: using CSDP missions to cope with terrorism and organized crime. In V. Fargion & M. Gazibo (eds.), 'Revisiting EU-Africa Relations in a Changing World, Edward Elgar'. Cheltenham, pp. 24-36.

[2020] Irrera D. Simulating conflict resolution dynamics and fostering negotiation skills. OASIS. 33 (oct. 2020), pp. 13-28.

[2020] Irrera D. NGOs in mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on migrants and refugees: A reopening of public space. Policy Brief, 3 (2), 2020, Yasar University UNESCO Chair on International Migration.

[2019] Wong, R. Irrera D. Regional Variations and Crisis. In Jae-Jae Spoon and Nils Ringe (eds.) 'Regional Variations and Crisis Comparing European Union and Association of Southeast Asian Nations Integration Dynamics, in The European Union and beyond'.  ECPR Press, Rowan & Littlefield, London, pp. 215-236.

[2019] Irrera D. NGOs and Security in Conflict Zones. In Thomas Davies (eds.), ‘Routledge Handbook of NGOs and International Relations’. Routledge, London.

[2018] Irrera D. The Relevance of Third-Party Intervention. (Virtual Special Issue), Conflict Management and Peace Science.

[2018] Irrera D. Organised Crime: balancing between national constraints and global necessities. In Ripoll Servent, Ariadna & Trauner, Florian (eds.), ‘Routledge Handbook of Justice and Home Affairs Research’. Routledge, London.

[2018] Irrera D. EU Emergency Response Policies and NGOs. Trends and Innovations. Palgrave, Basingstoke.

[2016] Irrera D. Migrants, the EU and NGOs: The ‘Practice’ of non-governmental SAR operations. Romanian Journal of European Affairs, 16 (3), pp. 20-35.

[2014] Stavridis S. Irrera D. The European Parliament and its International Relations. Routledge, London.

Awards and prizes

2019 ISA “The United Nations At 75”, Geneva. 

2019 Marie Curie Secondment H2020-Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions-RISE, “KANTINSA - Kant in South America”, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil. 

2020 Award to the Game of Peace simulation,  the best European teaching practices that enhance learning for international students (IMPACT Project).

Position/Role

Physics teacher, science editor, physics textbooks author.

Professional career

Elena Joli gratueted in Physics in 1993 from the University of Bologna with a thesis on quantum gravity. She gets a DEA (Diplôme d'Études Approfondies) en Physique Theorique in Paris at the École Normale Supérieure and the Universitè de Jussieu-Paris VII in 1997. In this period, she becomes interested in epistemology and science communication and, back to Italy, in 2002 she gets a II level Master degree in Science Communication at ISAS_SISSA (International School for Advanced Studies) in Trieste, with a dissertation on the role of metaphor in science and its communication. Since 1995 she has been undertaking a permanent collaboration with the Italian publisher Edizioni Dedalo (Bari), first as a technical translator from English and French, then as a scientific consultant with the role of science editor, taking care of the publishing house's scientific dissemination series. Since 2003 she has been working with the educational publisher Zanichelli (Bologna) as an author of physics textbooks and digital materials with educational purposes for high school physics in collaboration with Professor Ugo Amaldi. Since 2001 she has been teaching physics part-time in high school. Since 2014 she has been a member of the editorial board of the scientific magazine Sapere; since 2018 she has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the Ecology Museum of the city of Cesena. In 2018, she joines Homeward Bound, a twelve-month program for women in science culminating with an expedition to Antarctica about global environmental issues including climate change.

Scientific results

Elena Joli's main areas of interest and research focused, during her activity performed at university in Bologna and in Paris, on two-dimensional models of quantum gravity for the description of black holes. Those years mark her approach to scientific issues, with a strong focus in theoretical modelling and, at the same time, an interest in the role of science communication. Then she began to deal with science communication in the publishing field, first as a translator of technical-scientific essays and articles then as a scientific editor and as an expert in physics education for different Italian publishers. He edited the Italian edition of the physics lectures that the Nobel Prize in Physics Marie Curie gave in 1907 in Paris thanks to a grant from the Centre National du livre and the French Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication. Currently, she is editing the Italian translation of an essay by Alain Aspect, Nobel Prize in Physics in 2022. In 2018 she was selected as a member of an australian expedition to Antarctica with a group of female scientists from 21 different countries all over the world to carry out research on the effects of climate change, and to strengthen the influence and visibility of women in the STEMM (Science, technology, engineering, medicine and mathematics) fields. She is speaker on subjects related to climate emergency and global warming for Australian and national TV and radio broadcasts (including Maestri RaiScuola), Science Festivals (Genova, Foligno, Bookcity Milano, Polignano "Festival del libro possibile", etc), TEdX Women Navigli Milano, the Masterclass Treccani Futura, a digital hub with educational purposes etc.

Editorial work and publications

[2021] Ioli E., "The circle", Wired (Climate change issue), 98 :155-61.

[2020] Ioli E., Antartide. Come cambia il clima, Bologna: Dedalo.

[2018] Ioli E., "Le regine delle nevi: una spedizione al femminile in Antartide", Sapere, 4:10-7 https://doi 10.12919/sapere.2018.04.1 

[2013] Ioli E., Nero come un buco nero, Bari: Dedalo (traslated in French by Le Pommier and in English by World Scientific Press; (forthcoming) translation in Chinese by Daylight Publishing House).

[2007] Ioli E., “Una piccola differenza", in Sandrelli, Gouthier, Ghattas (eds), Tutti i numeri sono uguali a cinque, pp 167-170; Springer.

[2006] Gouthier D., Ioli E., Le parole di Einstein, Bari: Dedalo.

Position/Role

Economist, Full Professor emeritus of Economics at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. Currently Professor of Economics of the Public Sector in the Master Course of the Department of Political Science.

Professional career

After studying at the Department of Economics of the University of Trieste for two years under the direction of Prof. Renato Zangheri, she got her Bachelor Degree (Laurea) in Economics (magna cum laude plus dignità di stampa) in Milan at the Department of Economics of the Bocconi University in 1968. In that same year she entered the MIT Graduate School of Economics, that she left in 1970 for family reasons, after obtaining a top-score Master of Science in Economics (passed with honour). She started teaching when she was 25. In 1980, after becoming Assistant Professor of Economics at the Department of Statistics of the University of Rome “La Sapienza” (Prof. Paolo Sylos Labini and Prof. Luigi Spaventa) and Associate Professor of Economics of Banking in the same Department, she became Full Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics of the University of Trieste (1980-1983), then at the Rome Postgraduate School for Public Administration and at the Rome Private University LUISS (Department of Economics, 1983-1984, and Department of Law, 1984-1992). In 1989, she became Full Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics of the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, where she remained until 2011, though she was on leave in the last 7 years as member of CIVR (Committee assessing the quality of universities and research bodies in Italy). In 2011 she was appointed  as member of the Board of Directors of ANVUR (the Italian Agency for the evaluation of universities and research institutes).

In 2014 she was co-founder and first President of the Progressive Jewish Community of Rome, Beth Hillel, within the European Union of Progressive Judaism. In 2017 she obtained a Master in Jewish Studies and Communication at UCEI – Union of the Italian Jewish Communities in Rome, “magna cum laude + auspicio di stampa”. She has been volunteer in the clown therapy Banda Faclò at the Rome Paediatric Hospital Bambino Gesù since 2016.

She worked in many foreign Universities, ranging from MIT to the University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Oxford, Columbia University of New York, Harvard, Washington DC. She tought at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, at the Fondation Nationale de Sciences Politiques in Paris, at the Columbia University, at the College of Europe in Bruges From 2010 to 2014 she was one of the 7 Members of the Economic Expert Group created by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) of Princeton.

Since 2016 she has been member of the Steering Committee of Santa Chiara Lab Centre of the University of Siena, as well as member of the Steering Committee  of the University-Business Observatory of CRUI Foundation - Conferenza dei Rettori delle Università Italiane, Rome.Since 2017 she is member of the Advisory Board for the monitoring of the Economics Department Activity of the University of Catania.

She headed economic research institutes and was consultant of private and public bodies and institutions. She also dedicated herself to popularizing the economic theory, namely she directed the Economics Book Series for the Italian Publisher Ulrico Hoepli and  was also author and speaker of the weekly Radio Broadcast Lessico dell’economia for Radio Radicale  in 5 semesters from 2003 to 2008.  then publishing the texts in 5 volumes for Luiss University Press and each week on the Italian newspaper Il Riformista. She has been director of the Dictionary of Economics and Finance for the Enciclopedia Treccani.She has been member of the Steering Committee  of the University-Business Observatory of CRUI Foundation - Conferenza dei Rettori delle Università Italiane, Rome since 2016.He is editorialist of the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

With reference to research, she was President of ISPE - Istituto di Studi per la Programmazione Economica -  from 1993 to 1998, and President of ISAE - Istituto di Studi e Analisi Economica – from 1999 to 2003 with the double role of CEO and Director of Research. In those same years she was member of the Coordination Committee of the Presidents of the Italian Research Institutes. She played many roles as scientific coordinator for the Italian National Research Council, CNR – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche -,  in particular she was Vice-Coordinator  for  Prof. Franco Modigliani in the Strategic Project  Il risanamento della finanza pubblica in Italia from 1992 to 1997. Fiorella Kostoris was member of the Technical Secretary of the Italian Minister for Education, University and Research, Letizia Moratti, in 2003-06; Economic Advisor  to Riccardo Illy,  President of the Italian Administrative Region Friuli-Venezia Giulia in 2005; member of the Commission set up by the Italian Minister  for Public Administration and Innovation, Renato Brunetta, to harmonize the retirement age of male and female civil servants in 2009. Since 2016 she is member of the Comitato di Riflessione e Indirizzo strategico – i.e. Strategic Planning Committee - of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. She was Member of CAE - Conseil d’Analyse Économique of the French Prime Minister -, appointed by Mr. Jospin, confirmed by Mr. Raffarin, Paris from 1999 to 2004.

She was member of many Steering Committees, among which those of Aspen Institute Italia (since 1994), the Scientific Committees of Confindustria (1998-2000) and Italia Lavoro Spa (1999-2010). She was member of the Board of Directors of the Fondo etico BNLin theBanca Nazionale del Lavorofor Telethon in 2002-07; Advisor to Unicredit Banca Impresa in 2005; President of Sella Gestioni SGR Spain 2007-09, after being member of its Board of Directors in 2005-2006 and then Advisor to the Banca Sella Holding Group in 2009. Since 2015 she has been member of the Board of Directors of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena. Within the Monte dei Paschi, she has been  member of the Supervisory Board (2015-2017), member of the Related-Party Transactions Committee since 2015 and from 2015 to 2018 also President of that Committee. She has also been member of the Compensation Committee since 2017 and in 2018 became President of the Remuneration Committee of Monte dei Paschi di Siena.

Scientific results

Fiorella Kostoris’ research has been focusing on policy-oriented economic analysis. Her major interest lies in the analysis of the Italian economic policy and public finance, as well as in the pension system reforms and in the General Government debt at national, regional and municipal level, also in view of possible privatizations. Her job hinged on the labour market analysis by comparing Italy and other European and world countries, with reference to the public and private sectors and to the weak population groups, namely young people, women, developing regions, migration flows. She studied European macroeconomic topics: from the principle of the mutual recognition in the 4-freedom European system, to the Stability and Growth Pact and to Fiscal Compact. She has been examining the research and teaching quality outcomes, soft skills, generalist competences, learning outcomes in a strategic sector such as University. She has always carried out her research activity alongside with her commitment against segregation, lack of opportunities and poor meritocracy for female workers in Italy.

Her commitment in favour of female workers is underlined by her studies on solutions to improve the life and job quality of women and in her participation to national initiatives and projects.

Editorial work and publications

Fiorella Kostoris Padoa Schioppa has published many books and articles, among which a whole series on gender economics, namely:

(2009) Kostoris F. L’età pensionabile femminile e i problemi strutturali della donna italiana nel mercato del lavoro, in Bonino E. (ed.), Pensionata sarà lei, Catanzaro, Rubettino Editore, 2009, pp. 31-36.

(2009) Kostoris F. A proposito di donne e di pensioni. Formiche, VI, 35, p. 53.

(2008) Kostoris F. Occupazione femminile: una leva per la competitività, Fondazione Universitaria Marco Biagi, Adapt, 2, 3 March 2008, www.fmb.unimore.it/on-line/Home/NewsletterBollettinoAdapt/ IDossierdiAdapt.html.

(2008) Kostoris F. Le politiche per la donna nel mercato del lavoro italiano. Diritto delle Relazioni Industriali, 2, XVIII, pp. 479-490.

(2007) Kostoris F. La donna lavoratrice a 60 anni dalla Costituzione Italiana. Rivista di Politica Economica, VII-VIII, pp. 135-225.

(2007) Kostoris F. Le pensioni delle donne, le pensioni degli uomini: privilegi, parità, giusti sostegni e compensazioni. TFR, Pensioni, Fondi Pensione, Annex to n. 23 of Panorama Economy.

(1995) Kostoris F. Is There Female Parity in the Italian Labour Market?ISPE Documenti di Lavoro, 20.

(1994) Kostoris F. Retribuzione femminile: parità formale, disparità sostanziale nel pubblico e nel privato fra lavoratori e lavoratrici oggi in Italia. Commissione Nazionale per la Parità e le Pari Opportunità tra Uomo e Donna (ed.), Atti del Convegno Nazionale Ruolo e Prospettive delle Donne nell'Economia, Rome, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, 1994, pp. 9-59.

(1979) Kostoris F. Assenteismo e turnover nell'occupazione femminile. Un confronto fra l'Italia e gli Stati Uniti. Queste Istituzioni, 29, pp. 23-45.

(1974) Kostoris F. La forza lavoro femminile, Bologna, il Mulino.

Awards and prizes

Fiorella Kostoris Padoa Schioppa was nominated Grande Ufficiale al Meritoof the Italian Republic  by the President of the Republic of Italy in 2000; she was also nominated Officier dans l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneurby the French President Chirac in 2001; she received the “Premio Capalbio” Award for Economic Policy for her book Lessico dell’Economiain 2004.

For her civil and scientific committment, Fiorella Kostoris Padoa Schioppa was granted the “Donna Ande - Giuliana Florio” Award, Section of Trieste, Udine and Gorizia in 1998, the Award for “Donne Dirigenti d’Azienda Italiane” in 2000, and the “Marisa Bellisario” Award for Finance and Economics in 2001.

Position/Role

Professor of Philosophy of Law, Department of Philosophy and Communication, and Member of the Bioethics Committee of the University of Bologna. 

Professional career

Degree Course in Philosophy with a practical-philosophical focus. During her PhD in "History of political thought and political institutions" at the University of Turin, she attended seminars on the Philosophy of Law held by Prof. Massimo La Torre at the European University Institute of Fiesole (Florence) and those of Prof. Otfried Höffe at the Philosophisches Seminar at the University of Tübingen, in Germany.  In 2001 she became a Researcher of Moral Philosophy at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Bologna. After teaching History of Moral Philosophy and History of Political Doctrines for ten years also at the University of Catanzaro, she now holds the chair of Philosophy of Law and Bioethics at the Department of Philosophy and Communication in Bologna.

Scientific results

The beginnings of Lalatta Costerbosa's research concerned contemporary issues of justice and classic authors in particular of the democratic and liberal tradition, above all Immanuel Kant and Wilhelm von Humboldt. Over time, the research has taken on more and more decisive traits in the sense of its normative and conceptual dimension, but also in the application of ethics and philosophy of law. Recently, part of the research activity has turned to two forms of violence among others: the question of torture and violence against children. Finally, the theme of violence, evil, consent to evil and moral responsibility has been a constant theme of research over the years, especially against the background of the tragic events of Nazism. At present, the theoretical justification of children's rights and their primacy is the focus of study.

Editorial work and publications

[2021] Lalatta Costerbosa M, Gustav Radbruch, Diritto e no. Traduzione, saggio introduttivo e cura di Marina Lalatta Costerbosa, Milano, Mimesis.

 [2020] Lalatta Costerbosa M, Autonomia diacronica. Rispetto del bambino e antipaternalismo sociale. In L’antipaternalismo giuridico e il problema della vulnerabilità, a cura di Nicola Riva, Roma, Carocci.

[2020] Lalatta Costerbosa M, (con Francesco Cerrato) L’Europa allo specchio. Identità, cittadinanza, diritti. Bologna, il Mulino.

[2019] Lalatta Costerbosa M, Il bambino come nemico. L’eccezione humboldtiana. Roma, DeriveApprodi.

[2019] Lalatta Costerbosa M, I diritti dei bambini come priorità. Una vicenda europea. Rivista di filosofia del diritto, VIII (numero speciale): 137-160.

 [2018] Lalatta Costerbosa M, Democracy Is Inclusive. Arendt’s Paradigm. Soft Power, 6 (1): 164-184.

[2016] Lalatta Costerbosa M, (con Alberto Burgio), Orgoglio e genocidio. L’etica dello sterminio nella Germania nazista. Roma, DeriveApprodi.

[2015] Lalatta Costerbosa M, Lo spazio della responsabilità. Approdi e limiti delle neuroscienze. Bologna, il Mulino.

[2014] Lalatta Costerbosa M, La democrazia assediata. Saggio sui principi e sulla loro violazione. Roma, DeriveApprodi.

[2013] Lalatta Costerbosa M, (con Massimo La Torre), Legalizzare la tortura? Ascesa e declino dello Stato di diritto. Bologna, il Mulino.

[2012] Lalatta Costerbosa M, Una bioetica degli argomenti. Torino, Giappichelli.

[2012] Lalatta Costerbosa M, Il silenzio della tortura. Contro un crimine estremo, Roma, DeriveApprodi, 2016.

Awards and prizes

2009 Gold Award I.G.E.M. (International Genetically Engineered Machines Competition) Cambridge/Massachusetts (Team Unibo).

Position/Role

Cost Engineer at European Space Agency (ESA).

Professional career

Elisabetta Lamboglia graduates at University of Rome `La Sapienza` in Aerospace Engineering in 2003, including an experience of six months in maintenance engineering at Alitalia SpA technical area. In 2006 Elisabetta graduates (MSc) cum laude in Astronautic Engineering, at the School of Aerospace Engineering of `La Sapienza`, including an experience of four months as intern at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC, European Space Agency).

In 2007 she continues as young graduate at ESTEC, when she works on analytical research and implementation of `the market effects`, modelling for multivariate data analysis, multi-criteria decision making processes, cost models enhancement and risk management assessment. She furthermore participates as systems cost chair to feasibility studies.  

In June 2009 she starts her experience at NASA Ames Research Center (Silicon Valley, California), where she earns the certificate of completion of the Space Studies Program on satellite applications (International Space University, ISU), and where she relates with more than 130 other experts and more than 40 different nationalities. At NASA she also works on the DREAM project (Disaster Risk Evaluation and Management), which customer is the World Bank, and which main objective is to explore the combination of earth observation tools, web-based and mobile data management tools, and how this combination can support and improve Disaster Risk Management.

From September 2009 to March 2010, she moves to the commercial business domain, working for a Dutch leading company in the off-shore and petrochemical sector (Heerema Marine Contractors), where she demonstrates  versatility and capability to work in different environments, such as in finance and during the very challenging years right after the 2008 financial crisis.            

In March of 2010 she returns in ESTEC as Cost Engineer, in the directorate of Technology, Engineering and Quality, and where she provides cross cutting support to the main programs of all ESA directorates. 

In 2013 she is appointed as external and independent officer at programmatic decision point for the Italian Space Agency (ISA), on the PRISMA project, which main objectives are the environmental monitoring, resource management, crop classification, pollution control, forest analysis and precision in agriculture.  

In 2015 she completes postgraduate studies in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), where she focuses on the theory and practice of global international organizations, diplomacy, and their role in international politics and related matters of concern to our society.  Selected subject areas of study are international and environmental security.

Since 2017, Elisabetta covers the role of ESA cost engineering team coordinator for the missions aimed to global monitoring and environmental security (Copernicus) and for the all ESA Earth Observation domain. 

In the year 2020 she earns several United Nations certifications, out of which `Entrepreneurship for Migrants and Refugees`, `Geospatial Information Technology (GIT) in Fragile Contexts,`, `Integrated planning for climate change and biodiversity`.

Since November 2021 she has been ESA Mentoring in the STEM Talent Girl Program, an educative project to develop talent and promote scientific–technological vocations. It is specifically addressed to women with the sole goal of inspiring and empowering girls and teenagers to continue with bright STEM careers.

Scientific results

During the elaboration of her master thesis Elisabetta contributed to the activities of the GAUSS group (School of Aerospace Engineering, University of Rome `La Sapienza`), including personal participation to the university-built microsatellite UniSat 4 launch from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan (26 July 2006). 

As young graduate, she worked on the enhancement of mathematical models for financial and risk management applications, still operational nowadays. She furthermore participated to feasibility studies of several space missions, out of which Copernicus Sentinel 5p, successfully launched in October 2017. 

In the next years, she has been the appointed cost engineer for several independent programmatic and financial evaluations, dialogues, and negotiations for implementations of projects implementation. Moreover, she coordinated and harmonized cost-working groups for the Earth Explorers` mission selection and implementation, in close cooperation with senior managers of the Agency.

She worked as external officer to the programmatic envelope and critical aspects concerning ASI PRISMA; the satellite reached its orbit in March 2019.

From 2017 to 2020 she has been full-time assigned to the Copernicus expansion program (CHIME, LSTM, CO2M, ROSE-L, CRISTAL, CIMR), which she supported in the preparatory activities for ESA Ministerial Council (Space19+) and the successful implementation kick off of each of the six missions. 

Editorial work and publications

[2018] Lamboglia E. Extensive Cost Estimating methodologies for the CDF GaiaNIR study, SECESA.

[2014] Lamboglia E. A tool for rapid and early schedule estimates, Project Control Professional.

[2011] Elisabetta Lamboglia, RACE with ME: modelling the market effects on space projects, Project Control Professional.

[2010] Lamboglia E., Belvedere G., Portelli C. Gaudenzi P., Tota V. The Effect of Technical Inputs upon the Cost Estimating Process in a Concurrent Engineering Environment, SECESA.

[2009]  Lamboglia E.,  Dyke G., Gill S., Davies R., Betorz F., Andalsvik Y., Cackler J.,Dos Santos W., Dunlop K., Ferreira I., Matsubara Y. , Nikolaidis V. , Kebe F., Ostoja-Starzewski S. , Sakita M., Verstappen N. DREAM Project: applications of Earth Observations to Disaster Risk Management, IAC 2009.

[2008] Lamboglia E., Joumier H., Gaudenzi P. Non-linear and multivariate regressions for Space Engineering parametric Cost Models, Cost Engineering International Journal, Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering.

[2008] Lamboglia E., Joumier H. van Pelt M., Ponzio P., Galano D., Montrone L., Bieler T. The Adaptation and Benefits of Cost Engineering within a Concurrent Design Environment, SECESA.

[2008] Lamboglia E. Enhanced Normalisation Process of Price References for Developing Cost Models, ISPA/SCEA Joint International Conference, 14 May 2008, Noordwijk. 

Awards and prizes

ESA Teamwork Excellence Award 2019: Copernicus High Priority Candidate Missions Phase A/B1 team  

ESA Teamwork Excellence Award 2019: Concurrent Design Facility team (Future Mission Studies)

Position/Role

Senior Researcher of the National Research Council (CNR), at the Institute of Nanotechnology (NANOTEC) in Lecce.

Professional career

After completion of her Physics Diploma at the University of Roma La Sapienza in 1995, she moved to France to do a PhD at the Université Cotê d`Azur. She obtained her PhD in Physics in December 1999. In 2000-2001, she has been INFM Post-doctoral fellow at the Physics Dept. of the University Tor Vergata in Rome. From January 2002 until November 2018, she had a researcher position at the National Research Council, in the Institute for Atmospheric Sciences and Climate. Starting from 2019, she is CNR Senior Scientist at the Institute of Nanotechnology in Lecce.

Scientific results

Alessandra is a theoretical physicist, expert of computational methods for fluid dynamics and complex flows. Starting from her PhD in 1996, her work focused on the statistical and dynamical description of turbulence, in simple and complex flows. From 2003, she studied the behaviour of turbulent suspensions of small particles, such as aerosols particles in air or cloud droplets, relevant for geophysical and engineering applications.  She participated and leaded large-scale numerical experiments within EU PRACE computing facilities. From 2006, she is the local coordinator (Unit of Lecce) of the Project “Particles and Fields in Complex flows” at the Institute of Nanotechnology (NANOTEC). She enriches the disciplinary research with physics education activities, by organising training schools and workshops for young fellows.

Editorial work and publications

Alessandra Lanotte is currently Deputy Editor at Europhysics Letters (EPL) EPS, and she was previously Associate Editor di Physics at Fluids, AIPP.

She was Guest editor of the Focus Issue "Turbulent regimes in Bose-Einstein Condensates", EPL (2021), and Focus Issue "Two-Dimensional Turbulence", Physics of Fluids (2017), and Guest Editor of the Special Issue "Flowing Matter Across the Scales", EPJE (2015), and  "Lagrangian Dynamics", Journal of Turbulence (2007).

Her publications include the following.

[2021] Panico R, Macorini G, Dominici L, Gianfrate A, Fieramosca A, De Giorgi M, Gigli G,  Sanvitto D, Lanotte A S, Ballarini D. Dynamics of a Vortex Lattice in an Expanding Polariton Quantum Fluid. Physical Review Letters 127 (4), 047401.

[2016] Biferale L, Bonaccorso F, Mazzitelli I M, van Hinsberg M A T, Lanotte A S, Musacchio S, Perlekar P, Toschi F. Coherent structures and extreme events in rotating multiphase turbulent flows. Phys. Rev. X 6, 041036.

[2015] Lanotte A S, Benzi R, Malapaka S K, Toschi F, Biferale L. Turbulence on a Fractal Fourier set. Phys. Rev. Letters 115, 264502.

[2013] Lanotte A S, Mazzitelli I M. Scalar turbulence in convective boundary layers with different entrainment fluxes. Journ. Atmos. Sci. 70, 248-265.

[2012] Baebler M U, Biferale L, Lanotte A S. Break-up of small aggregates driven by turbulent hydrodynamical stress. Phys Review E.85.025301.

[2010] Bec J, Biferale L, Lanotte A S, Scagliarini A, Toschi F. Turbulent pair dispersion of inertial particles. Journ. Fluid Mech. 645, 497.

[2009] Lanotte A S, Seminara A, Toschi F. Cloud droplet growth by condensation in homogeneous isotropic turbulence, Journ. Atmos. Sci. 66, 1685.

[2008] Arnéodo A, et al. Universal intermittent properties of particle trajectories in highly turbulent flows. Physical Review Letters 100 (25), 254504.

[2007] Bec J, Biferale L, Cencini M, Lanotte A S, Musacchio S, Toschi F. Heavy particle concentration in turbulence at dissipative and inertial scales. Phys Rev Lett. 98, 084502.

[2004] Biferale L, Boffetta G, Celani A, Devenish B J, Lanotte A, Toschi F. Multifractal statistics of Lagrangian velocity and acceleration in turbulence. Physical Review Letters 93 (6), 064502.

[2000] Celani A, Lanotte A, Mazzino A, Vergassola M. Universality and saturation of intermittency in passive scalar turbulence. Physical Review Letters 84 (11), 2385.

[1999] Lanotte A, Noullez A, Vergassola M, Wirth A. Large-scale dynamo produced by negative magnetic eddy diffusivities. Geophys. Astrophys. Fluid Dyn. 91, 131.

Position/Role

Associate professor of General Pathology at the University of Milan, group leader of the Molecular Oncology Lab, founding member of the Center for Complexity and Biosystems, University of Milan.

Professional career

After graduating in medicine in 1989 at the University of Milan and in 1995 she received a Ph. D. in physiology from the same university. From 1990 and 1991, she worked at the Institute for Pharmacological Research Mario Negri in Milan and spent nine months at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden. From 1993 to 1994, she worked at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg and then in 1995 she spent five months at the Rockefeller University in New York. From 1994 to 1997 she was a fellow of  the Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC). She came back to the University of Milan in 1997 and obtained tenure in 2002. 

Scientific results

In 2015, she co-founded the Center for Complexity and Biosystems at University of Milan, where she studies the fundamental mechanisms driving an healthy cell to become cancerous. In the specific case of melanoma, a very aggressive tumor that is hard to treat, here research activity lead to the discovery of a cellular subpopulation denoted as cancer stem cells (CSC).  According to her research, all melanoma cells can transform into CSC when the number of CSC falls  below a critical threshold, an effect due to the activation of a complex network on non coding microRNA. The result of this mechanism is that the number of CSC inside a tumore is held constant. This discovery might lead to reconsider the conventional therapeutic approach to cancer by eliminating the CSC that are feeding tumor growth. The current objective of Caterina La Porta’s  research is now to explore if the CSC is the correct model to describe melanoma progression, using an interdisciplinary approach combining cancer biology, theoretical physics and clinical studies, and to investigate if it is a universal model that can be used for other tumors as well. The long term goal of her research is to understand highly complex systems integrated into the human body. An additional research line focuses on the study of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular on the understanding of protein aggregation such as beta amyloid or neuroserpin and on the development of innovative diagnostic techniques.

Editorial work and publications

She has authored many international publications including:

(2018) Font-Clos F., Zapperi S., La Porta C.A.M. Topography of epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity, PNAS, 115: 5902-5907.

(2018) Chepizhko O., Lionetti M.C., Malinverno C., Scita G., Zapperi S., La Porta C. A. M. From jamming to collective cell migration through a boundary induced transition. Soft Matter, 14 (19): 3774-3782

(2018) Font-Clos F., Zapperi S., La Porta C.A.M. Gene expression signature of obesity in monozygotic twins. Physiol Meas. 39, 044008.

(2017) Font-Clos F., Zapperi S., La Porta C.A.M. Integrative analysis of pathway deregulation in obesity. Nature Publishing group: Systems Biology and Applications, 3:18.

(2017) Bertalan Z., Zapperi S., La Porta C. A. M. Modeling mechanical control of spindle orientationof intestinal crypt stem cells, Journal of Theoretical Biology, 430: 103–108.

(2017) Font F., Zapperi S., La Porta C.A.M. Integrative analysis of pathway deregulation in obesity. Nature Publishing Journal Systems Biology and Applications 3:18.

(2017) Giampietro C., Lionetti M.C., Costantini G., Mutti F., Zapperi S., La Porta C.A.M. Cholesterol impairment contributes to neuroserpin aggregation. Scientific Reports 7, 43669.

(2016) Chepizhko O, Giampietro C, Mastrapasqua E, [...] La Porta CAM. Bursts of activity collective cell migration. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(41):11408-11413. 

(2016) Costantini G, Budrikis Z, Taloni A, [...] La Porta CAM. Fluctuation in protein aggregation: design of preclinical screening for early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disease. Physical Review Applied, 6, 034012.

(2015) Bertalan Z, Budrikis Z, La Porta CAM, Zapperi S. Role of the Number of Microtubules in Chromosome Segregation during Cell Division. PLoS One, 10(10):e0141305.

Awards and prizes

Caterina La Porta is also a member of several national and international scientific societies, such as the (International) Metastasis Research Society, the International Angiogenesis Association, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the International Society for stem cell research (ISSCR) and the American Physical Society and Complex System Society.

In 2008, she was nominated for the "Genomic Pioneers Award".

In 2009, she was selected by Faculty of 1000 Biology for a paper published in PLoS One. 

Position/Role

Professor of Medieval History and Advisor for Europe in the International Relations proctorate at the University of Padua. 

Professional career

In 1980 Maria Cristina La Rocca graduated in Literature from the University of Turin, with a first-class honours degree. She continued her studies in 1984 with a PhD in History at the University of Birmingham (UK).  In 1987, she obtained a PhD in the History of Medieval Society and became a research fellow at the University of Turin, where she remained until 1989, also serving as head of the organisation of the FISITA'90 Congress (Automobile Technicians Association, Turin).  In 1990 she moved to the University of Padua as a Researcher in Medieval History. Eight years later she became Associate Professor and in 2005 she became Full Professor in Medieval History. 

In 2008 she was President of the History course, and from 2007 to 2014 she was a member of the Board of Directors of the Italian Society of Historians. In the same years she directed the doctoral school in Historical, Geographical, and Anthropological Studies at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, the University of Padua, and the University of Verona, a school that she also coordinates in recent years, until 2020.  

She has had numerous experiences abroad: among others, in 2010 he was Visiting Professor at the Dpt. Of History, UCLA, Los Angeles (USA), in 2015 he represents the University of Padua in the Coimbra Group, workingGroup Doctoral Studies, in 2017 he is Professeure invitée Université Paris 1 - Panthéon Sorbonne.

Scientific results

Maria Cristina La Rocca's research focuses on early medieval society, investigated through written and archaeological sources. Her studies focus in particular on early medieval migrations and on the theme of ethnicity; she investigates the forms of the early medieval family, with particular attention to figures that represent a discrepancy with the normative models: widows, orphans, unmarried daughters, step fathers and the active role of women in society.

In addition to the theme of gender, La Rocca's study also deals with themes of medieval town planning, such as that of cemeteries where tombs with and without grave goods were found between the 6th and 9th centuries; or that of early medieval cities, whose forms, spaces and centrality of places are studied, dwelling on abandoned cities and reflecting on the legacy of the ancient and collective memory. 

Editorial work and publications

The editorial activity is also intense, including collaboration with the journal Archeologia Medievale, participation in the Scientific Committee of the journal Hispania and in the journal Bullettino Storico Italiano per il Medioevo. 

Authored Books:

[2012] Tempi barbarici. L'Europa occidentale tra antichità e medioevo (300-900). pp.7-357. Carocci, Roma (with Stefano Gasparri).

Edited Books:

[2019] Vingt cinq ans aprés. Les femmes au rendez vous de l’histoire, pp. 1-493, Collection de l’Ecole Française de Rome, vol. 561, (con Enrica Asquer, Anna Bellavitis, Giulia Calvi, Isabelle Chabot, Manuela Martini).

[2019] La construction sociale du sujet exclu (Ive-XIe siècle). pp. 1-292 – ISBN 9782503576053, in Collection Haut Moyen Age, vol. 33, Brepols Publishers, (con Sylvie Joye et Stéphane Gioanni). 

[2018] Spazio pubblico e spazio privato tra storia e archeologia (secoli VI-XI), pp.1-383, Brepols, Turnhout  (with Giovanna Bianchi and Tiziana Lazzari) 

[2015] Urban identities in Northern Italy (800-1100 ca.). pp.1-492 (with Piero Majocchi).

[2015] Il genere nella ricerca storica. Atti del VI Congresso della Società Italiana delle Storiche. pp.1-1382 (with Saveria Chemotti).

[2010] Donne in famiglia nell'alto medioevo. pp.5-106. In GENESIS - vol. IX/1 (with Adelisa Malena).

[2007] Agire da donna. Modelli e pratiche di rappresentazione (secoli VI-X). pp.5-326, Turnhout, Brepols. 

[2005] Sauver son âme et se perpétuer. Transmission du patrimoine et mémoire au haut moyen âge. Rome, Collection de l’Ecole Française de Rome, pp.1-529 – (  François Bougard, Régine Le Jan).

[2005] Carte di famiglia. Strategie, rappresentazione e memoria del gruppo familiare di Totone di Campione (721-877), Roma, Viella, pp.1-390 (with Stefano Gasparri).

[2004] Tesori. Forme di accumulazione della ricchezza nell'alto medioevo (secoli V-XI). Roma, Viella, pp.1-328 (with Sauro Gelichi).

[2001] Early Medieval Italy. pp.1-250, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

Awards and prizes

In 1981 he won the Giorgio Bretschneider Prize for the best unpublished monograph. 

Position/Role

Full Professor at the BioRobotics Institute of the School of Advanced Studies Sant'Anna in Pisa. Professor at the National University of Singapore.

Professional career

After graduating in Computer Science at the University of Pisa in 1993, she continued her education with a PhD in Robotics at the University of Genoa in 1998. The following year she became a research fellow and then a researcher in Biorobotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa. From 2001 to 2002 she was also a visiting researcher at the Humanoid Robotics Institute of Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. Since 2006 she is associate professor and since 2014 full professor of Biorobotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa. She is also a professor at the National University of Singapore, in the Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Scientific results

Cecilia Laschi’s research interest is Biorobotics. Starting from experiences in basic robotics, she investigated bioinspired solutions for service robotics. Recently, she worked on an ambitious project grown in a tank at the Research Centre on Sea Technologies and Marine Robotics in Livorno, where the model was a common octopus, Octopus vulgaris. Studying this cephalopod’s movement, in the OCTOPUS European project, Cecilia Laschi and her team put the basis for the biomimetics of the future: designing and developing bioinspired robots, built with soft materials. The first prototype of soft robot arm imitates the muscular structure of the octopus arm and is built with siliconic materials, thanks to novel actuators giving a contraction of the muscular structure and a special braided structure inspired to the octopus connective tissue, covered by a an artificial skin with suckers. The robot arm works in water because, similarly to the octopus, it uses the mechanics of the interaction with water, mimicking the octopus arm bending and the elongation. The technologies developed by mimicking the octopus are now finding further development in many projects on several applications, ranging from marine explorations to the biomedical field, in surgery and assistance to the elderly. This research brought to the development of the new research area of soft robotics, at international level.

Cecilia Laschi’s name is also linked to another important project: in 2007 she contributed to the birth, in Tokyo, of the “RoboCasa” joint lab of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and Waseda University, where Italian and Japanese researchers could work together in frontier research. Related to her expertise in humanoid robotics is the birth of iDroid01, produced by a spin-off company of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, RoboTech srl, that she founded. iDroid01 is the first personal robot sold in parts to assemble, in eight countries, able to speak, understand basic commands, see, move its head following sounds, show feelings and especially learn, by storing behaviour schemes.

Laschi is among the inventors of another achievement of robotics in Pisa: DustBot, the dustmen robots. DustClean, which swaps street with brushes and sprays, and DustCart, a “snowman” coloured in green or blue, with two wheels, which comes to the doorstep upon call, open its stomach-drawer, receives the garbage bag and brings it out of the historical city centre. The two Italian Wall-es – on which Laschi has been worked from 2006, also with RoboTech srl – have been already put in service in an experimental session in a small village in Tuscany.

Editorial work and publications

Cecilia Laschi is author of many publications in international scientific journals (see http://www.santannapisa.it/en/personale/cecilia-laschi for the complete list), among which:

(2019) T. George Thuruthel, B. Shih, C. Laschi, M. Tolley, “Soft robot perception using embedded soft sensors and recurrent neural networks”, Science Robotics 4(26).

(2018) M. Cianchetti, C. Laschi, A. Menciassi, P. Dario, “Biomedical applications of soft robotics”, Nature Reviews Materials, 3(6), pp.143-153.

(2018) T. George Thuruthel, Y. Ansari, E. Falotico, C. Laschi, “Control Strategies for Soft Robotic Manipulators: A Survey”, Soft Robotics 5(2), pp.149-163.

(2017) C. Laschi, “Helping robots blend into the background”, Science, 358(6360), p.169.

(2017) E. Falotico, A. Berthoz, P. Dario, C. Laschi, “Sense of movement: Simplifying principles for humanoid robots”, Science Robotics, 2(13).

(2016) Laschi C, Mazzolai B. Lessons from nature: the symbiosis of morphological computation and soft robotics. IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine 23. 
(2016) Calisti M, Falotico E, Laschi C. Hopping on Uneven Terrains With an Underwater One-Legged Robot. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters,1.1:461-468. 
(2016) Cianchetti M, Laschi C. Pleasant to the Touch: By Emulating Nature, Scientists Hope to Find Innovative New Uses for Soft Robotics in Health-Care Technology. IEEE Pulse, 7(3):34-37. 
(2016) Cauli N, Falotico E, Bernardino A, Santos-Victor J, Laschi C. Correcting for Changes: Expected Perception-Based Control for Reaching a Moving Target. IEEE Robotics and Automation Magazine, 23(1):63-70. 
(2015) Cianchetti M, Calisti M, Margheri L, Kuba M, Laschi C. Bioinspired locomotion and grasping in water: the soft eight-arm OCTOPUS robot. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 10, 035003. 
(2015) Renda F, Giorgio-Serchi F, Boyer F, Laschi C, Modelling cephalopod-inspired pulsed-jet locomotion for underwater soft robots. Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, 10(5). 
(2015) Calisti M, Corucci F, Arienti A, Laschi C. Dynamics of underwater legged locomotion: Modeling and experiments on an octopus-inspired robot. Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, 10(4). 
(2014) Renda F, Giorelli M, Calisti M, Cianchetti M, Laschi C. Dynamic Model of a Multibending Soft Robot Arm Driven by Cables. IEEE Transactions on Robotics, 30, 1109-1122. 
(2014) Laschi C, Cianchetti M. Soft Robotics: New Perspectives for Robot Bodyware and Control. Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 2. 
(2013) Kim S, Laschi C, Trimmer B. Soft robotics: a bioinspired evolution in robotics. Trends in Biotechnology, 31, 287-294.

Full list online.

Awards and prizes

Co-founder in 2004 of the “RoboTech srl” academc spin-off company of Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, in the field of edutainment robotics. Co-author of sixteen patents, in Italy, Europe, Japan.

Position/Role

Associate professor of Contemporary history and History of European integration at University of Bologna, Forlì Campus. President of the Scientific Committee of Punto Europa Forlì - University of Bologna

Professional career

In 1991 she obtains her PhD in History at the European University Institute with a thesis titled “L’Italia e il processo d’integrazione europea: il caso dell’agricoltura, 1947-1960”. She spent a year in the same university as Research Assistant. 

In 1994 she is a post-PhD fellow in Contemporary history at the University of Florence. In the following years, she obtains different scholarships that allow her to deepen her research on CAP policy, on European integration process and on European contemporary history. During the same years, she teaches in various American universities in Florence (Syracuse University, Sarah Lawrence College, Georgetown University). 

From 1997 to 2005 she is Adjunct Professor of History of international relations at the University of Bologna, Forlì Campus and from 1998 to 2005 she is Adjunct Professor of History of European integration at the University of Florence. 

From 2005 she is Associate Professor of Contemporary history at the University of Bologna, Forlì Campus and from 2010 she is Jean Monnet Chair ad personam in History of European integration. She also holds courses in many international Masters (University of Siena, Maribor, Krakow, Kaunas, Siegen, Ponta Delgada, Buenos Aires, etc.).

From 2004 she is President of the Scientific Committee of Punto Europa Forlì, University of Bologna which is Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence from 2014. She has been in charge of the organization of many international conferences and she is Coordinator of different European Research Projects. 

Scientific results

Her main research fields are the History of contemporary Europe and the History of European integration with a focus on CAP policy and on EEC/EU external relations. Furthermore, she has studied the history of migrations in Europe and the relationship between decolonization and EEC. 

Editorial work and publications

[2021] Laschi G., Subsidiarity and the history of European Integration in G. Walzenbach e R. Alleweldt (a cura di), Varieties of European Subsidiarity. A Multidisciplinary Approach, Bristol, E-International Relations Publishing: 57 - 67.

[2020] Laschi G., Deplano V., Pes A. (a cura di), Europe between migrations, decolonization and integration (1945-1992), Abingdon e New York, Routledge.

[2020] Laschi G., Calandri E., Paoli S. (a cura di), L’Europa adulta. Attori, ragioni e sfide dall’Atto Unico alla Brexit, Bologna, Il Mulino. 

[2019] Laschi G., Relations with the West: the case study of EEC-USSR as viewed by the Community (1950-1991) in S. Bianchini e A. Fiori (a cura di) Rekindling the Strong State in Russia and China. Domestic Dynamics and Foreign Policy Projections, Leiden, Brill: 450 - 469.

[2019] Laschi G., Un nuovo ruolo internazionale? L’immagine delle Comunità europee all’esterno, 1950-1969, “Ventunesimo secolo”, 45: 9-26.

[2019] Laschi G., From Fascism to European Federalism: the new Italian face after World War II, in Carlos E. Pacheco Amaral (a cura di), Federalismo em tempo de renacionalização, Coimbra, Almedina: 55 - 70.

[2019] Laschi G., La base de notre politique c’est la peur. La peur et le début du procès d’intégration européenne, “De Europa”, 2: 33-42.

[2018] Laschi G., Durable dans les attentes, non durable dans la réalité: le développement durable de la PAC à l’épreuve des faits, 1957- 2008, “Journal of European integration history”, 24: 31-57.

[2017] Laschi G., I mutamenti europei degli anni Settanta e la loro influenza sulla PAC in L. Mechi e D. Pasquinucci (a cura di), Integrazione europea e trasformazioni socio-economiche dagli anni settanta a oggi, Milano, FrancoAngeli: 39 - 51.

[2017] Laschi G., Il ruolo della Spagna nelle relazioni tra CEE/UE e America Latina, “Spagna Contemporanea”, 51: 115-133.

[2017] Laschi G., Deplano V., Pes A. (a cura di), Europa in movimento. Mobilità e migrazioni tra integrazione europea e decolonizzazione 1945-1992, Bologna, Il Mulino.

[2015] Laschi G., L’Europa e gli altri. Le relazioni esterne della Comunità dalle origini al dialogo Nord-Sud, Bologna, Il Mulino.

Awards and prizes

1997: scholarship for a comparative research on the agricultural lobbies in Italy and Spain, CNR.

1998-2005: Jean Monnet Module “History of European integration”, European Commission, DG Education and Culture, Jean Monnet Action.

2005-2010: Jean Monnet Chair “History of European integration”, European Commission, DG Education and Culture, Jean Monnet Action.

2010-2013: Jean Monnet Chair ad personam “The European Communities and the world: an historical perspective”, European Commission, DG Education and Culture, Lifelong Learning Programme, Jean Monnet Action.

2011-2014: Jean Monnet Module “The European integration process and the transatlantic relationship”, European Commission, DG Education and Culture, Lifelong Learning Programme, Jean Monnet Action. 

2014-2017: Jean Monnet Chair “Different paths of integration in Europe after the World War II: economy VS politics at the root of EU”, European Commission, DG Education and Culture, Erasmus+ Programme, Jean Monnet Action.

2017: Chaire d’excellence EHNE-AXE 4 “L’Europe, les européens et le monde”, Centre de Recherches en Histoire Internationale et Atlantique (CRHIA) - Université de Nantes. 

Position/Role

Ex Athlete, handall. Member of the Committee of the National Athletes Commission and President of the FIGH Federal Athletes’ Commission.

Professional career

Cristina Lenardon has been a handball and beach handball athlete for over twenty years. 

She began practicing this sport at the age of 10. After graduating, she moved to Ferrara, engaged in the local A1 team, and at the same time she enrolled in the law faculty.

Her sporting career in the next years led her to serve in various clubs in the top league, also participating in the main European cups, and became part of the senior national handball team with which she competed in a University World Cup and two Mediterranean Games.

In 2011 she was appointed captain of the federal team, set up by the Italian Handball Federation in collaboration with the Army's Olympic Sports Center as part of the Olympic project called "Rio 2016", a team with which she played for two seasons, the second one participating to the Slovenian Top League championship.

She also achieved important results in beach handball, competing in various Italian championships (2 Italian titles and 2 second places), 2 Champions Cups and 3 European championships.

In 2013 she graduated in law with a thesis on the topic of the role of administrative judge in sports disciplinary disputes.

After graduating, despite several requests for engagement from Italian and foreign teams, she preferred to give precedence to her "post career" and start practicing as a lawyer, still continuing her sporting activity, albeit at a lower level.

In 2015 she obtained a master's degree in Sport Law & Management with honors and in 2016 she enrolled in the Ancona Bar Association.

Always passionate about athletes' rights, she held various managerial roles: first as federal councilor for athletes (Olympic four-year period 2012-2016), then as President of the Federal Athletes Commission (in office) and as Team Manager of the national beach handball team .

Since 2021 she has been a member of the Committee of the National Athletes Commission at CONI and she contributed to the organization of the first forum of athletes’ representatives ("Stronger Together") which was held in October 2022 in the Coni Hall of Honor and she is still working on a project to increase the federal commissions of athletes to ensure maximum representation of the same within the National Sports Federations, as well as in other initiatives concerning the dual career and the psycho-physical well-being of the athletes.

Since 2023 she has been a speaker at various events and conferences on athletes' rights, dual careers and the transition from sports to work. 

She is also a federal coach and currently coaches a team of young women.

Position/Role

Senior researcher at National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) in Pisa (Italy)

Professional career

Sandra Leone obtained a master degree in physics from Pisa University in 1990 and a PhD from the same University in 1994. After a 2 years post-doc position, in 1997 she enters INFN-Pisa as researcher in experimental high energy physics. Since 2009 she is senior researcher in the same institute. She has the full professor qualification  (required to cover full professor positions in Italy). Since 2005 she is responsible for the organization of the Pisa European Particle Physics Masterclass for high school students. She was in the local organizing committee of 6 international congresses and was in charge of the organization of INFN local scientific seminars since 2002 until 2008.

Scientific results

Sandra Leone’s field of research is experimental particle physics. In 1989 she starts studying proton-antiproton collisions in the CDF experiment at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, in the US. In particular she studied the production mechanism of the W boson. In 1994-1995 she studied the top quark production and was part of the team which observed for the first time the top quark in the CDF experiment. From 1997 to 2001 she works with silicon detectors and studies their application in experiments at hadron colliders. In particular, she is responsible in this period of the construction and test of 161 elementary units of the ISL silicon detector for the CDF experiment. In the following years she commits herself to the study of associated production of WZ intermediate bosons and the search for the Higgs boson.

In 2013 she joins the ATLAS experiment at CERN. She takes part to the construction and test of the new laser calibration system for the ATLAS hadron calorimeter. Since 2015 she studies the robustness and longevity of photomultiplier tubes, in the context of the foreseen upgrades of the ATLAS detector. She was invited to present scientific results on behalf of her collaborations in plenary session in  15 international conferences and in several national conferences, physics schools, seminars and conference parallel sessions, like ‘ichep2016’, one of the most important conferences in the field of high energy physics, which was held in Chicago

Editorial work and publications

She is referee of international journals and co-author of more than 1000 international papers, among which:

(2016) CDF Collaboration. Measurement of the WW and WZ production cross section using final states with a charged lepton and heavy-flavor jets in the full CDF Run II data set. Physical Review D, 94, 032008.

(2012) CDF Collaboration. Evidence for a Particle Produced in Association with Weak Bosons and Decaying to a Bottom-Antibottom Quark Pair in Higgs Boson Searches at the Tevatron. Physical Review Letters, 109, 071804.

(2007) CDF Collaboration. First Measurement of the Ratio of Central-Electron to Forward-Electron W Partial Cross Sections in proton-antiproton collisions at center of mass energy of 1.96 TeV. Physical Review Letters, 98, 251801.

(1995) CDF Collaboration. Observation of Top Quark Production in proton-antiproton collisions with the Collider Detector at Fermilab. Physical Review Letters, 74, 2626.
(1992) Abe F, [...] Leone S, et al. Lepton Asymmetry in W-boson Decays from proton-antiproton Collisions at center of mass energy of 1.8 TeV. Physical Review Letters, 68, 1458.

Awards and prizes

Sandra Leone held several prominent roles in her field and was part of several committees. In 1995 she received an award for young researchers from the Italian Physics Society (SIF). Since 1998 she is referee of Physical Review Letters and Physical Review D journals. Since 2013 she is member of the editorial staff of “Scienza per tutti”, the official outreach web site of INFN. Since 2008 she acted in several occasions as independent expert  evaluator for the European Seventh Framework Program and Horizon2020. From 2006 to 2011 she was part of the INFN Equal Opportunity Committee.

Position/Role

Chair in Public Economics at the University of Brescia and Presidente of the Italian Society of Public Economics (SIEP).

Professional career

After graduating in Economics at the University of Genoa, she continued her education with a Master in Social Science at the University of York (UK). She obtained a D.Phil in Economics at the University of York (U.K.) and, before becoming a lecturer in Italy, she worked as a researcher at the Institute of Research in Social Sciences at the University of York and at the University of Salford. In 1992 she returned to Italy as a researcher at the University of Genoa. Since 2000 she has been an Extraordinary Professor (confirmed in 2003) of Financial Science at the University of Brescia. Member of the Board of Directors of SIEP (Italian Society of Public Economics) from 2009 to 2014, with the office of Vice President from 2012 to 2014, in September 2021, she was elected President.

Scientific results

In the past, her main research interests have been the theory of different levels of government with particular reference to the problems of expenditure determination and transfers, contracts in the context of information asymmetry, the effects of public spending and debt, the determination of contracts for hospital services and the agency relationship between doctor and patient.

Recently, the focus of research has shifted to issues related to competition between public and private hospitals, the effects of fiscal federalism in health care, patient mobility at the national and European level, and the mechanisms that determine soft budget constraint policies. Alongside these more traditional themes, the study of incentives for innovation in the health sector, drug price regulation and the effects of regulation on pharmaceutical innovation has been added. In this area, the results obtained from the research have made it possible to determine the most appropriate reimbursement formulas to mediate between innovation and containment of expenditure.

Another important and relevant issue for its policy implications concerns the study of the determinants of tax evasion, particularly in a dynamic context that allows to study the long-term effects of this behavior. In this sense, research is expanding to also consider the links between tax evasion and corruption.

Many of the proposed studies have been possible thanks to the development of collaborations both with foreign economist colleagues and with scholars from other disciplines.

Editorial work and publications

Author of about 150 scientific publications. The 5 most relevant publications  in the past five years

(2018) Levaggi, L.; Levaggi, R. & Trecroci, C. (2018) Decentralisation and waste flows: A welfare approach, Journal of Environmental Management, Elsevier BV, 2018, 217, 969-979

(2016) Brekke KR, Levaggi R, Siciliani L, Straume OR. Patient mobility and health care quality when regions and patients differ in income. Journal of Health Economics, 50:372-387.

(2016) Levaggi R, Menoncin F. Optimal Dynamic Tax Evasion: A Portfolio Approach. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organisation, 114:115-129.

(2015) Frischut M, Levaggi R. Patient mobility in the context of austerity and an enlarged EU: The European Court of Justice’s ruling in the Petru Case. Health Policy, 119(10):1293-1297.

 (2014) Levaggi R. Pricing schemes for new drugs: A welfare analysis. Social Science and Medicine, 102:69-73.

Position/Role

Full Professor in Applied Biology, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University and Head of the "Proteomics of Iron Metabolism" Research Unit of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute of Milan

Professional career

After graduating in Biological Sciences at the University of Milan in 1982, Sonia Levi continued her training in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies of the San Raffaele Hospital. In 1984, she obtained a fellowship from the European Molecular Biology Organization at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany. Two years later, she received a three-year post-doctoral research fellow to continue her research activity and, in 1989, she was hired as a researcher in the "Iron Metabolism" Research Unit of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute. In 2005 she became associate professor and then full professor of Applied Biology in the Faculty of Medicine of the University Vita-Salute San Raffaele. She is currently also Head of the research unit "Proteomics of Iron Metabolism" at the San Raffaele Institute in Milan and President of the San Raffaele University Quality Presidium.

Scientific results

Sonia Levi has been interested for years in the study of iron metabolism and associated diseases. When she was at the EMBL (European Molecular Biology Laboratory), she learned the pioneering techniques of recombinant DNA applied to protein expression. After returning to Italy, she imported these new methodologies to the "Iron Metabolism" laboratory of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, where she has been successful in obtaining the recombinant human ferritins and their mutants, useful in the study of the assembly of complex protein structures. From 1992 to 2002, she continued her research in the "Protein Engineering" laboratory at the Department of Biotechnological Research (DIBIT) of the San Raffaele Scientific Institute where she developed eucariotic cellular models overexpressing iron proteins to analyze their biological functions. In 2001 she identified and isolated a new human ferritin located in the mitochondrion (small cellular organelle). The biological and functional characterization of this new protein is one of its main topics of interest. Her recent research is focused to clarify the relationship between iron and neurodegeneration. With this aim, she developed and studied cellular and animal models of neurodegenerative disease, like neuroferritinophaty, PKAN and Friedreich's ataxia. More recently, she is applying the technology of cellular reprogramming to obtain human neuronal models for the disorders defined as Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation.

Editorial work and publications

Author of more than one hundred Italian and international publications including:

(2016) Orellana DI, Santambrogio P, Rubio A, Yekhlef L, Cancellieri C, Dusi S, Giannelli SG, Venco P, Mazzara PG, Cozzi A, Ferrari M, Garavaglia B, Taverna S, Tiranti V, Broccoli V, Levi S. Coenzyme A corrects pathological defects in human neurons of PANK2-associated neurodegeneration. EMBO Molecular Medicine, 8 (10):1197-1211. 

(2015) Maccarinelli F, Pagani A, Cozzi A, Codazzi F, Di Giacomo G, Capoccia S, Rapino S, Finazzi D, Politi LS, Cirulli F, Giorgio M, Cremona O, Grohovaz F, Levi S. A novel neuroferritinopathy mouse model (ftl 498instc) shows progressive brain iron dysregulation, morphological signs of early neurodegeneration and motor coordination deficits. Neurobiology of Disease, 81:119-33. 

(2013) Cozzi A, Santambrogio P, Privitera D, Broccoli V, Rotundo LI, Garavaglia B, Benz R, Altamura S, Goede JS, Muckenthaler MU, Levi S. Human L-ferritin deficiency is characterized by idiopathic generalized seizures and atypical restless leg syndrome. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 210(9):1779-91. 

(2009) Campanella A, Rovelli E, Santambrogio P, Cozzi A, Taroni F, Levi S. Mitochondrial ferritin limits oxidative damage regulating mitochondrial iron availability: hypothesis for a protective role in Friedreich ataxia. Human Molecular Genetics, 18(1):1-11. 

(2004) Campanella A, Isaya G, O'Neill HA, Santambrogio P, Cozzi A, Arosio P, Levi S. The expression of human mitochondrial ferritin rescues respiratory function infrataxin-deficient yeast. Human Molecular Genetics, 13(19):2279-88. 

(2002) Arosio P, Levi S. Ferritin, iron homeostasis, and oxidative damage. Free Rqical Biology and Medicine, 33(4):457-463. 

(2001) Levi S, Corsi B, Bosisio M, Invernizzi R, Volz A, Sanford D, Arosio P, Drysdale J. A Human mitochondrial ferritin encoded by an introless gene. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 276(27):24437-40. 

(1994) Levi S, Santambrogio P, Cozzi A, Rovida E, Corsi B, Tamborini E, Spada S, Albertini A, Arosio P. The role of the L-chain in ferritin iron incorporation. Studies of homo and heteropolymers. Journal of Molecular Biology, 238(5):649-54. 

(1991) Lawson DM, Artymiuk PJ, Yewdall SJ, Smith JM, Livingstone JC, Treffry A, Luzzago A, Levi S, Arosio P, Cesareni G, et al. Solving the structure of human H ferritin by genetically engineering intermolecular crystal contacts. Nature, 349(6309):541-544

(1988) Levi, S., Luzzago A, Cesareni G, Cozzi A, Franceschinelli F, Albertini A & Arosio P. Mechanism of ferritin iron uptake: activity of the H-chain and deletion mapping of the ferro-oxidase site. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 263: 18086-18092.

Awards and prizes

2016-2018 Member of the “Top Italian Women Scientist”

Position/Role

Full Professor of Political Science, University of Catania. President of the Italian Political Science Association.

Professional career

Francesca Longo graduated in Political Science at the University of Catania. She got her PhD in International Relations at the University of Padua. She is full Professor of Political Science at the University of Catania, ahere she held the Jean Monne chair in European Union Policy. She has been a member of several international research groups on the topic of the fight against organised crime and immigration policy. She is part of the academic commitee of the PhD programme on Political Science and Sociology at the “Scuola Normale” Pisa /Firenze. She is coordinator of the Standing Group on Organised Crime – European Consortium for Political Research. 

Scientific results

Her research interests are focused on the functioning of the EU political system, with particular focus on the relationship between the executive and the legislative. Moreover she studies EU migration Policy, EU policy  against organised crime and the security policy of the EU.  In the last years, her research has been enriched with the topic of Italian immigration policy and Italian foreign policy. 

Editorial work and publications

Latest Publications:

[2019] Longo F. e Isernia P.,  La Politica Estera Italiana nel Nuovo Millennio, Il Mulino.

[2018] Longo F., Italy and the refugees crisis, in Journal of Political & Military Sociology, 45.

[2017] Longo F. e Isernia P., The Italian foreign policy: challenges and continuities, in Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 47, p. 107-124.

[2016] Longo F., ‘La politica di immigrazione dell'Unione Europea tra vecchie e nuove sfide’, inPanebianco S. (a cura di),Sulle onde del Mediterraneo: Cambiamenti globali e risposte alla crisi migratoria. EGEA.

[2016] Longo F., ‘A party system without a party government in the European Union?’, in Mascia M. (ed.), Toward a European Transnational Party System, AUSE Ed. 

[2015] Longo F, ‘La Criminalità Organizzata’, in Foradori P, Giacomello G. (a cura di), Sicurezza Globale. Le Nuove Minacce.Il Mulino.

[2013] Longo F., Justice and Home Affairs as a New Dimension of the European Security Concept. in European Foreign Affairs Review, 18, p. 29-46. 

[2013] Longo F., The Relevance of Security Sector Reform in Humanitarian Intervention: The Case of the European Union in the Mediterranean, in Democracy and Security, 9.

[2012] Longo F., ‘Justice and Home Affairs as a new Tool of European Policy: The Case of Mediterranean Countries’, in AA.VV,  The Foreign Policy of the European Union: Assessing Europe's Role in the World, second updated edition. p. 85-96, Brookings Institution Press. 

Awards and prizes

Since 2018 she has been President of the Italian Political Science Association.

Position/Role

Lead researcher at Agenzia nazionale per le nuove tecnologie, l'energia e lo sviluppo economico sostenibile (ENEA)

Professional career

I got the Master ‘s degree in Physics in 1992 from Università degli Studi di Pisa, defending a thesis in particle physics based on studies performed at CERN, in Geneva. I obtained a research fellowship from the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica della Materia (INFM) on a research program in thermonuclear fusion physics and I started my collaboration with Consorzio RFX in Padua. The collaboration was maintained also when, in1993, I obtained a permanent position at ENEA.

Between 2000 and 2002 I spent several months at Max Planck Institut für Plasmaphysik in Munich to work on the tokamak experiment ASDEX Upgrade in the framework of Mobility Program funded by EURATOM.

In 2005 I got the PhD in Energetics from Università degli Studi di Padova. From 2006 I am lead researcher, always in ENEA.

Scientific results

My activity research is in the area of thermonuclear plasma physics, which aims at producing clean energy reproducing the physics processes that occur in the stars, like the Sun, in earth laboratories.

I work mainly on the Reversed Field Pinch experiment RFX-mod, located in Padua and operated by Consorzio RFX, a consortium of CNR, ENEA, INFN, Università di Padova and Acciaierie Venete.

I participate in several international collaborations, for example with the research team of the Madison Symmetric Torus experiment (MST) in Madison, Wisconsin (USA) and with the team of Large Helical Device (LHD) located  in Toki, Japan. More recently I started a collaboration with the Joint European Torus (JET) tokamak located in Culham, in UK.

I investigate the problem of particle and energy transport in thermonuclear plasmas through data analysis and development of numerical codes. I also contribute to the organization and realization of the experiments for the collection of data.

In 2008 I partecipated to the first observation of Single Helical Axis states (SHAx), the enhanced confinement states that occur when a toroidal RFP plasma is heated by a high current.

I devoted many efforts to characterize the transport barriers  observed in SHAx states and to clarify the relationship between the transport and the magnetic turbulence.

My recent research aims at exploiting  the results of solar physics, in particular of solar flares, to advance the comprehension of SHAx states.

The other important item of research regards so called ‘isotope effect’, namely the differences between plasmas of different hydrogen isotopes. I studied the isotope effect in RFX-mod and I participate in the isotope effect studies of JET and LHD.

Recently I worked in collaboration with LHD colleagues to the development of a code able to model plasmas with multiple magnetic axes. With the help of such code, named MAxS (Multiple Axis Solver) we will be able to study energy and particle transport in presence of magnetic islands

Editorial work and publications

She is the author of numerous publications in international journals and conference proceedings, including:

[2018] F.  Auriemma, D. Lopez-Bruna, R.  Lorenzini, B. Momo, I. Predebon, Y. Suzuki, A. López-Fraguas, Y. Narushima, F. Sattin, D. Terranova ‘A novel approach to studying transport in plasmas with magnetic islands’ Nuclear Fusion 58, 096037.

[2018] C.F. Maggi, H.Weisen, J.C. Hillesheim, A. Chankin, E. Delabie, L. Horvath, F. Auriemma, I.S. Carvalho, G. Corrigan, J. Flanagan, L. Garzotti, D. Keeling, D. King, E. Lerche, R. Lorenzini et al  ‘Isotope effects on L-H threshold and confinement in tokamak plasmas,’ Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion 60, 125002.

[2016] Lorenzini R, Auriemma F, Fassina A, Martines E, Terranova D and Sattin F. Internal Transport Barrier Broadening through Subdominant Mode Stabilization in Reversed Field Pinch Plasmas, Physical Review Letters, 116, 185002.

[2015] Lorenzini R, Agostini M, Auriemma F, Carraro L, De Masi G, Fassina A, Franz P, Gobbin M, Innocente P, Puiatti ME, Scarin P, Zaniol B and Zuin M. The isotope effect in the RFX-modExperiment, Nuclear Fusion, 55, 043012.

[2012] Lorenzini R, Alfier A, Auriemma F, Fassina A, Franz P, Innocente P, Lopez-Bruna D, Martines E, Momo B, Pereverzev G, Piovesan P, Spizzo G, Spolaore M and Terranova D. On the energy transport in internal transport barriers of RFP plasmas, Nuclear Fusion, 52, 062004.

[2011] Bergerson WF, Auriemma F, Chapman BE, Ding WX, Zanca P, Brower DL, Innocente P, Lin L, Lorenzini R, Martines E, Momo B, Sarff JS and Terranova D. Bifurcation to 3D Helical Magnetic Equilibrium in an Axisymmetric Toroidal Device, Physical Review Letters, 107, 255001.

[2009] Lorenzini R, Martines E, Piovesan P, Terranova D, Zanca P, Zuin M et al. Self-organized helical equilibria as a new paradigm for ohmically heated fusion plasmas, Nature Physics, 5:570-574.

[2008] Lorenzini R, Terranova D, Alfier A, Innocente P, Martines E, Pasqualotto R, Zanca P. Single-Helical-Axis States in Reversed-Field-Pinch Plasmas, Physical Review Letters, 101, 025005.

[2007] Lorenzini R, Terranova D, Auriemma F, Cavazzana R, Innocente P, Martini S, Serianni G and Zuin M. Toroidally asymmetric particle transport caused by phase-locking of MHD modes in RFX-mod, Nuclear Fusion, 47: 1468.

Awards and prizes

In Novembre 2016, Rita Lorenzini get an invited lecture on the Improvement of the magnetic configuration in the Reversed Field Pinch through successive bifurcations at the 50th Annual Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics, American Physical Society, Dallas, Texas.

She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the 41st European Physical Society Conference on Plasma Physics.

Position/Role

Full Professor of Plant Physiology, University of Padua

Professional career

In July 1974 she graduated in Biology from the University of Naples, Federico II. In October 1974 she won a post as a postgraduate student at the Normale University in Pisa. From 1975 to 1976 she worked in the laboratory of Developmental Genetics and Molecular Biology of Prof. Garcia-Bellido at the University of Madrid. From 1976 to 1982 she was a CNR researcher at the Institute of Mutagenesis and Differentiation in Pisa. From 1983 to 1984 she was a Research Fellow in the Dept. of Genetics and Plant Pathology at the University of Berkeley, California. In 1987 she became Associate Professor of Plant Physiology and taught, until 1990, at the University of Basilicata, and then at the University of Padua where in October 2000 she became Full Professor at the Faculty of Science, now Department of Biology.

Scientific results

Her scientific activity began with a thesis on bacterial molecular genetics, carried out at the International Institute of Genetics and Biophysics of the CNR in Naples. The activity continued with developmental genetics studies on the Drosophila model system in Madrid and then with plant somatic genetics studies in Pisa. In 1982 she started a project aiming at the isolation and characterisation of temperature-sensitive cell mutants altered in the somatic embryogenesis process of carrot (model system for plant differentiation studies). The study of alterations in plant cell differentiation was the subject of two consecutive three-year European Community programmes, which resulted in numerous publications that constituted the core of scientific production until the end of the 1990s. Subsequently, Fiorella Lo Schiavo studied mechanisms of hormone signal perception and transduction, initially of auxin and more recently of cytokinins, in different plant cell systems.  She then carried out studies on some channel proteins, in particular potassium channels, also investigating their function in some plant differentiation processes. She then investigated some basic mechanisms of organ senescence processes using cell cultures as model systems, in particular studying the final stages of programmed cell death in senescence. Recently, she analysed, by means of imaging techniques, the role of important cell signalling molecules, such as calcium and reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced by abiotic stress in model plants and rice. 

Editorial work and publications

She is author of more than 100 scientific papers, including:

[2018] Formentin E, Sudiro C, Perin G, Riccadonna S, Barizza E, Baldoni E, Lavezzo E, Stevanato P, Sacchi GA, Morosinotto T, Zottini M, Lo Schiavo F.   Transcriptome and cell physiological analyses in different rice cultivars provide novel insights into adaptive and salinity stress responses.Frontiers in Plant Science, 9: 204.

[2017] Teardo E, Carraretto L, Wagner S, Formentin E, Behera S, De Bortoli S, Larosa V, Fuchhs P, Lo Schiavo F, Raffaello A, Rizzuto R, Costa A, Schwarzländer M and Ildiko Szabò  Physiological characterization of a plant mitochondrial calcium uniporter in vitro and in in vivo. Plant Physiology, 173: 1-16.

[2015] D’Alessandro S, Golin S, Hardtke, Lo Schiavo F, Zottini M. The co-chaperone p23 controls root development through the modulation of auxin distribution in the Arabidopsisroot meristem. J. of Experimental Botany,  66(16): 5113-5122.

[2015] Teardo E, Carraretto L, De Bortolis S, Costa A, Behera S, Wagner R, Lo Schiavo F, Formentin E, Szabo I. Alternative splicing-mediated targeting of the Arabidopsis Glutamate Receptor 3.5 to mitochondria organelle morphology. Plant Physiology, 167 (1): 216-227.

[2014] Ruberti C, Costa A, Pedrazzini E, Lo Schiavo F, Zottini M. FISSION1A, an Arabidopsis tail-anchored protein, is localized to three subcellular compartments. Molecular Plant,7: 1393–1396,  doi: 10.1 093/mp/ssu027.

[2013] Vescovi M, Zaffagnini M, Trost P, Lo Schiavo F, Costa A. Nuclear Accumulation of Cytosolic Glyceraldehyde-3-Phoshate Dhydrogenase in cadmium-Stressed Arabidopsis Roots.Plant Physiology, 162: 333-346, ISSN: 0032-0889.

[2012] Vescovi M, Riefler M, Gessuti M, Novak O, Schmulling T,  Lo Schiavo F. Programmed cell death induced by high levels of cytokinin in Arabidopsis cultured cells is mediated by the cytokinin receptor CRE1/AHK4. Journal of Experimental Botany,  63: 2825-2832. 

[2012]Loro G, Drago I, Pozzan T,  Lo Schiavo F,  Zottini M, Costa A. Targeting of Cameleon to different subcellular compartments reveals a strict cytoplasmic/mitochondrial Ca2+ handling relationship in plant cells.Plant Journal, 71(1): 1-13.

[2011] Horie T, Brodsky DE, Costa A, Kaneko T, Lo Schiavo F, Katsuhara M, Schroeder JI. K+ transport by the OsHKT2;4 transporter from rice (Oryza sativa) with atypical Na+ transport properties and competition in permeation of K+ over Mg2+ and Ca 2+ ions. Plant Physiology, 156(3):1493-507.

[2010] Costa A, Drago I, Behera S, Zottini M., Pizzo P, Schroeder Ji, Pozzan T, Lo Schiavo F. H2O2 in plant peroxisomes: an in vivo analysis uncovers a Ca(2+)-dependent scavenging system. Plant Journal,  62: 760-772.

[2009] De Michele R, Vurro E, Rigo C.Costa A, Elviri L, Di Valentin M, Careri M, Zottini M, Sanita' Di Toppi L, Lo Schiavo F. Nitric Oxide is involved in cadmium-induced programmed cell death in Arabidopsis suspension cultures.  Plant Physiology, 150: 217-228.

[2009] De Michele R, Formentin E, Todesco M, Toppo S, Carimi F, Zottini M., Barizza E, Ferrarini A, Delledonne M, Fontana P, Lo Schiavo F. Transcriptome analysis of Medicago truncatula leaf senescence: similarities and differences in metabolic and transcriptional regulations as compared with Arabidopsis, nodule senescence and nitric oxide signalling.New Phytologist, 181: 563-575.

Awards and prizes

In 1975, she won the Scoffone-Cremona Prize for the best dissertation in Molecular Biology. 

From the 1980s onwards, she has been responsible for national (PF. Genetic Engineering, IPRA, RAISA, MIPA, Biotechnologies and PRIN) and international (EU) projects, scientific advisor to the National Science Foundation and the European Union and for various international scientific journals. 

During the four-year period '90-'94 she was general secretary of the International Association Plant Tissue Culture. 

In May 1997, she directed the NATO course "Cellular Integration of Signalling Pathway in Plant Development" (Maratea). 

From 1995 to 2002 she was on the board of the Society of Plant Physiology and from 2009 to 2014 on the board of the Society of Plant Biology. 

In September 2012 she was elected for the first time Italian delegate in the board of FESPB, now PBE (Plant Biology Europe); position renewed in February 2018. 

She has been coordinator of the teaching board, Biotechnology department, of the PhD School of Biosciences and Biotechnology at the University of Padova since its establishment until 2013. 

Since the beginning of 2014 she has been a member of the new PhD course in Biosciences at the University of Padua and referent of the "Biochemistry & Biotechnology" curriculum. 

Since 2016 she has been President of the ASN Committee for the field of Plant Physiology.

Position/Role

Senior Advisor at the DG Economics and Statistics of the Bank of Italy, Head of the Production Structure Sector and Enterprises of the Economic Structure and Labor Market Division. Contract Professor of Industrial Dynamics and Labor Economics at the Department of Economics and Management of the Free International University of Social Studies (LUISS).

Professional career

After graduating in Statistical and Economic Sciences at the University of Bologna in 1997, she continued her education with a PhDs in Economics at the Sant'Anna Superiore University School (Pisa), during which she was a visiting student at the Department of economics of Harvard University (US) and visiting fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER, US). Assumed at the Research Department of the Bank of Italy in 2002, she first served the Credit Intermediaries Office, then the Sectoral and Territorial Analysis Office, later merged into the Division of Economic Structure and Labor Market. In 2007-2008 she was a visiting scholar at Harvard University and in 2008-2009 a consultant for the Ministry of Economic Development for industrial policies and related assessment.

Scientific results

Francesca Lotti's research activity is mainly carried out in the field of industrial economics and applied economics, with particular attention to technological change, the choices of companies in terms of growth, investments and innovation, the dynamics of productivity and its determinants. In these areas, she also investigated economic policies and the related ex-post evaluation, a topic on which she also wrote a book published by Il Mulino ("The evaluation of aid to businesses", edited by G. De Blasio, Il Mulino, 2008). Another area of her research concerns the role of women in the economy, with contributions on gender discrimination in the credit market, on gender differences in business management and more generally in the labor market.

Editorial work and publications

Francesca Lotti is a member of the Advisory Board of the Journal of Industrial and Business Economics. She is the author of numerous publications, including:

(2017) Lotti F, Marin G. Productivity Effects of Eco-innovations Using Data on Eco-patents. Industrial and Corporate Change, 26(1):125–148.

(2013) Alesina A, Lotti F, Mistrulli PE. Do Women Pay More for Credit? Evidence from Italy, in Journal of the European Economic Association,  11(s1):45-66.

(2013) Hall BH, Lotti F e Mairesse J. Evidence on the Impact of R&D and ICT Investment on Innovation and Productivity in Italian Firms. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, 22(3):300-328.

(2009) Hall BH, Lotti F e Mairesse J. Innovation and Productivity in SMEs. Empirical Evidence for Italy. Small Business Economics, 33(1):13-33.

(2008) Hall BH, Lotti F e Mairesse J. Employment, Innovation and Productivity: Evidence from Italian Manufacturing Microdata. Industrial and Corporate Change, 17(4):813-839.

(2007) Lotti F. Firm Dynamics in Manufacturing and Services: a Broken Mirror? Industrial and Corporate Change, 16(3):347-369.

(2007) Lotti F, Marcucci J. Revisiting the Empirical Evidence on Firms' Money Demand, Journal of Economics and Business, 59(1):51-73.

(2006) Bofondi M, Lotti F. Innovation in the Retail Banking Industry: the Diffusion of Credit Scoring Review of Industrial Organization, 28(4):343-358.

(2005)  Lotti F, Santarelli E. The Survival of Family Firms: The Importance of Control and Family Ties, International Journal of the Economics of Business, 12(2), pp. 183-192.

(2004) Gobbi G, Lotti F. Entry Decisions and Adverse Selection: an Empirical Analysis of Local Credit Markets, Journal of Financial Services Research, 26(3):225-244.

(2004) Lotti F, Santarelli E. Industry Dynamics and the Distribution of Firm Sizes: A Non Parametric Approach, Southern Economic Journal, 70(3):443-466.

(2003) Lotti F, Santarelli E, Vivarelli M. Does Gibrat's Law Hold in the Case of Young, Small Firms?, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 13:213-235.

Awards and prizes

Francesca Lotti is top 5% of women economists worldwide According to the Repec ranking. Qualified as first level professor in Economic Policy (SECS-P02), Applied Economics (SECS-P04) and Economic Statistics (SECS-S03), she is external reviewer for the VQR (Evaluation for Research Quality) 2011-2014 (GEV 13) of the ANVUR (the National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research System).

Position/Role

Associate Research Fellow at ISPI and PhD Candidate in Hisory at the University of Bologna

Professional career

Chiara Lovotti is an Associate Research Fellow at the Middle East and North Africa Centre at ISPI. She previously was a Research Assistant at ISPI and a Research Assistant at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve. Chiara is also a PhD candidate at the faculty of History at the Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna. She holds a Bachelor's in Foreign Languages and International Relations from the Catholic University of Milan, a Master's in Development Studies from the University of Louvain, Belgium, another Master's in Middle Eastern Studies at the Postgraduate School of Economics and International Relations, Milan, and has been a visiting student at the Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Scientific results

Her research interests include socio-political transformations in the Middle East, with a focus on Iraq and Syria, relations between Russia and Middle-Eastern countries, and Russian foreign policy towards the area. Her academic research focuses on the impact of Soviet influence on state-building processes in the Arab Levant. At ISPI she deals with the organization of “Rome MED – Mediterranean Dialogues”, the annual forum promoted in cooperation with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation which brings together leaders from both shores of the Mediterranean and provides a hub for debates on issues such as security, economic prosperity, energy and social transformations in the area.

Editorial work and publications

[2019] Lovotti C. The Role of Russia in the Middle East and North Africa Region. Strategy or Opportunism?

https://www.ispionline.it/it/pubblicazione/role-russia-middle-east-and-north-africa-region-strategy-or-opportunism-22736

[2019] Lovotti C. The "Syraqi" Chessboard: Who Leads the Play?

https://www.ispionline.it/it/pubblicazione/syraqi-chessboard-who-leads-play-22460

[2018] Lovotti C. Russia in the Middle East: The Biggest Challenge is Yet to Come

https://www.ispionline.it/it/pubblicazione/russia-middle-east-biggest-challenge-yet-come-22468

[2018] Lovotti C. Iraq's Election: Turning the Page?

https://www.ispionline.it/it/pubblicazione/iraqs-election-turning-page-20468

[2018] Lovotti C. La Russia in Medio Oriente. Una presenza destinata a durare?

https://www.ispionline.it/it/pubblicazione/la-russia-medio-oriente-una-presenza-destinata-durare-19808

Position/Role

Vice Rector of the Orientation and Tutorship for the University of Padua and Full Professor of Developmental Psychology at the same university

Professional career

After graduating in Philosophy in 1988 and in Psychology in 1991 at the University of Padua, in 1997 she continued her education with a PhD on an international project in Developmental Psychology at the University of Leiden, in the Netherlands. Her career continued within the university: in 1998 she was a researcher in Developmental Psychology, in 2001 an associate professor and in 2005 a full professor of Developmental Psychology still at the University of Padua. Since 2007 she has been the director of the same university with a delegation to the Orientation and Tutorship, a role she still covers today.

In April 2020 she was called by the Minister of Education, Lucia Azzolina, to join the committee of experts set up at the MIUR with the task of "formulating and presenting ideas and proposals for schools with reference to the current health emergency [Covid-19], but also looking at improving the national education system".

Scientific results

Daniela Lucangeli’s main research interests concern the development and strengthening of numerical intelligence, the maturational processes in the developmental age (first and second childhood, school age and adolescence) and the learning mechanisms in typical and atypical development. She is also involved in the study of functions (language, memory, attention, emotions, metacognition, self-regulation), learning disabilities (such as dyslexia, dysorthography, dysgraphia, dyscalculia) and special educational needs. She also carries out research and studies on enhancing learning, behavioral and cognitive deficits, giftedness and high potential profiles, learning emotions and learned impotence. She has been promoting for years, with the group of researchers and scientists of the World Academy of Sciences for Learning Difficulties, a strong movement of actions for the decline of scientific research in the practices of prevention, strengthening and rehabilitation of development disharmonies. In fact, scientific research has shown that through early intervention in the different "labors" of development, it is possible to obtain the optimization of processes even in situations of possible disability (language, learning, cognitive development, etc.). The focus of her work is not only that related to the analysis of cognitive profiles and to the possible diagnosis but above all to use the best aid strategies for maximum brain plasticity. In recent times she has devoted herself to the study of circuit networks related to warm cognition and emotional learning circuits. In particular, studies aimed at highlighting the contribution of hereditary factors and cultural factors in the development of psychological processes and education. She deepens the study of cognitive functions and processes with the aim of highlighting the important implications of neuroscience in educational processes. As Director, with responsibility for tutoring, "in itinere" and "incoming" guidance from the University of Padua, she coordinates the implementation of regional and European projects aimed at guiding young people in the choice of university and professional.

Editorial work and publications

Daniela Lucangeli is editor of the journal “Difficoltà In Matematica” (Erickson) and referee for several specialized magazines. She is the author of numerous national and international publications and scientific and educational essays, including (in the last five years):

(2017) Sella F, Berteletti I, Lucangeli D, Zorzi M. Pre-school children use space, rather then counting, to infer the numerical magnitude of digits: evidence for a spatial mapping principle. Cognition, 158, 56-67. 

(2016) Sella F, Berteletti I, Lucangeli D, Zorzi M. Spontaneous non‐verbal counting in toddlers. Developmental Science, 19(2), 329-337. 

(2016) Benavides-Varela S, Butterworth B, Burgio F, Arcara G, Lucangeli D, Semenza C. Numerical Activities and Information Learned at Home Link to the Exact Numeracy Skills in 5–6 Years-Old Children. Frontiers in psychology, 7. 

(2015) Sella F, Berteletti I, Lucangeli D, Zorzi M. Varieties of quantity estimation in children. Developmental Psychology, 51(6), 758. 

(2014) Caviola S, Mammarella IC, Lucangeli D, Cornoldi C. Working memory and domain-specific precursors predicting the success in learning written subtraction problems. Learning and Individual Differences, 36, 92-100. 

(2014) Re AM, Pedron M, Tressoldi PE, Lucangeli D. Response to Specific Training for Students With Different Levels of Mathematical Difficulties. Exceptional Children, 80(3), 337-352. 

(2013) Al-Yagon M, Cavendish W, Cornoldi C, Fawcett AJ, Grunke M, Hung, LY, Jimenez JE, Karande S, van Kraayenoord CE, Lucangeli D, Margalit M, Montague M, Sholapurwala R. The Proposed Changes For DSM-5 for SLD and ADHD: International Perspectives-Australia, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Spain, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United States. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 46, 58-72.

(2013) Colomer C, Miranda A, Re AM, Lucangeli D. Numerical and Calculation Abilities in Children with ADHD. Learning Disabilities: A Contemporary Journal, 11(2), 1-15.  

(2013) Mammarella IC, Bomba M, Caviola S, Broggi F, Neri F. Lucangeli D, Nacinovich R. Mathematical difficulties in nonverbal learning disability or co-morbid dyscalculia and dyslexia. Developmental neuropsychology, 38(6), 418-432. 

(2013) Mammarella IC, Caviola S, Cornoldi C, Lucangeli D. Mental additions and verbal-domain interference in children with Developmental Dyscalculia (DD). Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34(9), 2845-2855.

Awards and prizes

Daniela Lucangeli is President of the Association for the National Coordination of Specialized Teachers (CNIS) and member of the Scientific Committees of numerous national and international research associations such as the Italian Association for Research and Intervention in Learning Psychopathology (AIRIPA) and the Italian Association of Psychology (AIP Development Section). Vice President for the International Development of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities (IARLD). Technical member of the National Observatory for Childhood and Adolescence. Scientific component of the Technical Commission appointed by the Ministry of Education for guidelines on specific learning disorders (DSA), Bes (Special Educational Needs). And he is a member of the National Commission of the CNOP (National Council of Psychologists) "Wellness at School". Vice President of the Research Foundation HPNR (Human Potential Network Research). Scientific Director of the Learning Center (28 Centers in Italy). Scientific Director of the Gate Italy Association (Gifted and Talent Education). Scientific Manager of the Regional Research Center and Educational Services for Learning Difficulties.

In 2019, she received the international Standout Woman Award "for the high profile of her studies aimed at supporting the growth and development of children and adolescents, and for her ongoing commitment shown in educational and clinical services as support for developmental vulnerabilities".

In April 2020, she was appointed to the Committee of Experts at the Ministry of Education, set up by Minister Lucia Azzolina.

Position/Role

Director of the Office Riconoscimento ai fini sportivi - Vigilanza e Registri sportivi of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI). Head of Corruption Prevention and Transparency of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI).

Professional career

After graduating in law, she obtained the title of Lawyer and the specialization in sports law and economics. Since 2004 within the Italian National Olympic Committee, she developed his activity at the Legal Assistance and Litigation Office. She was also a member of the Sports Justice Bodies and a part of the Editorial Committee of the Sports Law Review. On behalf of CONI Francesca participates in Working Groups, Commissions and Assemblies of the National Sports Federations. She has held and still holds lectures at universities and other institutes.  She currently heads the Office Riconoscimento ai fini sportivi - Vigilanza e Registri sportivi and has assumed the role of Head of the Working Group on aggregations and recognitions, of the Working Group on e-sports and of the Working Group on relations between FSN/DSA-EPS. In 2022 she was appointed CONI's Head of Corruption Prevention and Transparency.

Position/Role

Former athlete, shot put champion.

Professional career

Danielle Frederique Madam began practising athletics in 2011 and in 2014 won her first title as Italian champion of shot-put in the junior category. Originally from Cameroon, she obtained Italian citizenship in 2021, finally being able to wear the Azzurri jersey. In the meantime, she won 5 Italian champion titles (3 federal and 2 university), 5 Italian runner-up titles, 2 bronze medals, 1 absolute bronze, 14 absolute Lombardy regional champion titles.

She graduated in Communication, Innovation, Multimedia at the University of Pavia, and currently works in the field of communication.
From 11 June to 11 July 2021 she will host the TV programme Notti Europee.

Position/Role

Research Associate at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute

Professional career

Tina Magazzini holds a BA in Political Science (University of Florence, Italy), a MA in International Relations (CCNY, New York, United States) and a PhD in Human Rights (University of Deusto, Bilbao, Basque Country). She is a Research Associate at the Global Governance Programme, Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies of the European University Institute working primarily on a project dealing with religious diversity governance. Her research interests are in the fields of comparative politics, migration and integration policies, diversity management, identity and the relationship between majorities, minorities and states. She is interested in both applied and theoretical research in these areas, which led her to follow a non-linear path where she alternated and attempted to merge academic research and policy work for international bodies. Previously to joining the EUI she worked with a number of NGOs, the European Commission, the Council of Europe and UNESCO in the areas of social inclusion, Roma integration policy-making and minority rights in the United States, Guatemala, Belgium, Hungary, Spain and Zimbabwe.                      

She carried out her PhD research within the Marie Sklodowska Curie project INTEGRIM– Integration and International Migration: pathways and integration policies and was awarded the Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship in 2016 by the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research and the Social Impact Award in 2018 by the Marie Curie Alumni Association. 

Scientific results

Her expertise lays in comparative politics, with a focus on minority rights and social inclusion. In 2012 she worked in the Directorate for Policy Coordination (DG REGIO) of the European Commission on issues related to social inclusion and marginalized communities. This experience strongly contributed to the choice of pursuing a doctorate on this topic, which turned into a research project that investigates the strengths and weaknesses of policies aimed at Roma and migrant minorities in Italy and Spain.

What may seem to be a niche area (policies aimed at ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities) provide useful insights into understanding the wider dynamics of racism and of structural discrimination that inform much of the political agendas of contemporary European democracies. What may be labeled as academic research on "minorities" is therefore functional to understanding the mechanisms of social, economic and political inclusion and exclusion for society as a whole.

Spending one year working in the Social and Human Sciences unit of the UNESCO office for Southern Africa enabled her to broaden her perspective both in analytical and methodological terms. The project she currently works in seeks to overcome the Eurocentric perspective that is generally adopted in academic research on religious diversity, by look at models of religious governance in the Middle East, Asia and Oceania.

Since 2015 she collaborates with WOTS, a grassroots platform whose purpose is to disseminate social research by combining journalistic style and scientific rigor. 

Also related to dissemination activities, a short movie she directed has been used in an anti-xenophobia campaign by the MADE – Migration and Development Civil Society Network, as part of the Global Forum for Migration and Development’s debate on migration and stereotypes.

She is a reviewer for the Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, Social Inclusion, East European Journal of Society and Politics and Configurações.

Editorial work and publications

Recent publications include articles for the peer-reviewed journals Migration Letters, Policy & Politics, International Migration,among others.

 [2019] Magazzini, T., Piemontese, S., Constructing Roma Migrants: European Narratives and Local Governance, IMISCOE Book series, Springer. Proposta di libro vincitore del premio IMISCOE Springer 2017 e pubblicato gratuitamente in Open Access.

[2018] Magazzini, T., What’s in a name? Causes and consequences of labeling minorities as ‘national’ or ‘migrant’: Roma in Italy and Spain, International Migration, Vol. 56, Special Issue The Changing Face of Migration: Future Challenges for Societies.

[2017] Magazzini, T., Making the most of super-diversity. Notes on the potential of a new approach, inPolicy & Politics, Vol.45, No. 4, ISSN: 1744-2648, pp. 527-545. 

[2016] Magazzini, T.,  Cultural institutions as a combat sport. Reflections on the European Roma Institute, in The Age of Human Rights Journal,No. 7, Special Issue, Identity and Cultural Integration, ISSN: 2340-9592, pp. 50-76. 

[2016] Magazzini, T., Piemontese, S.,  Roma’ migration in the EU: the case of Spain between ‘new’ and ‘old’ minorities, in Migration Letters, Vol.13, No.2, Special Issue Protecting and including “new” and “old” minorities: opportunities, challenges, synergies, ISSN: 1741-8984, pp. 228-241.

Awards and prizes

2018: Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions Seal of Excellence and  Marie Curie Alumni Association Social Impact Award.

Position/Role

Full professor of Pharmacology and Biotechnology and Coordinator of the Center of Excellence for Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Milan

Professional career

After graduating in Biological Sciences at the University of Milan in 1973, she continued her scientific interests with a scholarship at the Institute of Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy directed by Professor Rodolfo Paoletti. Winner of the Salk Institute - University of Texas Award, she continued her education initially at the Department of Pharmacology and Neurobiology of the University of Texas, in Houston, in the United States and then at the Department of Cell Biology of the Baylor College of Medicine under the guidance of Professor Bert O'Malley. Back to Italy in 1982 as a researcher, she founded and directed a University-Industry model collaboration center, the result of an initiative by the University of Milan and the Hoffman-LaRoche Pharmaceutical Company: the Milan Molecular Pharmacology Lab (MPL). At the end of the 1980s, as an associate professor, she continued her research at the Department of Pharmacological Sciences of the University of Milan. Since 2002 she has directed the Center of Excellence on Neurodegenerative Diseases of the University of Milan, an experimental center financed by a fund organized by the Ministry of University and Research in which she is directly responsible for a research group made up of 20 researchers and young graduates. From 2006 to 2014 she founded and presided over the TOP srl, a spin-off of the University of Milan. As an expert in Pharmaceutical Biotechnology she holds various ministerial positions: she is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Italian Prime Minister in the field of Biotechnology, Biosafety and Life Sciences, of the Scientific Committee "Innovative Medicine Initiative" of the European Union, of the European ESFRI Working Group for Health and Food, of the Council of the European Society for Molecular Imaging (ESMI) and delegate of the MIUR for the European Pilot Initiative on Joint Programming on Neurodegenerative Diseases of which she is Vice-President since 2010. She is currently nominated by the American Society of Endocrinology member of the Endocrine Society EU Task force for Endocrine Disrupters and collaborates with the Innovative Medicine Initiative2 as a member of the SSG Panel on Neurodegeneration.

Scientific results

The research carried out by Adriana Maggi has always focused on the study of the physiological activity performed by estrogens, with particular reference to non-reproductive organs. Initial studies are associated with the discovery that the estrogen receptor is present in all brain cells (oligodendrocytes, astrocytes, microglia and neurons), even in brain areas not associated with reproductive functions, but linked to the control of emotional activities (frontal cortex, hippocampus). More recently, the study of the anti-inflammatory activity of estrogens active in microglia has led to new hypotheses about the higher incidence of neurodegenerative diseases in female subjects and the role of sex in the response to different stimuli and ischemic insults. In order to better understand the action of estrogens, Adriana Maggi designed and created a unique model for the study of the action of these hormones in living organisms and for the identification of new drugs active through these receptors: the ERE reporter mouse Luc. This reporter system was subsequently used to generate other model systems for the study of other receptors (for example the PPAR receptor) and complex processes such as oxidative stress, inflammation, calcium transport, apoptosis and others. The availability of the ERE-Luc model for the study of estrogen receptor activity has shown for the first time that estrogen is very active in the liver in mammals. Recent studies show that in female organisms estrogens control hepatic metabolism and lipid synthesis in close relationship with reproductive activity. This action is fundamental in differentiating energy metabolism in mammals of the two sexes and the discovery made has significant significance not only for a better understanding of sex-dependent hepatic metabolism, but also for understanding the etiopathogenetic mechanisms of a series of diseases associated with aging and, in women, closely related to post-menopause.
The results of the research carried out have opened up a new way of understanding the metabolic differences between males and females, allowing the understanding of gender / gender differences in the prevalence of a very wide range of diseases that include most of the diseases associated with aging (from diabetes to neurodegenerative diseases) and in the hepatic metabolism of drugs and xenobiotics in general. Furthermore, the discovery of the relevance of estrogen activity in the liver suggests a new way to generate more effective postmenopausal hormone replacement formulas with fewer side effects.
The research activity of Adriana Maggi has been recognized and supported by numerous national and international funding bodies. On funding from the European Commission, the professor coordinated 4 European research consortia for the study of the physiology and aging of women and endocrine disruptors, and more recently her research was funded by the Nationals Institutes of Health with a RO1 grant for the study of the aging of women and ERC for the study of gender physiology. 

Editorial work and publications

She is the author of more thab 200 scientific publications, 6 patents and 3 monographs- Among the most recent publications:

(2017) Della Torre S, Maggi A.Sex Differences: A Resultant of an Evolutionary Pressure? Cell Metabolism, 25:499-505.

(2017) Rizzi N, Rebecchi M, Levandis G, Ciana P and Maggi A. Identification of novel loci for the generation of reporter mice. Nucleic Acids Reserach, 45:e37.

(2016) Della Torre S, Mitro N, Fontana R, Gomaraschi M, Favari E, Recordati C, Lolli F, Quagliarini F, Meda C, Ohlsson C, Crestani M, Uhlenhaut NH, Calabresi L, Maggi A. An Essential Role for Liver ERα in Coupling Hepatic Metabolism to the Reproductive Cycle. Cell Reports, 15:360-71.

(2016) Villa A, Vegeto E, Poletti A, Maggi A.Estrogens, Neuroinflammation, and Neurodegeneration. Endocrine Reviews. 37:372-402.

Benedusi V, Martini E, Kallikourdis M, Villa A, Meda C and Maggi A. Ovariectomy shortens the life span of female mice. Oncotarget  (2015) 6:10801-11.

(2014) Della Torre S, Benedusi V, Fontana R, Maggi A, Energy Metabolism and reproduction, an ancestral balance to be preserved for women health. Nature Review Endocrinology, 10:13-23.

(2012) Villa A, Della Torre S, Stell A, Cook J, Brown M, Maggi A. Tetradian oscillation of estrogen receptor α is necessary to prevent liver lipid deposition. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 109:11806-11.

(2011) Della Torre S, Rando G, Meda C, Stell A, Chambon P, Krust A, Ibarra C, Magni P, Ciana P. and Maggi A. Amino Acid-dependent activation of liver Estrogen Receptor alpha integrates metabolic and reproductive functions via IGF-1. Cell Metabolism, 13: 205-214.

(2010) Rando G, Horner D, Biserni A, Ramachandran B, Caruso D, Ciana P, Komm B. and Maggi A. An innovative method to classify SERMs based on the dynamics of estrogen receptor transcriptional activity in living animals. Molecular Endocrinology, 24: 735-744.

(2009) Brufani M, Ceccacci F, Filocamo L, Garofalo B, Joudioux R, La Bella A, Leonelli F, Migneco LM, Bettolo RM, Farina PM, Ashcroft GS, Routley C, Hardman M, Meda C, Rando G, Maggi A. Novel locally active estrogens accelerate cutaneous wound healing. A preliminary study. Molecular Pharmaceutics, 6: 543-56.

(2003) Ciana P, Raviscioni M, Mussi P, Vegeto E, Que I, Parker MG, Lowik C and Maggi A. In vivo imaging of transcriptionally active estrogen receptors. Nature Medicine, 9: 82-6.

Awards and prizes

Adriana Maggi won many awards and recognitions during her professional career, including the Salk-Institute-University of Texas Award; the NATO Award for exchange studies, the Lecture Award of the British Endocrine Society, the Farmindustria-Telethon Research Award, the PFIZER Investigator-Initiated Research Award, the ERC Advanced Grant Award. 

Position/Role

Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Milan. Director of the Laboratory of Bioethics at the L. Einaudi research and documentation centre.

Professional career

Beatrice Magni graduated in 1998 with a degree in Political Science from the University of Milan, and went on to obtain a Master's degree (D.E.A.) in Paris, at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), and a Doctorate in the same city, at the Université Paris Sorbonne - Denis Diderot. She returned to Italy, and is currently an associate professor at the Department of Social and Political Studies at the University of Milan, where she teaches Political Philosophy, Bioethics and Theories of Equality and Rights, and is a member of the PTP - Political Theory Project. She co-edited Bdl - Biblioteca della Libertà - the scientific journal of the Luigi Einaudi Research Centre in Turin, a journal of which she is currently deputy editor. Within the Einaudi Centre, she was for twelve years coordinator of the Public Philosophy section of LPF (Laboratory of Politics and Public Philosophy), and for ten years she directed La.B. - Laboratory of Bioethics. She currently directs a Laboratory of Citizenship in collaboration with the Centro Einaudi and with schools and high schools in the city of Turin. His most recent publications include Machiavelli. Sette saggi di teoria politica (Milan, Mimesis, 2018), and Hannah Arendt et la condition politique (Paris-Turin, L'Harmattan, 2019). 

Scientific results

Beatrice Magni deals with normative political theory, i.e. the study of foundations, concepts, and models of political activity, focusing, in particular, on non-ideal models of politics and justice: she wrote an essay on politics as the conflict in Machiavelli, and her focus is on injustice as a priority over ideal justice (as in the works of Judith Shklar), on compromise as a viable and morally preferable solution in politics (Avishai Margalit). She has translated into Italy some important French political theorists of the last century, such as Claude Lefort and Jacques Rancière, and she is currently writing a text on feminisms and their 'waves', and on gender injustice.

Editorial work and publications

Co-editor of “Bdl”, the Journal of Centro Einaudi (Turin), she has published several books and essays, including the following.

Magni B., Hannah Arendt et la condition politique, Paris-Turin, L’Harmattan (2018), ISBN 978-2-336-31235-4, pp. 128.

Magni B., Conflitto e libertà. Saggio su Machiavelli, Pisa, ETS (2012), ISBN 9788846732057, pp. 174.

Magni B., Machiavelli. Sette saggi di teoria politica, Milano, Mimesis (2018), ISBN 9788857544267.

Magni B., Solidarietà. Storia di un’idea, Milano, Giuffrè (2012), ISBN 9788883535116, pp. 152.

Magni B., Il disaccordo. Politica e filosofia, Roma, Meltemi (2007), ISBN 8814172757, pp. 384.

Magni B., “Ragioni per agire: il diritto come interpretazione e come pratica sociale”, Notizie di Politeia, XXXIII, 134, 2019, ISSN 1128-2401.

Magni B., “Compromise and/or Integrity? Some Normative Remarks”, Ethics, Politics, and Society, vol. 2, 2019, p. 335-355, ISSN 2184-2582.

Magni B. e M. Ferrera, “Per un liberalismo 2.0. Prime riflessioni e proposte”, Quaderni di Biblioteca della Libertà, Torino, Centro di Ricerca e Documentazione Luigi Einaudi, 2019, n. 1, ISBN  9788894960143.

Magni B., “La forza dell’esempio: il Paese Ritrovato”, focus article in Innovacare, aprile 2019, download: https://www.secondowelfare.it/innovacare/la-forza-dellesempio-il-paese-ritrovato.html.

Magni B., “My Thinking is My Fighting: la concezione arendtiana della politica”, Bdl – Biblioteca della Libertà, LIII, 223, 2018, pp. 3-48, ISSN 2035-5866, doi: 10.23827/BDL_2018_3_5.

Magni B., “Nuovi criteri normativi per la gestione del conflitto: la interactive justice, Notizie di Politeia, XXXIII, 128, 2017, pp. 153-156, ISSN 1128-2401.

Magni B., “The Universalist Dimension of Territory”, Bdl - Biblioteca della Libertà, LII, 220, 2017, p. 165-174, ISSN: 2035-5866.

Magni B., “New Wine in Old Bottles: The Kind of Political Philosophy We Need”, Phenomenology and Mind, 12, 2017, pp. 30-40, ISSN 2239-4028, doi: 10.13128/Phe_Mi-21103.

Position/Role

CEO of DAXO GROUP and DAXOLAB, President of DONNE 4.0 and Vicepresident of ARTES 4.0

Professional career

Darya Majidi is an Italian-Iranian digital entrepreneur, computer scientist, expert in artificial intelligence, author, university professor, human and digital rights activist and keynote speaker. She is a pioneer and visionary of Information Technology in Italy. She has actively participated in the digital transformation of our country for over 30 years, with experiences gained in the public, private, academic and international fields. She has created startups and innovative companies, boasts merger & acquisition references among her international companies and corporates and experience in private equity and venture capital which has seen her as a protagonist in the transformation of the startups she created into structured companies. 

She is currently CEO, founder and owner of the Daxo Group, a strategic consultancy and digital transformation training company that for over 10 years has been accompanying its prestigious clients in their digital transformation and training with particular attention to female digital empowerment with a view to closing digital gender gap. Daxo Group is the first company in Italy certified with ISO 30415 with a view to implementing Diversity & Inclusion policies.

CEO and owner of Daxolab, coworking, accelerator and business incubator which to date has given life to around 20 innovative startups and hosts a unique eco-system of professionals, SMEs and large companies.

Founder and President of the Donne 4.0, supports the digital empowerment of girls and women at a national and international level. Donne 4.0 represents a unique association on the international scene in combining technological and digital knowledge and skills with aspects of ethics and soft skills.

Vice President of the ARTES 4.0 Competence Center, led by the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa, supports technological transfer between companies and universities. Speaker, lecturer, mentor, and TEDx speaker and Member of the Singularity University. 

She was Councilor for Innovation of the city of Livorno, helping to transform the city into a Smart City, creating systems and services to simplify the relationship between the public administration with businesses, citizens and professional bodies. The activities carried out have received numerous national and international awards.

She was President of the Young Entrepreneurs Group of Confindustria Livorno and Vice President of Confindustria di Livorno with responsibility for research and innovation. She has numerous collaborations with prestigious international universities, including the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna of Pisa, the Scuola Normale of Pisa, the Rome Business School and others.

She is a mother, a role model, an activist woman who hopes to impact the world in a concrete way.

Editorial work and publications

Darya Majidi. Donne 4.0. 2018.

Darya Majidi. Sorellanza digitale. Femminismo 4.0. 2020.

Awards and prizes

In 2021, she was mentioned  by the magazine D Repubblica as one of the 100 women who are changing the world and in 2022 by Io Donna Corriere della sera among the 10 women impacting Italy.

In October 2023, she was recognized as one of the most powerful women in the world by  Fortune Italia,  which featured her on the cover.

Position/Role

Senior researcher Bionem (Bio- and Nano-Engineering for Medicine) nanotechnology laboratories Experimental and Clinical Medicine Department, Magna Graecia, University of Catanzaro.

Professional career

Graduated from the University of Messina in Medicine and Surgery, she continued her studies at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, where she specialized in Medical Oncology. After getting her PhD in Cell and Human Biology at the University of Messina, as winner of the two-year AIRC scholarship, she has carried out her research as contract professor at the Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro. She has collaborated with the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) of Genoa in the post-doc position, for the development of devices aimed at characterizingprognostic biomarkers in cancer patients. NM in 2005 worked as consultant for the Consulate of the Italian Embassy in Nosy-Be, Madagascar, for evaluating oncological risks linked to territorial problems, especially in paediatric age. In the project "Monitoring and early diagnosis of tumours linked to exposure to environmental toxic substances in the Calabrian population", in 2009, she worked as consultor for ARPACAL - Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Calabria. In 2011 she was a scientific consultant for the project "Centro del Farmaco" IRCS San Raffaele Pisana in Rome. 

Since 2013 she has been appointed Scientific Director of the CHARACTEX research project (Characterization of circulating tumour cells from peripheral, medullary and cord blood, and tissue tumour cells by cytometric flow evaluation and in vitro expansion). She takes part into the national project as scientific coordinator and coordinator of the Germaneto section, Magna Graecia University, for the SCENIC project (immunophenotypic characterization of circulating endothelial cells from peripheral, medullary and cord blood by cytometric flow evaluation in standardized instrumental, reagents and protocol conditions) commissioned by Becton Dickinson (BD). In 2015 she was the scientific director of the ENDOFIRE research project, (immunophenotypic characterization of circulating endothelial cells and peripheral blood exosomes by cytometric flow evaluation in patients with atrial fibrillation) and of the observational study ENXOCORE, (immunophenotypic characterization of circulating differentiated (CEC) and progenitor endothelial cells (EPC) and peripheral blood exosomes, by cytofluorimetric evaluation, in patients with acute myocardial infarction without ST segment elevation (NSTEMI). Since 1999 she has been member of the Italian Association of Medical Oncologists (AIOM) and from 2017 she has been Member of the Royal Society of Medicine. 

In 2017 she qualified as associate professor in the scientific disciplinary sectors MED06 (Medical Oncology) and MED46 (Translational Medicine) For the academic year 2017-18 she has been director and didactic coordinator of the Post-graduate Course inScreening, diagnosis,  prognosis and efficacy assessment of in vitro drugs using liquid biopsy" at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University Magna Graecia. For the academic year 2018-19 she is director and didactic coordinator of the 1st level Master in "Liquid Biopsy in Tumours and other Complex Diseases". At BionemL@b laboratory, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Magna Graecia University, she works on designing and creating devices or lab-on-chips aimed at isolating and characterizing circulating tumour cells.

Scientific results

Natalia Malara has helped to develop a neoadjuvant protocol for membrane immunomodulation in patients with lung cancer to increase the anti-tumor immune reaction (degree thesis awarded with "Fondazione Bonino-Pulejo Award") and to characterize the impact of paraphysiological mechanisms linked to aging in breast cancer biology (with particular interest on alterations of cell cycle control proteins) (2004). Furthermore, she has developed innovative protocols to isolate and characterize the subset of non-haematological cells found in the blood, aimed at defining the identity of biological marker and establishing the degree of biological conformity to the pathology. In particular, she has developed a standardized protocol for the isolation and culture of circulating tumour cells for their cytofluorimetric, morpho-immunocytochemical and genetic-mutational characterization (2018). NM has helped standardizing the normal values range ​​of different biomarkers such as circulating endothelial cells, and assessing their prognostic impact in tumour and cardiovascular pathology (2018). Author of books on  oncology (2009, 2019) and holder of national and international patents (2018), NM has developed, in the field of personalized medicine, a test that investigates the in vitro sensitivity of cancer stem cells, isolated from tissue biopsies (removal of tumour tissue) and from liquid biopsies (peripheral blood sampling), to chemotherapeutic agents (2007, 2014, 2016). She developed a protocol to isolate and expand in vitro human stem cells from different sources (adult tissues and embryonic appendages) to be used in tissue regeneration (2015). She participates and collaborates in the creation of devices with nanoscale architectures (2014) for the separation and detection of biological species for applicative purposes in clinical field, with particular interest in their use in the field of personalized preventive medicine (2018).

Editorial work and publications

Natalia Malara has authored more than 80 scientific publications, including:

[2021] Ferraro E, Germanò M, Mollac R, Mollace V, Malara N, HIF-1, the Warburg Effect, and Macrophage/Microglia Polarization Potential Role in COVID-19, Pathogenesis, Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 8841911.

[2021] Di Vito A, Donato A, Presta I, Mancuso T, Brunetti FS, Mastroroberto P, Amorosi A, Malara N, Donato G. Extracellular Matrix in Calcific Aortic Valve Disease: Architecture, Dynamic and Perspectives, International Journal of Molecular Sciences 22(2): 913.

[2020] Aquila I, Sacco MA, Abenavoli L, Malara N, Arena V, Grassi S, Ausania F, Boccuto L, Ricci C, Gratteri S, Oliva A, Ricci P. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Pandemic: Review of the Literature and Proposal for Safe Autopsy Practice, Archives of pathology & laboratory medicine 144 (9): 1048-1056.

[2019] Gandolfo G, Temperilli F, Amoroso A. “La Medicina di Laboratorio nell’emergenza”, seconda edizione, Malara N. capitolo “Emergenze in Oncologia” e capitolo “Recenti applicazioni cliniche della citofluorimetria a flusso, in rapido sviluppo: le cellule tumorali circolanti, le cellule endoteliali circolanti, le cellule staminali circolanti” Delfino editore, Roma.

[2018] Malara N, Gentile F, Coppedè N, Coluccio ML, Candeloro P, Perozziello G, Ferrara L, Giannetto M, Careri M… et al.  Superhydrophobic Lab-on-chip exploring protonation state in secretome assess personalized onset-risk of sporadic tumour. Nature Precision Oncology 2:26/2018.

[2018] Lanuti P, Simeone P, Rotta G, Almici C, Avvisati G, Azzaro R, Bologna G, Budillon A, Di Cerbo M, …Malara N …et al. Standardized flow cytometry network study for the assessment of circulating endothelial cell physiological ranges. Sci Rep. Apr 11;8(1):5823. 

[2016] Malara N, Trunzo V, Foresta U, Amodio N, De Vitis S, Roveda L, Fava M, Coluccio ML, Macrì R…et al. Ex-vivo characterization of circulating colon cancer cells distinguished in stem and differentiated subset provides useful biomarker for personalized metastatic risk assessment. Journal of Translational Medicine 14(1) 12/2016.

[2016] Malara N, Guzzi G, Mignogna, C, Trunzo V, Camastra C, Della Torre A, Di Vito A, Lavecchia A M… et al.  Non-invasive real-time biopsy of intracranial lesions using short time expanded circulating tumor cells on glass slide: Report of two cases.BMC Neurology 16(1) 12/2016

[2015] Malara N, Musolino G, Trunzo V, Minniti AM, Cristodoro L, Polistina M, Renzulli A, Mollace V. Novel application of mesenchymal stem cells from mammary artery. International Journal of Cardiology 182C:466-468 01/2015. 

[2014] Malara N. “Il Tessuto Tumorale”, editore Eurolink, distributore Feltrinelli 

[2014] Malara N, Givigliano F, Trunzo V, Macrina L, Raso C, Amodio N, Aprigliano S, Minniti A M, Russo… et al.  In vitro expansion of tumour cells derived from blood and tumour tissue is useful toredefine personalized treatment in non-small cell lung cancer patients.Journal of biological regulators and homeostatic agents 28(4):717-31.

[2014] Malara N,Coluccio ML, Limongi T, Asande M,  Trunzo V, Cojoc G, Raso C, Candeloro P, Perozziello  G….et al. Folic Acid Functionalized Surface Highlights 5-Methylcytosine-Genomic Content within Circulating Tumor Cells.Small 07/2014; 10(21). 

Awards and prizes

In 1994 she received the Umberto Bonino & Maria Sofia Pulejo Messina Foundation Award.

In 1997 she received the AIRC (Italian Association for Cancer Research) award.

In 2010 she received the "Artemisia" award for cancer research from the Rhegium Julii Association.

In 2014 she received the '"Giovanni Scarcea" award for cancer research.

Position/Role

Chief of the Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation Department of the "Bianchi-Melacrino-Morelli" Hospital in Reggio Calabria

Professional career

She graduated in Medicine at the University of Messina in 1978 and she became a Nephrology Specialist in 1983 at the same University.  She spent 2 years (1981-1982) as a Clinical Scientist at the Renal and Transplantation Unit of the Western Infirmary in  Glasgow (Scotland).

She has attended several Courses in Hypertension, Clinical Epidemiology and Molecular Genetics at the  Erasmus University in  Rotterdam (The Netherland).  In addition, she has attended many other international and High Quality Nephrology Courses. Since 2001, she is recognised by the European Society of Hypertension as a Hypertension Specialist.

Scientific results

Her fields of interest are Hypertension, CV complications in renal patients including dialysis patients, renal disease progression, Epidemiology of Renal disease and molecular genetics of renal diseases and Hypertension.  

She is involved in many national and international research studies such as "Lung Water by Ultra-Sound (US) guided treatment to prevent death and cardiovascular complications in high-risk end stage renal disease patients with cardiomyopathy (LUST STUDY)". The aim of this study is to create a database with clinical tests performed in very high-risk dialysis patients in order to investigate the impact of volume expansion  which is a well-known CV and renal risk factor.

The LUST Study is a randomized clinical trial aimed at testing whether the application of chest US may reduce mortality, heart failure,  myocardial  infarction,  progression  of  cardiac  disease  and  hospitalizations  in  dialysis  patients  with myocardial ischemia (a history of myocardial infarction with or without ST elevation or unstable angina, acute coronary  syndrome  documented  by  ECG  recordings  and cardiac  troponins  or  stable  angina  pectoris  with documented coronary artery disease by prior coronary angiography or ECG) and/or stage III-IV NYHA heart failure over a 2 years follow-up.

Francesca Mallamaci is Chairwoman of the ERA-EDTA working Group EURECA-m. She has contributed to building up a large registry of European dialysis patients in order to identify and validate traditional and non-traditional CV risk factors.

Editorial work and publications

Francesca Mallamaci is Associate Editor of the journal Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation and Editor Emeritus of Journal of Nephrology, the official English-language journal of the Italian Society of Nephrology (where she was Editor in Chief from 2006 to 2012). 

She is the author of numerous articles published in national and international scientific journals, including:

(2019) Mallamaci F, Tripepi G, D'Arrigo G, Borrelli S, Garofalo C, Stanzione G, Provenzano M, De Nicola L, Conte G, Minutolo R, Zoccali C. Blood Pressure Variability, Mortality, and Cardiovascular Outcomes in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients. Clinical Journal of American Society of Nephrology, 14(2):233-240.

(2018) Mallamaci F, Tripepi R, D'Arrigo G, Porto G, Versace MC, Marino C, Sanguedolce MC, Testa A, Tripepi G, Zoccali C. Long-term blood pressure monitoring by office and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure in renal transplant patients: a longitudinal study. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 34(9):1558-1564.

(2018) Mallamaci F, D'Arrigo G, Tripepi R, Leonardis D, Porto G, Testa A, Abd ElHafeez S, Mafrica A, Versace MC, Provenzano PF, Tripepi G, Mancini P, Zoccali C. Office, standardized and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure and renal function loss in renal transplant patients. Journal of Hypertension, 36(1):119-125.

(2017) Mallamaci F, Tripepi G. Pulmonary congestion and hypertension in hemodialysis patients, Giornale Italiano di Nefrologia, 34(Suppl 69):36-40.

(2016) Mallamaci F. Highlights of the 2015 ERA-EDTA congress: chronic kidney disease, hypertension. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 31(7):1044-6.

(2016) Mallamaci F, Torino C, Tripepi G. Physical exercise in haemodialysis patients: time to start. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 31(8):1196-8.

(2016) Mallamaci F, Tripepi R, Leonardis D, Mafrica A, Versace MC, Provenzano F, Tripepi G, Zoccali C. Nocturnal Hypertension and Altered Night-Day BP Profile and Atherosclerosis in Renal Transplant Patients. Transplantation, 100(10):2211-8.

(2015) Mallamaci F, Testa A, Leonardis D, Tripepi R, Pisano A, Spoto B, Sanguedolce MC, Parlongo RM, Tripepi G, Zoccali C. A genetic marker of uric acid level, carotid atherosclerosis, and arterial stiffness: a family-based study. American Journal of Kidney Diseases, 65(2):294-302.

(2015) Mallamaci F, Tripepi R, Leonardis D, Mafrica A, Versace MC, Provenzano F, Tripepi G, Zoccali C. Nocturnal Hypertension and Altered Night-Day BP Profile and Atherosclerosis in Renal Transplant Patients. Transplantation, 100(10):2211-8.

(2015) Mallamaci F, Testa A, Leonardis D, Tripepi R, Pisano A, Spoto B, Sanguedolce MC, Parlongo RM, Tripepi G, Zoccali C. A genetic marker of uric acid level, carotid atherosclerosis, and arterial 

Awards and prizes

Several of Professor Mallamaci's abstracts have received awards at national and international conferences such as the European Renal Association (ERA-EDTA) and the American Society of Nephrology Congress.

In the field of chronic renal failure, she is ranked 19th in the international ranking created and periodically updated by the University of Baltimore EXPERTSCAPE. 

In 2014, he chaired the Scientific Committee of the National Congress of the Italian Society of Nephrology. She is also a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Congress of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation (ERA-EDTA) in Vienna in 2016 and of the same committee for the congress to be held in Madrid in 2017. Francesca Mallamaci was also formally invited to represent the European Society of Nephrology, Dialysis and Transplantation at the European Society of Paediatric Nephrology and American Society of Nephrology Congresses in 2015.

Position/Role

Associate professor of Developmental Psychology, University of Padova

Professional career

She graduated in Psychology in 2002 at the University of Padova and obtained the PhD in 2006. During her PhD she spent periods as visiting scholar at the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto, Canada), and at the University of Gent (Belgium). In 2008 she became a Lecturer (assistant professor) in developmental psychology at the University of Padova. She has been a visiting researcher at the Universitè Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium) in 2013, at Liverpool John Moores University (UK) in 2017, and at the Goldsmith University of London (UK) in 2018. In 2013 she co-founded a university clinical centre specialized in diagnosis and intervention of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (Lab.D.A). Since 2017 she is the clinical supervisor of a new centre (Lab.D.A. Nord). She established and directed since 2014 a post-graduate course in Developmental disorders and psychopathologies to train specialized practitioners (University of Padova).

Scientific results

Since the beginning of her research career, she has examined the Nonverbal learning disability, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by low visuospatial skills and good verbal abilities. She became a leading researcher on this topic, publishing several research on peer review journals. Due to these, in 2017, she has been invited from the Columbia University, (Institute of Psychiatry, New York, USA) to be part of the international committee, aimed to include the Nonverbal learning disability in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM 5). Her current research projects focus on studying differences and similarities of the Nonverbal learning disability and other neurodevelopmental disorders, such as ADHD and Autism spectrum disorder.

Other research interests also involve the analysis of cognitive processes (such as visuospatial working memory) in relation to academic achievement, specifically mathematics. Recently, she collaborated with the University of Cambridge (UK) in studying the development of mathematics anxiety and its relation with maths performance.

Overall, her applied scientific results, other than have been published on international peer review journals have been developed in standardized tests and intervention materials with specialized publishers.

Editorial work and publications

Irene C. Mammarella is Academic Editor of PlosOne and is in the Editorial board of international scientific journals, such as Educational Psychology, Learning and Individual Differences e Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.

She is author of many international publications, here are listed some of them:

[2018] Cardillo, R., Menazza, C. & Mammarella, I. C. Visuoconstructive Abilities and Visuospatial Memory in Autism Spectrum Disorder Without Intellectual Disability: Is the Role of Local Bias Specific to the Cognitive Domain Tested?Neuropsychology. doi: 10.1037/neu0000472

[2018] Mammarella, I. C., Donolato, E., Caviola, S., & Giofrè, D. Anxiety profiles and protective factors: A latent profile analysis.Personality & Individual Differences, 124, 201-208. doi: 10.1016/j.paid.2017.12.017

[2018] Mammarella, I. C., Caviola, S., Giofrè, D. & Szücs, D. The underlying structure of visuospatial working memory in children with mathematical learning disability.British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 36, 220-235 doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12202

[2017] Mammarella, I. C., Caviola, S., Giofrè, D., & Borella, E. Separating math from anxiety: The role of inhibitory mechanisms.Applied Neuropsychology: Child, doi: 10.1080/21622965.2017.1341836

[2016] Hill, F., Mammarella, I. C., Devine, A., Caviola, S., Passolunghi, M. C. & Szücs, D. Maths anxiety in primary and secondary school students: Gender differences, developmental changes and anxiety specificity.Learning and Individual Differences, 48, 45-53. 

[2016] Mammarella, I. C., Ghisi, M., Bomba, M., Bottesi, G., Caviola, S., Broggi, F. & Nacinovich, R. Anxiety and depression in children with Nonverbal learning disabilities, reading disabilities, or typical development.Journal of Learning Disabilities, 49, 130-139. 

[2015] Mammarella, I. C., Hill, F., Devine, A., Caviola, S., & Szücs, D. Math anxiety and developmental dyscalculia: A study on working memory processes.Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology, 37, 878-887.

[2014] Mammarella, I. C., & Cornoldi, C. An analysis of the criteria used to diagnose children with Non-verbal learning disabilities (NLD).Child Neuropsychology, 20, 255-280. 

[2014] Mammarella, I. C., Giofrè, D., Caviola, S., Cornoldi, C., & Hamilton, C. Visuospatial working memory in children with Autism: The effect of semantic global organization. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 35, 1349-1356.

[2013] Mammarella, I. C., Bomba, M., Caviola, S., Broggi, F., Neri, F., Lucangeli, D., & Nacinovich, R. Mathematical difficulties in nonverbal learning disability or co-morbid dyscalculia and dyslexia.Developmental Neuropsychology, 38, 418-432.

[2013] Mammarella, I. C., Borella, E., Pastore, M., & Pazzaglia, F. The structure of visuospatial memory in adulthood.Learning and Individual Differences, 25, 99-110.

Awards and prizes

Irene C. Mammarella is member of several international associations: APS (Association for Psychological Science), MCLS (Mathematical Cognition and Learning Society), EARLI (European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction), IARLD (International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities).

She is member of the Directive board of the Italian association for learning disorders (Airipa) and member of the Italian psychological association (AIP), developmental and education.

Since 2017 is member of the panel for updating the national guidelines of Specific learning disorders, organized by the Italian Association of Dyslexia (AID).

Recently, in 2018, she co-founded the Italian association of the Nonverbal learning disability (AIDNV) and the international Society for research on learning disorders (SRLD).

Position/Role

Associate professor at the University of Cagliari and at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics.

Professional career

After graduating in Physics at the University of Cagliari in 1999, she completed her training with a PhD in Physics at Oxford University which she obtained in 2003. In the same year she continued her studies with a post-doc in England again, first at Oxford and then at the University of Liverpool. From 2000 to 2006, she worked as a Scientific Associate with the Fermilab laboratory in Chicago, in the United States. In 2007, she returned to Italy, to Cagliari, as a researcher at the INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics) and, the following year, at the University. From 2012 to 2013 she collaborated with the CERN laboratory in Geneva. In 2015 she won an ERC Consolidator Grant with the CNRS (Center National de la Recherche Scientifique) and moved to Orsay, Paris, until the end of 2016. In 2016 she was also visiting professor at the University of Cambridge, UK. In 2017 she became associate professor at the University of Cagliari. She is currently involved in the study of heavy ion physics with the LHCb experiment at CERN and leads a research team of six post-docs, two students and two researchers divided between Orsay and Cagliari.

Scientific results

In 2002, together with her colleagues from the CDF experiment (Collider Detector at Fermilab) she observed the decay of the W and Z bosons (fundamental particles of the Standard Model) into electrons and measured the production cross section and the ratio for the first time to that energy, publishing the work in her PhD thesis. In 2003 she worked with a group of 14 people dedicated to the research of chargino and neutralino supersymmetric particles in their leptonic decay, coming to coordinate them and publishing the best world limit at that time on their mass and production cross section. In 2007 she became a member of the LHCb (Large Hadron Collider beauty) collaboration – the LHC accelerator experiment of the CERN, that aims to measure the parameters of the CP-violation and decays and rare phenomena related to hadrons in which the beauty quark can (b quark) can be found - at CERN in Geneva. She participated in several studies on the production of associated states of quark-antiquark (quarkonia) by publishing several works on the subject and collaborating with expert theorists of the field. From 2009 to 2013 she became the person responsible for that physics in the experiment. In 2015 she founded a new research group within LHCb opening the way to precision measurements of Quark Gluon Plasma at high speed, her current field of research.

Editorial work and publications

She is author of numerous national and international publications, including:

(2017) Aaij R, Manca G et al. [LHCb Collaboration]. Study of prompt D⁰ meson production in pPb collisions at √s_nn = 5 TeV, Journal of High Energy Physics, 1710, 090.

(2014) Manca G. Review on quarkonia production at LHC, International Journal of Modern Physics A, 29, 1430014.

(2013) Aaij R, Manca G et al. [LHCb Collaboration]. Production of J/Ψ and Υ mesons in pp collisions at √s = 8 TeV, Journal of High Energy Physics, 1306, 064.

(2013) A.A. Alves Jr., G. Manca et al. [LHCb Muon Collaboration]. Performance of the LHCb muon system, Journal of Instrumentation, 8, P02022.

(2012) Aaij R, Manca G et al. [LHCb Collaboration]. Measurement of Υ production in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV, European Physical Journal C, 72, 2025.

(2011) Aaij R, Manca G et al. [LHCb Collaboration] Measurement of J/Ψ production in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV. European Physical Journal C, 71, 1645.

(2010) Anelli M, Manca G et al. [LHCb Muon Collaboration]. Performance of the LHCb muon system with cosmic rays, Journal of Instrumentation ,5, P10003.

(2007) Aaltonen T, Manca G et al. [CDF Collaboration]. Search for chargino-neutralino production in pp collisions at √s = 1.96 TeV, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 191806.

(2008) Aaltonen T, Manca G et al. [CDF Collaboration]. Search for supersymmetry in pp collisions at √s = 1.96 TeV Using the tri-lepton signature of Chargino-Neutralino production, Physical Review Letters, 101, 251801.

(2005) D. Acosta, G. Manca et al. [CDF Collaboration]. First measurements of inclusive W and Z cross-sections from Run II of the Tevatron collider, Physical Review Letters, 94, 091803.

(2007) Abulencia A, Manca G et al. [CDF Collaboration]. Measurements of inclusive W and Z cross-sections in pp collisions at √s = 1.96 TeV, Journal of Physics G, 34, 2457.

She is a reviewer of the journals Journal of High Energy Physics and European Physical Journal.

Awards and prizes

In 2005 she won the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council fellowship for two years. In 2015 she gained a 5 years ERC Consolidator Grant for a total of 1.9 million euros. Since 2016 she is part of the AcademyNet network.
She is on the list of Top Italian Scientists since 2012.

Position/Role

Professor in History of Islamic Countries and director of GramsciLab, Center of Gramscian International Studies, University of Cagliari.

Professional career

Graduated at the Faculty of Political Sciences (African and Oriental Studies), she obtained a PhD from the same University, in "History and Institutions of modern and contemporary Africa and Asia", a post-doctoral scholarship at the Faculty of Political Sciences Federico II of Naples (1991) and at the University of Cagliari (1992-94) for a research on Fundamentalism in North Africa countries.

Researcher at the Faculty of Political Sciences of the University of Cagliari (1997), since June 2006 she is Associate Professor in History of Islamic Countries (LOR10) at the Faculty of Economics, Law and Politics of Cagliari, Department of Political and Social Sciences.

Scientific results

Expert on Contemporary Arab world’s issues, in particular political and youth dissent, political Islam and Islamic radicalism, Muslim immigration in Italy and Europe.

The Arab world’s areas of specific competence are Tunisia and Egypt.

Among the most recent research projects, she works on the spread of Gramsci's thought in the political and cultural debate in the post-2011 Arab world.

Recently she has been Principal investigator of a project entitled "The democratization processes in the Mediterranean Arab countries. The role of universities and research centers " (2010-2012) and of a project caccled “Gramsci’s lesson. State, democratic participation and civil society in the two shores of the Mediterranean", in partnership with Sapienza University of Rome and University of Jendouba (Tunisia).

Expert on issues of religious and cultural inclusion in various public institutions (Region, Province, Municipalities, Prefecture, Police Headquarters, Schools and Institutes) and private associations (Third Age University, Solidarity and Rights Foundations, Cultural Associations).

She is currently principal investigator of a research project entitled "For a mapping of Antonio Gramsci's thought in the world. Reception, translatability, theoretical applications and Gramscian praxis”.

Editorial work and publications

Latest publications:

[2019], Manduchi P., Melis N. (a cura di), Gihad. Definizioni e riletture di un termine abusato, Mondadori Università.

[2019] Manduchi P., Marchi A (a cura di), A lezione da Gramsci. Democrazia, partecipazione politica, società civile in Tunisia, Roma, Carocci.

[2018] Manduchi P. (a cura di), Nelle aule e per le strade: studenti e lotte politiche. Casi di studio dall'Africa e dall'Asia, Bologna, libri di Emil.

[2018] Manduchi P., “Nasser e il nazionalismo arabo”, STORIA DEL PENSIERO POLITICO, numero monografico "Nasser 100 anni dopo. La sfida del nazionalismo e del socialismo arabi", a cura di M. Campanini, Il Mulino.

[2017] Manduchi P., Marchi A., Vacca G.(a cura di), Gramsci nel mondo arabo, Il Mulino.

[2016] Manduchi P., Università e movimenti studenteschi nell'Egitto contemporaneo (1908-1981), Carocci.

[2015] Manduchi P, “Student and Dissent in Egypt. From the Khedival Period to the Protests of 1968”, ORIENTE MODERNO, 95 (1-2). 125-144.

[2014] Manduchi P. (a cura di) I movimenti giovanili nei paesi arabi mediterranei. Dalle indipendenze nazionali a oggi, Carocci editore, 15-43.

[2010] Manduchi P., Baldussi A. (a cura di), Gramsci in Asia e in Africa e in Africa, Aipsa edizioni.

Awards and prizes

Referent of the University of Cagliari in the Scientific Committee for the Gramscian’s Year 2017.

Member of the Casa Museo Gramsci Foundation Scientific Committee.

Director of GramsciLab, Interdepartmental Center of Gramscian International Studies, Cagliari University.

Position/Role

Senior Analyst Ce.S.I. (Centro Studi Internazionali), Rome

Professional career

Graduated in International and European Politics at Cattolica University of Milan in 2012, she had a Master in Economic Security, Geopolitics and Intelligence issued by SIOI (Società Italiana per le Organizzazioni Internazionali) in Rome.

She entered Ce.S.I. in 2013 as intern and then she gained experience through the fellowship program. In 2014 she was appointed Ananlyst in charge of Asia & Pacific Desk. She has been Senior Analyst the since the beginning 2019.

Scientific results

She has been lecturer in International conferences on topics related to her expertise. She teaches in Ce.S.I.’s Course Analysis of Geopolitics, Security and Defence as well as in Safe and Secure Approaches in Field Environment (SSAFE) Training course, organized in collaboration with FAO and Carabinieri

She travels in Asia countries for joint project with partner Institutes.

Editorial work and publications

[2019] Manenti F, Oltre la BRI: gli investimenti cinesi nell’Unione Europea, Ce.S.I.  

[2018] Manenti F, Il Pakistan alla prova della Deradicalizzazione, Chillemi Editore. 

[2018] Manenti F,  Il futuro dell’Iran Deal senza gli Stati Uniti (The Future of Iran Deal without the United States), Ce.S.I. May 2018^[1]

[2018] Ungari A. – Anghelone F. (eds.), Atlante geopolitico del Mediterraneo 2018 (Geopolitical Atlas of the Mediterranean 2018), capitolo sulla Giordania (chapter on Jordan).

[2018] Manenti F, The Evolution of Jihadist Radicalization in Asia, Ce.S.I. – EFD (eds.), with the contribution from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

[2018] Manenti F, La competizione tra al-Qaeda e Daesh per la destabilizzazione dell’Afghanistan (The competition between al-Qaeda and Daesh for destabilizing Afghanistan), Ce.S.I.^[2]

[2016] Manenti F, Manenti F. - La morte del Mullah Mansour e la nuova leadership talebana (Mullah Mansour’s death and the new Taliban leadership), Ce.S.I.

[2015] Manenti F, I riflessi dell’accordo sul nucleare sulla politica interna di Teheran (The effects of the Nuclear Deal on Iranian national politics), Rapporto per l’Osservatorio di politica internazionale del Parlamento italiano.

[2015] Manenti F, Le incognite per l’Afghanistan da ISAF a Resolute Support (Afghanistan’s unknown factors from ISAF to Resolute Support), Rapporto per l’Osservatorio di politica internazionale del Parlamento italiano.

[2015] Manenti F, Il negoziato sul programma nucleare iraniano e gli equilibri politici a Teheran (Iran’s Nuclear Deal and the the political balance in Teheran), Rapporto per l’Osservatorio di politica internazionale del Parlamento italiano.

Position/Role

Former athlete, fencing champion, foil speciality. Vice-President CONI Lombardy. President A.N.S.Me.S. Milano e Provincia (National Association of Stars, Palms and Golden Collars of Merit of CONI and CIP). President of the Mangiarotti Sword Club.

Professional career

Carola Mangiarotti began her sporting career with foil fencing at the age of 10, following a family tradition. 13 years old, she won the Italian Youth Championship (Rome, 1965). The following year, after being diagnosed with scoliosis in his right hand, he began training with his left hand, losing several years of competitive activity. In 1968, he resumed competitions and competed in the finals of the Italian Championships in the Giovanette and Giovani categories. In 1970, he joined the national under-20 team and in 1973 the absolute national team. He took part in the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976 and in Moscow in 1980. In both cases, he ranked 5th in the team foil. From 1973 to 1979, he took part in 6 World Absolute Championships and 3 Universiades. Her palmares includes the 1st place in the World Cup Team Competition in Minsk in 1974, the individual bronze medal at the Mediterranean Games in Algiers in 1975, the 4th place at the Martini York International Trophy in New York in 1976, the 3rd place at the Italy Cup in 1977, the 1st place at the Berne Cup in 1979, the year in which she became Italian University Champion and Italian Absolute Foil Team Champion.
After the 1980 Moscow Olympics, she ended her high-level competitive activity and devoted herself to working as a physical education instructor in schools. Although no longer competitive, in 1984 she took part in the Italian Absolute Team Championships and came 2nd. Since 1981, she has directed the Circolo della Spada Mangiarotti, today one of the most important fencing clubs in Italy, with 380 students and around 20 teachers and collaborators. From 1986 to 2017, he was Vice-President of Circolo della Spada Mangiarotti and has been its current President since 2018. In 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016, he organised and chaired the Edoardo Mangiarotti International Prize, which aimed to offer recognition and resonance to young people aged 18 to 30 involved in sport through a Call for Competitions. In 2019, she organised, in collaboration with Gazzetta dello Sport, the event for the centenary of Edoardo Mangiarotti's birth.
In 2021 she was elected Vice-President CONI Lombardy and subsequently also President A.N.S.Me.S. Milano e Provincia (National Association of Stars, Palms and Collars of Gold for Merit of CONI and CIP). In the same year, she was appointed Member of the CONI Lombardy Merit/Honours Commission.
She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Merit of the Municipality and Province of Milan and a member of the Board of Directors of UNVS Milan (National Union of Sports Veterans).
He is also a Member of the Honour and Steering Committee for the World Fencing Championships Milan, July 2023.

Awards and prizes

1975, Bronze Medal for Athletic Valour, CONI.

1991, Milan Provincial Council Award for Sporting Achievement.

2007, Bronze Star for Sporting Merit, CONI.

2016, Silver Star for Sporting Merit, CONI.

Position/Role

Full Professor of Social Psychology at the Università Cattolica in Milan

Professional career

After graduating in Philosophy with a specialization in Human Sciences at the Università Cattolica of Milan in 1999, she continued her education at the same university with a PhD in Social and Developmental Psychology, during which she collaborated in research and training activities of the University Center for Studies and Research on the Family. From 2003 to 2005 she was a research fellow in Social Psychology at the Department of Psychology of the Università Cattolica of Milan. From the following year until 2016 she was a researcher in Social Psychology at the Faculty of Education of the Università Cattolica. In 2008 she was a visiting professor at the University of Tennessee, in the Child and Family Studies department and in 2016 she held the same position in the department of Psychology at the University of Sussex. In 2009 she was selected as a consultant at the Research Methods and Data Analysis office of the United Nations (UN), Office of Internal Oversight Services (New York). Since 2016 to 2019 she is associate professor and since 2019 full professor of Social Psychology at the Faculty of Education of the Università Cattolica of Milan.

Scientific results

Claudia Manzi studies identity construction and development processes, in particular identity motivations, adult identity, identity related to transition, ethnic prejudice, family differentiation, cross-cultural psychology. She collaborated on these issues with the Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, in Colombia, in 2007, for a study on identity changes in transition periods, and in the same year with the Center for the Study of Youth and Political Violence, 'University of Tennessee, where she participated in the final phase of data analysis and publication of the results of a project coordinated by the World Health Organization's Program for Child and Adolescent Health and Development. Since 2008 she has participated in the international research team for the cross-cultural research project "Motivated identity construction in cultural context" funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Finally, since 2014 she is a member of the international research team "World Relationship Study", funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Editorial work and publications

Since 2011 Claudia Manzi is a member of the Editorial Board of the Encyclopaedia of Quality of Life Research (Ed. A. Michalos), Springer of New York and referee of international journals of excellence as Journal of Personality, Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Adolescence, Journal of Early Adolescence, Self and Identity, Psychology of Individual Differences, Social Psychology.

She is the author of numerous national and international publications including:

(2017) Manzi C, Roccato M, Paderi F, Vitrotti S, Russo S. The social development of right-wing authoritarianism: The interaction between parental autonomy support and societal threat to safety. Personality and Individual Differences, 109: 1-4. 

(2015) Manzi C, Roccato M, Russo S. What buffers right-wing authoritarian responses to threat? An experimental study to test the moderation of meaning. Personality and Individual Differences, 83:117-121. 

(2015) Manzi C, Parise M, Iafrate R, Sedikides C, Vignoles VL. In so far as you can be part of me: The influence of intrusive parenting on young adult couple identity. Self & Identity, 14: 5, 570-582. 

(2014) Manzi C, Brambilla M. Identity change. In A. Michalos (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Quality of Life Research, Dordrecht, Netherlands, Springer, 2167-2168. 

(2014) Manzi C, Ferrari L, Rosnati R, Benet-Martinez V. Bicultural Identity Integration of Transracial Adolescent Adoptees: Antecedents and Outcomes. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 45(6):888-904. 

(2013) Brambilla M, Manzi C, Regalia C, Verkuyten M. Religiosity and Prejudice: Different Patterns for Two Types of Religious Internalization. The Journal of Social Psychology, 153:486-498. 

(2011) Scabini E, Manzi C. Family Processes and Identity. In S. J. Schwartz, K. Luyckx, and V. L. Vignoles (Eds), Handbook of Identity Theory and Research, New York: Springer, 565-584. 

(2010) Manzi C. Identità adulta nella letteratura psicosociale. In E. Marta, C. Regalia (Eds.), Identità in relazione. Le sfide odierne dell'essere adulto. Milano: The McGraw-Hill Companies, 17-31. 

(2010) Manzi C, Vignoles V, Regalia C. Accommodating a new identity: Possible selves, identity change, and well-being across two life-transitions. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40:970-984. 

(2006) Manzi C, Vignoles V, Regalia C, Scabini E. Cohesion and enmeshment revisited: Family differentiation, identity, and psychological well-being in two European cultures. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 68: 673-689.

Awards and prizes

Since 2007 Claudia Manzi has been a member of the European Association of Social Psychology, since 2009 of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and since 2014 of the Italian Association of Psychology, section of Social Psychology.

Position/Role

Operations and Project Engineer at RHEA Group for the European Space Agency (ESA).

Professional career

Cecilia Marasini graduated at University of Pisa in Telecommunications Engineering in 2001, including a six months scholarship in electromagnetic computation at Chalmers University of Technology in Goteborg, Sweden and an internship of 3 months in Hewlett Packard Consultant. In 2001, she starts her professional carrier as System and Software engineer at Motorola Technology Centre in Torino, where she was part of the interoperability testing team to support the integration of dual mode UMTS/GSM and 3G terminals in mobile service network. Her interest in applied electromagnetic research took her back to the academic world and from 2004 to 2007 she carried out her Ph.D. project at TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific research) and Eindhoven University of Technology. She was then a research scientist in the Radar and Electronic Warfare group at TNO until 2009. 

In 2010 she moved to the space engineering field and joined the RHEA Group the European Space Agency (ESA-ESTEC, The Netherlands) in the directorate of Human and Robotics Exploration Spaceflight (HRE). Since then, she covers the role of Operations and Project Engineer. She contributed to the establishment and programmatic management of the USOCs (User Support Operations Centres) network for running and implementing European payloads on the International Space Station (ISS), elaborating on payloads operations concepts and ESA ISS operations processes. She contributed to the set-up and implementation of the Science Data Centre and HRE Data Archive for storing, valorising and publishing ISS ESA experiments data.   

In 2019 and 2022, she served the ESA Houston Liaison Office for extended period as ESA representative in the ISS Mission Management Centre at NASA Johnson Space Centre (Houston, Texas).   

In 2021, she takes an operations engineering leading role to the definition of ESA Gateway Operations concepts as next step for operability of ESA modules in Moon orbit. 

She has been promoting STEM subjects in primary and medium years schools in Italy and The Netherlands, by presenting her experience to inspire the young generations and girls in particular.  

Scientific results

Marasini’s scientific profile is various as she started her research in the electromagnetic computation techniques while performing her master thesis in Telecommunications engineering and extended her research in efficient computation techniques for antenna design by holding a PhD only after a period in the telecommunications sector as young professional. The main research activity was based on coding an efficient computation using the Galerkin Method of Moments to represent the antenna and by applying a Swarm optimization function with the aim of maximizing the antenna gain and minimizing the Voltage Standing Wave Ratio (VSWR).

Later, she extended her interest towards the space sector, mainly working into the definition of operations concepts for execution of the European ISS experiments and payloads, and recently for the ESA Gateway provided elements.  

With the objective to centralize the ISS Scientific Data from European founded experiments and payloads, she worked towards the definition and implementation of the Science Data Archive / HRE Data Archive, contributing to the establishment of processes, products and deliverables and managing the service contract associated with that.   

She extended her interdisciplinary skills and her experience in working in international environments by taking the representative role into the ISS Mission Management Center for ESA.  

Editorial work and publications

She author and co-author of various international publications, including: 

[2022] C. Marasini, A. Nitsch, T. Sheasby, ‘Implementing a Lean Operational Set-up for Gateway ESA Modules’, for presentation at International Astronautical Congress IAC 2022.

[2021] A. Laveron, C. Marasini, et. All, ‘The HRE Science Data Center: A new entity for storing, valorising and publishing the data coming from ESA experiments’, International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2021.

[2018] C. Marasini, A. Nitsch, ‘Implementing Experiments and Science Operations on ISS with a Network of Operations Centres’, Human Spaceflight and Weightlessness Science Workshop, Toulouse, France.

[2011] C. Leone, A. Rogovich, C. Marasini, S. Genovesi and A. Monorchio, ‘A dynamic particle swarm optimization for the design of loaded wire antennas’, IET Microwave, Antennas and Propagation Journal.

[2010] C. Marasini, A New Approach for Wire Antennas Design – Problem formulation and numerical implementation of Galerkin MoM embedded in a Particle Swarm Optimization Process, LAMBERT Academic Publishing, Germany, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8383-4153-8

[2009] C. Marasini and E.S.A.M. Lepelaars, ‘Static magnetic signature translation’, 6th International Marine Electromagnetics Conference, MARLEC 2009.

[2009] C. Marasini, E. S. A. M. Lepelaars and A. P. M. Zwamborn, ‘Interpolation algorithm for fast evaluation of EM coupling between wires’, Applied Computational Electromagnetic Society (ACES) Journal, vol.24 n.3.

[2008] C. Marasini, ‘Efficient Computation Techniques for Galerkin MoM Antenna Design, Ph.D. Dissertation’, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, June 2008, ISBN 978-90-386-1874-6

[2007] A. Rogovich, C. Marasini, A. Monorchio, E. S. A. M. Lepelaars and P. A. M. Zwamborn. ‘Design of Wire Antennas by Using an Evolved Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm’. Invited paper at International Conference on Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications, ICEAA ’07.

[2007] C. Marasini, E. S. A. M. Lepelaars and P. A. M. Zwamborn, ‘Interpolation Algorithm for Fast Evaluation of EM Coupling between Wires’. Paper presentation at International Symposium on Electromagnetic Theory, EMTS ’07.

[2005] C. Marasini, E. S. A. M. Lepelaars and P. A. M. Zwamborn, ‘Analysis of the resonant behavior of a complex loaded wire by using the Exact Kernel MoM’. Paper presentation at International Conference on Electromagnetics in Advanced Applications, ICEAA ’05.

[2000] C. Marasini, A. Freni, P-S Kildal, ‘Analysis of mictrostrip antenna on a corrugated multilayer structure by using CG-FFT method and G1DMULT algorithm’, Antenna & Propagations AP2000, Millennium Conference.

Awards and prizes

In 2019 she received the certificate of Excellence, RHEA Group in appreciation for 10 years of service.

Position/Role

Former athlete, football champion. Head of the women's football sector of the Italian Footballers' Association. FIGC (Italian Federation Football Game) Federal Councillor. Team manager of the Italian National Women's Football Team.

Professional career

Chiara Marchitelli is a former Italian football player, playing the role of goalkeeper. She started her career in 1999 in Lazio and then wore the jerseys of Atletico Oristano, Fiammamonza, Roma Calcio Femminile, Tavagnacco, Brescia, Florentia San Gimignano and Inter. She won four Italian championships, as many editions of the Italian Cup and five Super Cups.

After playing in the youth national teams and participating in the historic first Women's World Cup in Thailand in 2004 with the Under-19 selection, she was called up for the senior national team in 2005 and in the same year took part in the European Championship held in England. She participated in the 2019 French World Cup and at the end of the tournament - after wearing the Azzurri jersey for 14 years, collecting 52 appearances - she bid farewell to the national team.

In 2021 she announced her retirement from playing football and became the head of the women's football sector of the AIC (Italian Footballers' Association), Federal Councillor and accompanying manager of the senior national team.

Awards and prizes

2015, Bronze Medal for Athletic Valour CONI (Italian National Olympic Committee).

2017, Bronze Medal for Athletic Valour CONI.

2021, Italian Talent Award.

Position/Role

Senior researcher at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV), National Earthquake Centre; Responsible for data analysis for seismic surveillance and monitoring

Professional career

After graduating in Geology at the University of Rome La Sapienza in 1991, she continued her studies through a specialization scholarship (1992-1993) in Seismology at the United States Geological Survey in Menlo Park, CA, USA. In 1994 she continued her specialization at the University of L'Aquila, Department of Physics and then at the National Institute of Geophysics (ING) of Rome, which in 2000 became the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV). She developed her skill as researcher at INGV first on a temporary position, and then on a permanent position. In 2003 she became senior researcher and started coordinating projects and researchers’ groups.

Since 1998 she participated to the seismic surveillance, first as a seismologist in charge of the ipocentral locations, with the target of alerting the Civil Protection, a service interrupted during the maternity periods in 2000 and 2002; then, in 2015, she qualified also as a tsunami alert operator and finally, today, she works in the shifts as responsible of the communication to the Civil Protection Department (DPC).

From 2007 to 2014 she coordinated a research group consisting of 25 researchers studying geodynamics and the structure of the interior of the Earth. Between 2009 and 2013 she was the coordinator of the mobile seismic network of the National Earthquake Center and she was involved in the organization of earthquake emergency response activities. Since 2014 she is responsible for a group (about 25 persons) of technicians and researchers working on data analysis for surveillance and seismic monitoring.

She coordinated important national and international projects involving Italian, European and US institutions and universities such as the RETREAT project (2002-2007), the Messina 1908-2008 project (2007-2009), the INGV-DPC Test project sites for detailed multidisciplinary monitoring (2007-2009), the AlpArray project (2015-2018). She is responsible for some of the activities that INGV carries out for the DPC and of the agreement between INGV and the Civil Protection Agency of the Lazio Region. She always participated in the INGV outreach activities with the schools, the public and the media.

Scientific results

Her scientific interests have focused in recent years, on the analysis of seismic sequences for the characterization of active fault systems and for understanding the possible variation of the earth's Crust physical parameters during the occurrence of the sequences themselves. For 15 years, she has been dealing with the analysis of shear wave splitting to define the seismic anisotropy and the state of deformation of the Crust and of the Earth's Mantle. This analysis allows to characterize the crustal fracture field and to define its relations with the active stress field and with the presence of fluids. The characterization of the seismic anisotropy, when done on waves that travel in the Earth's Mantle, allows us instead to formulate geodynamic models on a regional scale: the subduction zone of the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, where the Ionic plate deeps below the Calabrian arc, was the first region of the Earth's mantle where was observed a toroidal flow of the mantle at the edges of the subducting plate (Civello and Margheriti 2004).

During the years of her training she studied site effects: how the seismic waves are amplified and modified by the surface geology especially when there are incoherent deposits, irregular topographical conformation of the area interested by seismic shaking. In 1993, she was among the pioneers in using the recordings of environmental vibrations (seismic noise) to characterize the response of sites that had recorded the 1989 San Francisco earthquake.

Editorial work and publications

She is the author of about 70 international scientific publications, including:

(2016) Baccheschi P, Pastori M, Margheriti L, Piccinini D. Shear wave splitting of the 2009 L'Aquila seismic sequence: fluid saturated microcracks and crustal fractures in the Abruzzi region (Central Apennines, Italy). Geophysical Journal International, 204 (3): 1531-1549.doi: 10.1093/gji/ggv536

(2014) Margheriti L, Lucente FP, Park J, Pondrelli S, Levin V, Steckler MS, Baccheschi P, Salimbeni S. Large-scale coherent anisotropy of upper mantle beneath the Italian peninsula comparing quasi-Love waves and SKS splitting. Journal of Geodynamics, DOI: 10.1016/j.jog.2014.07.007

(2014) Govoni A, Marchetti A, De Gori P, Di Bona M, Pio Lucente F, Improta L, Chiarabba C, Nardi A, Margheriti L, Piana Agostinetti N, Di Giovambattista R, Latorre D, Anselmi M, Ciaccio MG, Moretti M, Castellano C, Piccinini D. The 2012 Emilia seismic sequence (Northern Italy): Imaging the thrust fault system by accurate aftershocks location Tectonophysics. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2014.02.013

(2013) Salimbeni S, Pondrelli S, Margheriti L. (2013). Hints on the deformation penetration induced by subductions and collision processes: Seismic anisotropy beneath the Adria region (Central Mediterranean).Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, DOI: 10.1002/2013JB010253

(2011) Baccheschi P, Margheriti L, Steckler M S & Boschi E. Anisotropy patterns in the subducting lithosphere and in the mantle wedge: A case study—The southern Italy subduction system. Journal of Geophysical Research, 116, B08306.

(2010) Lucente FP, Gori PD, Margheriti L, Piccinini D, Bona MD, Chiarabba C, Agostinetti NP. Temporal variation of seismic velocity and anisotropy before the 2009 MW 6.3 L'Aquila earthquake. Italy: Geology, 38:1015–1018, doi: 10.1130/G31463.1.

(2004) Civello S and Margheriti L. Toroidal mantle flow around the Calabrian slab (Italy) from SKS splitting, Geophysical Reserach Letters, 31, L10601, doi:10.1029/2004GL019607.

(2000) Margheriti L, Azzara MR, Cocco M, Delladio A and Nardi A. Analysis of borehole broad-band recordings: Test sute in the Po basin, Northern Italy. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 90, 6:1454-1463.

(1996) Margheriti L, Nostro C, Cocco M and Amato A. Seismic anisotropy beneath the northern Apennines (Italy) and its tectonic implications. Geophysical Reserach Letters, 23; 20:2721-2724.

(1994) Margheriti L, Boatwright J, Wennerberg L. A comparison of Coda and S-wave spectral ratios as estimates of site response in the Southern San Francisco Bay area. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 84, 6:1815-1830.

Position/Role

Geriatrician at the Italian Auxiological Institute "Mosé Bianchi" in Milan

Professional career

After obtaining a degree in Medicine and Surgery, at the University of Milan, from 1976 she continued her training as a researcher in Internal Medicine until 1991. From 2007 to 2010 she directed the experimental research laboratory on aging of the IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italian and University of Milan and of the Department of Medical and Rehabilitative Sciences with Geriatric-Cardio-Vascular specialization of the IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano. Until 2014 she was responsible for the School of Specialization in Geriatrics, and for the Master's Degree in Rehabilitation Sciences of the Health Professions.  From 2010 to 2016 she directed the U.O.C. (complex operating unit) of Geriatrics at the Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico in Milan in agreement with the University of Milan, where during the same period she taught as associate professor of Geriatrics at the Department of Clinical and Community Sciences. Since 2020, she has been a geriatrician at the Auxiologico "Mosé Bianchi", the Italian Auxiological Institute's scientifically oriented hospital and care centre in Milan.

Scientific results

Daniela Mari has been leading the Milan research group that studies cardiovascular risk factors and their genetic variants in longevity and centenarians, and neurodegenerative diseases in the elderly for many years. During the period spent as head of the experimental research laboratory on aging of the Italian Auxological Institute of Milan, Daniela Mari and colleagues focus on the study of the genetic bases of longevity, investigating the characteristics of a large number of seventy-year-old children of centenarians. To this end they also resort to DNA methylation analysis, or to an epigenetic modification of DNA, a process which consists in the binding of a methyl group (a carbon atom bound to three hydrogen atoms) to a nitrogenous base. They also investigate the dose-effectiveness relationship of oral anticoagulant therapy (TAO) in the elderly, genetic and non-genetic risk factors in cerebrovascular diseases and the influence of obesity and metabolic status on aging and age-related diseases.

Editorial work and publications

Daniela Mari is Associate Editor in the Editorial Board of the Journal of Gerontology & Geriatrics (JGG).

She is also the author of numerous national and international scientific publications, including:

(2016) Esposito S, Mari D, Bergamaschini L, et al. Pneumococcal colonization in older adults. Immunity & Ageing, 13(1).

(2016) Abbate C, Trimarchi PD, Rotondo E, Mari D, et al. Spontaneous confabulations in amnestic-mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease: a new (yet old) atypical variant?. Neurocase.

(2016) Muscogiuri D, Mari D, et al. 25 Hydroxyvitamin D Deficiency and Its Relationship to Autoimmune Thyroid Disease in the Elderly. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 13(9):850.

(2016) Abbate C, Caputo L, Damanti S, Mari D, et al. Reversible Parkinson's Dementia Associated with Withdrawal of Androgen-Deprivation Therapy for Prostate Cancer. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

(2016) Arosio B, Casati M, Gussago C, Mari D, et al. Adenosine Type A2A Receptor in Peripheral Cell from Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease, Vascular Dementia, and Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus: A New/Old Potential Target. Journal of Alzheimer's disease, 54(2):1-9.

(2016) Ogliari G, Smit RAJ, van der Spoel E, Mari D, et al. Thyroid Status and Mortality Risk in Older Adults With Normal Thyrotropin: Sex Differences in the Milan Geriatrics 75+ Cohort Study. The Journals of Gerontology Series A Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences.

(2016) Dionigi Rossi P, Bilotta C, Consonni D, Mari D, et al. Predictors of clinical events occurring during hospital stay among elderly patients admitted to medical wards in Italy. European Journal of Internal Medicine, 32.

(2016) Gussago C, Arosio B, Guerini F, Mari D, et al. Impact of vitamin D receptor polymorphisms in centenarians. Endocrine.

(2016) Oldoni E, Fumagalli GG, Serpente M, Mari D, et al. PRNP P39L Variant is a Rare Cause of Frontotemporal Dementia in Italian Population. Journal of Alzheimer's disease: JAD, 50(2).

(2015) Hovath S, Pirazzini C, Bacalini MG, Mari D, et al. Decreased epigenetic age of PBMCs from Italian semi-supercentenarians and their offspring. Aging, 7(12).

Daniela Mari is also the author of the popular scientific essay A spasso con i centenari.. L'arte di vivere bene invecchiando (Il Saggatiore, 2017).

Awards and prizes

Daniela Mari obtained a grant from the MIUR, the Ministry of Health and the Lombardy Region for studies on haemostasis, the genetics of aging and longevity. Since 2010  she has been a member of the Regional table for the appropriateness in Medicine and of the "Fundamental Group" Regional Technical Table of the Directorate General for Health of the Lombardy Region. In 2012 she received the position of "Scientific Expert" of the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche for the review of research projects. Since 2013 she has been member of the register of auditors for the evaluation of ministerial programs and research products (ANVUR), since the same year she is part of the European Commission's Action-Group A3 “European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Aging: Action For Prevention Of Functional Decline And Frailty ”. Daniela Mari is also a partner in the European study: MID- FRAIL Study FP7-Health 2011.

Position/Role

Full Professor of Numerical Analysis at the University of Pavia

Professional career

After graduating in Mathematics at the University of Pavia in 1970 she has been fellow first, and then Researcher of C.N.R. at the Istituto di Analisi Numerica in Pavia (now IMATI-CNR) from 1973 to 1990.  Since 1990 she is Full Professor of Numerical Analysis, at the Faculty of Science of the University of Genova until 1993, and then at the Engineering Faculty of the University of Pavia. Currently, she is professor emerita of Numerical Analysis at the Department of Mathematics of the University of Pavia.

Scientific results

The field of interest of Luisa Donatella Marini is, generally speaking, the analysis of numerical schemes for the solution of elliptic partial differential equations (of second and fourth order) by means of different kinds of finite element methods: conforming, non-conforming, hybrid, mixed, and equilibrium. More specifically, she applied finite element techniques for the treatment of problems coming from various applications: semiconductor device simulation, electromagnetism, fluid-dynamics, structural mechanics. Particular emphasis was given to the approximation of non-coercive problems, which lead to develop various techniques for stabilizing Galerkin formulations, for applications to domain decomposition methods with non-matching grids, and to advection dominated problems. In the last decade she was particularly interested in developing and analyzing schemes based on Discontinuous Galerkin methods, for the discretization of various applied problems, such as Darcy flows, advection-diffusion problems, and Reissner-Mindlin model for plate problems. The more recent production is devoted to a new technique, the Virtual Element Method, for the discretization of Pde's  with applications.

Editorial work and publications

L. Donatella Marini serves or has served as Associate Editor of various journals:  SISC (SIAM Journal on Scientific and Statistical Computing) from 1988 to 1993,  CMAME (Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering) since 2001,  IMA Journal of Numerical Analysis, since 2017, the Italian Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics since 2008, and is member of the Advisory Board of CAMES (Computer Assisted Methods in Engineering and Sciences) since 2014.  She is also reviewer for other numerous important international journals, and evaluator for national and international proposals.

She authored over 100 publications on international journals. Several of her journal articles are among the most cited in mathematics. Below five selected publications. For a complete list I refer to my webpage: http://arturo.imati.cnr.it/marini

[2002] Unified analysis of Discontinuous Galerkin Methods for Elliptic Problems. SIAM Journal on Numerical Analysis, 39(5):1749-1779 (with Arnold DN, Brezzi F, Cockburn B). 

[1985] Marini LD. Two families of mixed finite elements for second order elliptic problems. Journal of Numerical Mathematics, 47:217-235 (with Brezzi F, Douglas J jr.,).

[2013] Basic principles of Virtual Element Methods. Mathematical Models and Methods in Applied Sciences, 23(1):199-214 (with Beirão da Veiga L, Brezzi F, Cangiani A, Manzini G, Russo A.). 

[2013]Virtual Elements for linear elasticity problems, SIAM J. Numer. Anal. 51(2):794-812 (with  Beirão da Veiga L, Brezzi F).

[2014] The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Virtual Element Method, Math. Models Methods. Appl. Sci. 24(8):1541-1573 (with Beirão da Veiga L, Brezzi F, Russo A).

Awards and prizes

She was awarded the Turner-Kirk Distinguished Visiting Fellowship for the GCS programme at the Isaac Newton Institute (Cambridge, UK), July-December 2019, is Member of the scientific committee of the 20th International Conference on Finite Elements in Flow Problems (FEF 2019, Chicago), is representative of SIMAI (The Italian Society of Applied and Industrial Mathematics) in the General Assembly and Managing Board of the European Community on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (ECCOMAS) since 2014,  has been Chair of the committee for the ICIAM (The International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics)  Collatz prize in 2015. In 2010 she was elected a member of the European Academy of Science (EURASC), where she also serves as a member of the scientific committee of the Division of Mathematics (March 2018-March 2021). She has been member of the Committee for PhD programs at the University of Pavia from 1999 to 2009, and then Director of the Doctoral School of  “Scienze e Tecnologie A. Volta” of the University of Pavia from 2009 to 2013. In 2012 she delivered the inaugural lecture for the opening of the academic year at the University of Pavia.

Position/Role

Head of Group ESG Strategy and Impact Banking UniCredit Spa

Professional career

After graduating in Economics and Commerce at the University of Trieste in 1991, she obtained an MBA in International Business at the MIB School of Management. She spent about sixteen years at McKinsey & Company, first as an analyst in the banking and financial sector, then as head of the Research Department for Italy and coordinator of the European team of banking sector analysts, later as Director of Research and Communication for the Mediterranean area (Italy, Turkey, Greece, Iberia). She was also Head of Strategic Analysis of Gemini Consulting (Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Group) and of the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro. Since 2014 she has been Director of SACE Studies, Communication, Corporate Social Value and Education to Export (Cdp Group). In this role she dealt with the assessment of country risk and business opportunities in advanced and emerging markets and provides binding opinions on financing requests and guarantees that require coverage from political and sovereign risk. She also develops export education and internationalization formats for Italian SMEs and oversees internal, external and social responsibility activities. From 2017 to June 2020 she has been a Director and a member of the BPER Banca Control and Risk Committee. 

Since 1 July 2020 she is Head of Group ESG Strategy and Impact Bankingat UniCredit.

She was the founder of the Valore D association, which today brings together about 170 companies with the common goal of eliminating the barriers to the growth of female talent, and promoted the launch of "Push to Open", a program dedicated to training and work orientation of 17-18 year olds (4,500 students involved from 2015 to present).

Scientific results

Roberta Marracino's research activity has focused on four areas. The first area of ​​study concerns the exploration of the growth vectors of the European and Italian economy, in the absence of fiscal stimuli, limited by high debt and a high public deficit. Starting from the analysis of the determinants of the wealth gap between Europe and the United States both on the demand and supply side and drawing on the best practices of other European countries, an agenda of reforms is proposed to be put in place to improve the prospects for long-term growth of the old continent. The second area concerns the enhancement of subsidiary welfare solutions, in terms of economic benefit for companies and employees. In the presence of unfavorable demographic dynamics, increase in female employment, public assistance system and social protection limited by budget constraints, the analysis shows that it is possible for companies to make a positive contribution to the demand for welfare, making the intervention beneficial. also from an economic point of view. The third strand delves into the causes of youth unemployment in Italy, which for 40% has a structural nature attributable to three factors: the quantitative imbalance between business demand and youth choices; the lack of skills adapted to the needs of the economic system; the inadequacy of job search channels. Finally, the analysis of risks and opportunities for Italian companies dealing with foreign markets, which led to the development of the Risk & Export Map, with details of specific credit risk indices, political risk, export opportunity and investment opportunity for 198 countries and for the production of the annual Italian export forecast report.

Editorial work and publications

She is the author of numerous publications, including:

(2017)            Baldassarre G, Ciabattoni P, Gorissen S, Marracino R, Moneta L, Terzulli A.Export Unchained. Dove la crescita attende il Made in Italy. Rapporto Export 2017/2020, SACE Spa-

(2016)            Baldassarre G,  Gorissen S, Lucano C, Marracino R, Moneta L, Terzulli A.Re-Action. Export Calling. Rapporto Export 2016/2019, SACE Spa.

(2015) Gorissen S, Iadanza A, Marracino R, Moneta L, Padoan E, Terzulli A. Re-Start. Rapporto Export 2015/2018, SACE Spa.

(2014) Marracino R. Alla ricerca della crescita perduta. Opportunità e ritorni di un'Italia più internazionale, SACE Spa.

(2014) Castellano A, Kastorinis X, Lancellotti R, Marracino R, Villani L. Studio Ergo Lavoro. Come facilitare la transizione scuola-lavoro per ridurre in modo strutturale la disoccupazione giovanile in Italia, McKinsey & Company.

(2014) Occupazione-Istruzione-Educazione: le trappole nascoste nel percorso delle ragazze verso il lavoro
R. Marracino, McKinsey & Company

(2013) Marracino R, Rizzi F, Toia L. Il welfare sussidiario: un vantaggio per aziende e dipendenti, McKinsey & Company, Valore D.

(2013) Marracino R, Spreafico C, Terzi V, Turconi A. Investire nella crescita: Idee per rilanciare l'Italia, McKinsey & Company.

(2011) Marracino R, Santorsola G, Terzi V,  Coniugare austerità e crescita economica in Europa: uno sguardo all'Italia, McKinsey & Company.

Awards and prizes

In 2004 she was awarded the "Alumnus of the Year" award by the MIB School of Management, the first woman to receive this award for professional and career results. In 2012 she was included in the "Ready for Board Women" list of the Professional Women Association and among the 1,000 excellent resumes of the Bellisario Foundation. In 2013 she received the 2013 Merit and Talent Award from Aldai-Federmanager.

Position/Role

Full Professor of Geodesy and Geomatics in the degree courses in Civil Engineering, Safety and Civil Protection and Aerospace at the University of Rome La Sapienza. CEO of SurveyLAb srl.

Professional career

After graduating in Physics in 1987 with a thesis on the LAGEOS satellite mission for the study of Earth’s crust movements in the Mediterranean Area, she continued her education with a PhD in Geodetic and Topographical Sciences at the University of Bologna, discussing a thesis on Spatial Geodesy Techniques (SLR and GPS) applied to the Study of Deformations. In 1992 she became a researcher at the University of Rome “La Sapienza”. From 2003 to 2005 she was Visiting Scientist at the USGS in Reston (Virginia), where she worked on projects for the integration of GPS/INS data for the georeferencing of data acquired through aerial surveys. Since 2001, she has been an associate professor at the Faculty of Civil and Industrial Engineering at the University of Rome La Sapienza and, since 2020, a full professor at the Department of Civil, Building and Environmental Engineering at the same university.

In 2008 she founded the spin-off of Sapienza Survey Lab dedicated to the development of innovative systems for the control of the territory and civil infrastructures using in situ sensors and satellite observations (GNSS and DInSAR). He is currently CEO of Survey Lab.

Scientific results

Maria Marsella's main activity is research on geodetic and geomatic techniques for land monitoring and civil infrastructure protection. She is an expert in the acquisition and processing of earth observation data with optical and SAR sensors and spatial geodesy data.She carried out studies and research for the development of interpretative and forecasting models in areas subject to hydrogeological risk and in active volcanic areas, basing on the integration of aerial and satellite remote sensing data with in situ measurements.She coordinated numerous research projects funded by national bodies such as the MIUR, the Italian Space Agency, the Civil Protection Department of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, and European projects under the EU programs FP7 and H2020.

Editorial work and publications

She is author of more than one hundred publications, including:

(2016) Scifoni S, Bonano M, Marsella M, Sonnessa A, Tagliafierro V, Manunta M. On the joint exploitation of long-term DInSAR time series and geological information for the investigation of ground settlements in the town of Roma (Italy). Remote Sensing of Environment, 182:113-127 3.

(2015) Palenzuela JA, Marsella M, Nardinocchi C, Pérez JL, Fernández T. Landslide detection and inventory by integrating LiDAR data in a GIS environment. Landslides, 12(6):1035-1050,9.

(2015) Marsella M, D’Aranno PJV, Scifoni S, Sonnessa A, Corsetti M. Terrestrial laser scanning survey in support of unstable slopes analysis: the case of Vulcano Island (Italy). Natural Hazards, 78(1):443-459,5.

(2012) Marsella M, Baldi P, Coltelli M, Fabris M.The morphological evolution of the Sciara del Fuoco since 1868: reconstructing the effusive activity at Stromboli volcano. Bulletin of Volcanology, 74,1:231-248.

(2009) Proietti C, Coltelli M, Marsella M, Fujita E. A quantitative approach for evaluating lava flow simulation reliability: LavaSIM code applied to the 2001 Etna eruption. Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems,10,9.

(2008) Manunta M, Marsella M, Zeni G, Sciotti M, Atzori S, Lanari R. Two-scale surface deformation analysis using the SBAS-DInSAR technique: a case study of the city of Rome Italy.International Journal of Remote Sensing, 29,6:1665-1684.

(2008) Baldi P, Coltelli M, Fabris M, Marsella M, Tommasi P. High precision photogrammetry for monitoring the evolution of the NW flank of Stromboli volcano during and after the 2002-2003 eruption. Bulletin of Volcanology, 70,6:703-715.

(2007) Vicari A, Herault A, Del Negro C, Coltelli M, Marsella M, Proietti C. Modeling of the 2001 lava flow at Etna volcano by a cellular automata approach. Environmental Modelling & Software, 22,10:1465-1471.

(2005) Baldi P, Fabris M, Marsella M, Monticelli R. Monitoring the morphological evolution of the Sciara del Fuoco during the 2002 - 2003 Stromboli eruption using multi-temporal photogrammetry. ISPRS, Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 59,4:199-211.

(2002) Baldi P, Bonvalot S, Briole P, Coltelli M, Gwinner K, Marsella M, Puglisi G, Remy D. Validation and comparison of different techniques for the derivation of digital elevation models and volcanic monitoring (Vulcano Island Italy). International Journal of Remote Sensing, 23,22:4783-4800.

Awards and prizes

In 2017 she was called to join the Scientific Technical Committee for the Government Commissioner for the rebuilding in the territories affected by the 24 August 2016 earthquake at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. In March 2016 Survey Lab, of which she was CEO, won the H2020 SME Instrument-Phase II-Space Call with the IMODI project (Monitoring by using satellites the stability of buildings and infrastructure). From 2011 to 2014 she was an expert for the Research Quality Assessment (VQR-ANVUR). Between 2002 and 2013 she was an expert evaluator of projects for the Aeronautics and Space Call of the European Commission's FP6 and FP7 framework programmes for technological development. In 2002 and 2003 and again in 2017 she collaborated with the National Civil Protection Department for the management of the Stromboli Emergencies 2002-03 and 2017. She is a member of the Management Board of the Aerospace Research Center of Sapienza (CRAS).

Position/Role

Full Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Paris

Professional career

Former student of the SNS of Pisa, after obtaining a Phd in Philosophy, Michela Marzano moved to France where, after being a researcher at the CNRS, she is now Full Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of Paris. MP of the Democratic Party in 2013, she is now a columnist for La Repubblica and La Stampa.

Scientific results

After becoming interested in the philosophy of the body, she worked in the area of applied ethics (health and sexuality) and social philosophy, focusing in particular on the relationship between consent, autonomy and vulnerability, as well as on the relationship between trust and distrust.

Editorial work and publications

[2006] Marzano M. Je consens, donc je suis… Éthique de l’autonomie. PUF: pp. 262.

[2007] Marzano M. Dictionnaire du corps. PUF: pp. 1048.

[2008] Marzano M. Extension du domaine de la manipulation. Grasset: pp. 283.

[2010] Marzano M. Sii bella e stai zitta. Mondadori: pp. 160.

[2011] Marzano M. Dictionnaire de la violence. PUF: pp. 1568.

[2011] Marzano M. Volevo essere una farfalla. Mondadori: pp. 210.

[2013] Marzano M. L’amore è tutto: è tutto ciò che so dell’amore. UTET: pp. 262.

[2014] Marzano M. Il diritto di essere io. Laterza: pp. 142.

[2014] Marzano M. Avere fiducia. Mondadori: pp. 268.

[2015] Marzano M. Non seguire il mondo come va. Rabbia, coraggio, speranze e altre emozioni politiche. UTET: pp. 267.

[2015] Marzano M. Papà, mamma e gender. UTET: pp. 151.

[2017] Marzano M. L’amore che mi resta. Einaudi: pp. 236.

[2019] Marzano M. Idda. Einaudi: pp. 233.

Position/Role

Director of Research Development & Strategy at Medicaltech srl. President emerita of Talent4Rise

Professional career

After the graduation in computer science, she continues her studies with a specialization in cybernetics / artificial intelligence and electronic systems engineering. Since 1989 she has been a researcher at the Central Research Laboratory of an important and innovative Italian telecommunications company. Then she started her contribution to some international standardization committees, in particular the one related to the VHDL language. Since 1993 she has been manager of R&D projects on areas related to logical synthesis automation tools, using expert systems, neural networks, fuzzy logic and project coordinator, in an international context, for the research and application of video encoding and decoding algorithms. Since 2000 she has been responsible for Multimedia Content Delivery projects and Network Architectures. In 2013 he coordinated activities related to telemedicine and energy saving for the smart city in collaboration with Monzino and Milano Ricerche Cardiology Center. In 2014 she won a public selection for titles for a Collaboration with the University of Milan at the Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences. In 2013 she founded, with a group of colleagues, an association of women (Talent4Rise, which, under her direction, would become a founding member of the Triulza Foundation, civil society pavillon for EXPO2015). The aim is to provide visibility to female STEM talents. She held the position of Chairwoman and member of the General Council of the Triulza Foundation until 2016. Next she was appointed Chairwoman Emerita and Vice President and, during the same period, she was appointed as Strategic Marketing Director for an ICT company. Since 2014 she has been a member of the Board of Directors of an in-house company of a municipality in the Milan hinterland that groups together local pharmacies.
 

Scientific results

For about 30 years Mirella Mastretti has been dealing with innovative areas both as a researcher and a teacher of advanced training, and as manager in academia, civil society and ICT companies contexts. Her activities involved the coordination of funded projects at national and international level. Member of international scientific and standardization committees, she contributed to the VHDL language definition, to original logical synthesis tools (patented) implementation and to innovative algorithms for audio/video, AI (Artificial Intelligence) applications and neural networks. 

She always managed projects and opportunities to liven up the debate on innovation in health and life-science, the role of science and technology in the society, with particular focus on methods, tools and technologies, to ensure a good quality of life and assistance for chronic or elderly people and for inclusive training; all this has been carried out in a context of "sharing economy" that sees the collaboration between companies, the academic world and the third sector

Editorial work and publications

[1990] Antoniazzi S., Mastretti M. An Interactive Environment for Hardware/Software System Design at the Specification Level. Microprocessing and Microprogramming, vol. 30. 

[1991] Antoniazzi S., Mastretti M. An Architectural Design Support Environment for High-Performance Digital Systems. Microprocessing and Microprogramming, vol.32. 

[1994 ]Balboni A., Mastretti M., Stefanoni M. Static Analysis of VHDL ModelEvaluation. Proceedings of EURO-VHDL. 

[1995] Mastretti M., Sturlesi M. Tomasello S. Static Analysis of VHDL Code: Simulation Efficiency and Complexity. Proceedings VHDL: Champions of the Second Generation, San Diego, California.

[1995] Mastretti M., Sturlesi M. Tomasello S., Busi M., Sarvello R. VHDL Quality: Syhtnesizability, Complexity and Efficiency Evaluation. European Design Automation Conference with EURO-VHDL ’95, Brighton, September.

[1996] Mastretti M., Sturlesi M., Tomasello S. Quality Measures and Analysis: A Way to improve VHDL Models, Hardware Component Modeling. Kluwer Academic Publisher.

[1996] Mastretti M., Sturlesi M. Tomasello S., Busi M., Sarvello R. Static Analysis of VHDL Code: the SAVE project. Proceedings of 3rd International Conference on Achieving Quality in Software (AquIS’96).

[1996]Mastretti M. Current Issues in Electronic Modeling. Kluwer Academic Publisher.

[1998] Mastretti M., Paolillo E., Di Bello P., Mercandalli D. Technologies for the Information Society, Developments and Opportunities, IOS Press.

[1999] Boscolo M., Mastretti M., Paolillo E. Technology as the Catalyst of Users' Acceptance in Electronic Commerce. Flexible Working, New Network Technologies, pp. 121-132.

[2015] Mastretti M. Best Practices for EXPO2015, Tecniche Nuove.

[2016] Mastretti M. Impresa che funziona - come finanziare ricerca e innovazione con i fondi pubblici, Sandit.

Awards and prizes

In 1989 she received the 'Milano Ricerche' award.

In 2012 she received the "Progetto Regione Lombardia" award (SURE-SMAU).

In 2014 she received the "Milan Chamber of Commerce Award" for the Rise2Up project.

In 2015 she was appointed "Digital champion", ambassador of innovation, by Riccardo Luna, at the request of the Prime Minister.

In 2016 she was appointed President Emeritus of Talent4Rise.

Position/Role

Associate professor of Methods and Didactics of Sports Activities at the University of Naples 'Parthenope'.

Professional career

After graduating in Medicine and Surgery in Naples at the Second Faculty of Medicine (today "Luigi Vanvitelli"), in 2000 he obtained first a Specialisation in Clinical Pharmacology and then a Doctorate in Pathophysiology of Diseases of the Respiratory System. During his PhD, he spent a period for a Followship at the Office of Health Policy and Clinical Outcomes, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania). In 2002, she began her career as a Researcher until becoming Associate Professor Methods and Didactics of Sport Activities at the University of Naples "Parthenope". In 2022, she obtained the National Qualification (ASN) of I Fascia for the Competition Sector of Exercise and Sport Sciences. She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the University Centre for Bioethics Research (C.I.R.B.) of Partehnope University; she is a member of the CUG (Comitato Unico di Garanzia) and a member of the Teaching Board for the PhD in Exercise and Sport Sciences. She is a member of several Scientific Societies.

Scientific results

Filomena Mazzeo's main research interest lies in aspects of Clinical Pharmacology, concerning the use of drugs and/or related practices aimed at enhancing performance or otherwise gaining an advantage in sporting activities (doping). The study is directed at all pharmacologically active substances, including nutraceuticals and the toxic effects of such substances, as well as those for functional recovery. 

Editorial work and publications

Filomena Mazzeo has numerous publications in national and international journals to her credit. Below is a recent selection:

(2022) Motti, M. L., Tafuri, D., Donini, L., Masucci, M. T., De Falco, V., & Mazzeo, F. The role of nutrients in prevention, treatment and post-coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19). Nutrients, 14(5):1000.

(2021) Mazzeo, F., Santamaria, S., & Onofrio, V. D. Data investigation on the performance-enhancing drugs spread in italy among young athletes: Prevention trough education and the fight against doping in sport. Journal of Human Sport and Exercise, 16 (Proc2), 705-715. 

(2020) Mazzeo, F., & Ascione, A. New technology and no drugs in sport: Gene doping regulation, education and research. Sport Science, 14, 18-23. 

(2020) Mazzeo, F., Santamaria, S., Montesano, P., Rinaldi, M., & Madonna, G.). Updated evidence report for the anti-doping research: Analysis from 2008 to 2018 for performance-enhancing drugs and gene doping test development. Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 20, 2378-2385. 

(2020) Filomena Mazzeo & Giuseppe Madonna. Sport, Physical Activity and Education in response to COVID-19. Italian Journal of Health Education, Sports and Inclusive Didactics.

(2020) Montesano P, Masala D, Di Silvestro M, Cipriani G, Tafuri D and Mazzeo F. Effects of combined training program, controlled diet and drugs on middle-distance amateur runners: a pilot study . Sport Science 13 (2020) 1: 17-22.

(2019) Mazzeo Filomena. Nutrition, supplements, and drugs to improve sports performance in order to educate for the correct intake and to promote health in primary school. Formazione & Insegnamento. Vol 17/3: 147-155.

(2019) Mazzeo Filomena. Attitude and practice of substance misuse and dietary supplements to improve performance in sport. Journal of Substance Use 24:6, 581-586.

(2019) Mazzeo, F., Santamaria, S., Donisi A., Montesano, P. Use and attitudes toward dietary supplements and drugs amongst Italian Elite Athletes and its correlation with banned doping substances . J Human Sport Exerc VOLUME 14 | Proc4 | 2019 | S964- 973 ISSN 1988-5202 

(2019) Mazzeo, F., Santamaria, S., & Montesano, P. Gender difference, nutritional supplements and drug use in sport to enhancing performance: an Italian revision over the last decade. Sport Mont, 17(1), 69-73. 

(2019). Montesano, P., & Mazzeo, F. Sports activities in obese teenagers improve social inclusion and health. Sport Mont, 17(1), 55-60. 

(2018) Mazzeo F, Monda V, Santamaria S, Nigro E, Valenzano A, Villano I, et al. Antidoping program: an important factor in the promotion and protection of the integrity of sport and athlete’s health. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 58(7-8):1135-1145. 

Position/Role

Associate Professor in Commodity Sciences ad Padua University, Department of Industrial Engineering.

Professional career

With a Master Degree in Management Engineering at Padova University in 1998, she immediately starts her research activity at the Department of Engineering Chemical Processes in Padova University; in 2000 she obtains a postgraduate specialization in Environmental Management and Control at University of Trento and in 2005 she gets her PhD in Management Engineering at Padova University. She continues her research at the same university, Department of Industrial Engineering, and in 2020 assumes the role of Associate Professor. In 2018 she founds a new research group, the SAM.lab, in wich ad-hoc methods and tools are developed to support the sustainability assessment and management at company and territorial level. Today she’s teacher in several degree and master degree courses at Padova University, as “Integrated Environmental and Safety Management Systems” at the Master Degree Course in Safety Engineering, and “Life Cycle Assessment” at the Master Degree Corse in Sustainable Chemistry and Technologies for Circular Economy.

Scientific results

She’s collaborated in several european research projects in founding lines as Life Environment, Intelligent Energy Europe, CIP Innovation, Interreg, Equal. From 2016 she took over the coordination of a working group of the Italian LCA Network, to support the correct use of the LCA methodology in tourism services. In 2019 she joined the Italian Interdisciplinar Commettee Waste and Health as technical expert, to define the guidelines for a sustainable waste management. In 2021 she has been included in the REPRISE register as scientific expert for the research evaluation. In 2022 she became a member of the International Technical Commettee CEN UNI/CT 004/GL 15 Climate Change.

Editorial work and publications

She’s author of over 160 papers and procediings, including the following:

[2021] Mazzi A. Ren J. Circular economy in low-carbon transition. Energies 14, 8061.

[2020] Mazzi A., Spagnolo M., Toniolo S. External communication on legal compliance by Italian waste treatment companies. Journal of Cleaner Production 255, 120325.

[2019] Toniolo S., Mazzi A., Simonetto M., Zuliani F., Scipioni A. Mapping diffusion of Environmental Product Declarations released by European program operators. Sustainable Production and Consumption 17, 85-94.

[2019] Toniolo S., Mazzi A., Mazzarotto G., Scipioni A. International Standards with a life cycle perspective: which dimension of sustainability is addressed?. International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment 24 (10), 1765-77.

[2018] Loss A., Toniolo S., Mazzi A., Manzardo A., Scipioni A., 2018. LCA comparison of traditional open cut and pipe bursting systems for relining water pipelines. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 128, 458-69.

[2017] Mazzi A., Toniolo S., Catto S., De Lorenzi V., Scipioni A. The combination of an environmental management system and life cycle assessment at the territorial level. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 63, 59-71.

[2017] Toniolo S., Mazzi A., Pieretto C., Scipioni A. Allocation strategies in comparative life cycle assessment for recycling: Considerations from case studies. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 117 (B), 249-61.

[2017] Toniolo S., Mazzi A., Fedele A., Aguiari F., Scipioni A. Life Cycle Assessment to support the quantification of the environmental impacts of an event. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 63, 12-22.

[2016] Mazzi A., Toniolo S., Manzardo A., Ren J., Scipioni A. Exploring the direction on the environmental and business performance relationship at the firm level. Lessons from a literature review. Sustainability 8, 1200. 

[2016] Mazzi A., Toniolo S., Mason M., Aguiari F., Scipioni A. What are the benefits and difficulties in adopting an environmental management system? The opinion of Italian organizations. Journal of Cleaner Production, 139, 873-85.

Position/Role

Associate Director for Robotics and Director of the Bioinspired Soft Robotics Laboratory at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT)

Professional career

After graduating in Biological Sciences at the University of Pisa in 1995, she joined the Biophysics Institute of the National Research Council (CNR), where she worked on environmental issues and in particular on mercury pollution. From 1997 to 1998 she attended a master in Environmental Management and Control (EMAS) at the Sant’Anna High School in Pisa (SSSA), with an internship at the Office for Foreign Risks of Civil Responsibility and Accidents, of Assicurazioni Generali SpA of Trieste. The following year she was a research assistant at the Research Center in Microengineering (CRIM Lab) of the Sant'Anna High School in Pisa, a position she held until 2004. From the same year until 2009 she was a Biomedical Engineering Researcher at the same Sant’Anna High School. In November 2009 she became Team Leader at the Micro Bio-Robotics Centre (CMBR) of the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genoa. In 2011 she obtained a PhD in Microsystems Engineering at the University Tor Vergata of Rome. In the same year she became coordinator of the CMBR at the IIT, a position she held until March 2021, when she became Associate Director for Robotics and Director of the Boinispired Soft Robotics Laboratory, also at the IIT.

Scientific results

Barbara Mazzolai’s research field is soft and bioinspired robotics, an evolution of robotics that involves the use of non-rigid materials inspired by the living world, in particular invertebrate animals and plants. During her time at the CRIM Lab of the Sant'Anna High School, she founded a new research area specifically dedicated to microtechnologies and robotics applicable to the environment and agri-food, playing the role of project manager of European projects such as Octopus, aimed at developing a soft robot inspired by Octopus vulgaris, and DustBot, a network of autonomous robots that can be used to collect door-to-door waste and improve urban hygiene. Arriving at the head of IIT's Micro Bio-Robotics Center, she founded a new research line in the field of bio-inspired robotics and soft robotics called "Plantoid", which aims at the realization for the first time in the world of robots inspired by movements, to the sensorial and communication skills of plants and their roots for soil exploration and environmental monitoring. 

Editorial work and publications

Barbara Mazzolai is a member of the editorial group of various scientific journals, including Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, Soft Robotics, Biomimetics, Robotics & Automation Letters, Frontiers in Bionics and Biomimetics, Micro-BioRobotics.

She is the author of numerous publications in international scientific journals, such as:

(2016) Laschi C, Mazzolai B, Cianchetti M. Soft robotics: Technologies and systems pushing the boundaries of robot abilities. Science Robotics, 1:(1). 

(2016) Larson C, Peele B, Li S, Robinson S, Totaro M, Beccai L, Mazzolai B, Shepherd R. Highly stretchable electroluminescent skin for optical signaling and tactile sensing. Science, 351(6277): 1071-1074. 

(2016) Argiolas A, Puleo GL, Sinibaldi E, Mazzolai B. Osmolyte cooperation affects turgor dynamics in plants. Scientific Reports, 6. 

(2016) Mazzolai B, Mattoli V. Robotics: Generation soft. Nature, 536 (7617), 400-401.

(2014) Sadeghi A, Tonazzini A, Popova L, Mazzolai B. A Novel Growing Device Inspired by Plant Root Soil Penetration Behaviors. PLoS ONE, 9:(2). 

(2014) Sinibaldi E, Argiolas A, Puleo GL, Mazzolai B. Another lesson from plants: the forward osmosis-based actuator. PLoS ONE, 9(7): e102461. 

(2014) Tramacere F, Kovalev A, Kleinteich T, Gorb SN, Mazzolai B. Structure and mechanical properties of Octopus vulgaris suckers. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 11: 91, 20130816. 

(2013) Tramacere F, Beccai L, Kuba M, Gozzi A, Bifone A, Mazzolai B. The Morphology and Adhesion Mechanism of Octopus vulgaris suckers. PLoS ONE, 8(6): e65074. 

(2012) Mazzolai B, Margheri L, Cianchetti M, Dario P, Laschi C. Soft robotic arm inspired by the octopus. II. From artificial requirements to innovative technological solutions. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, 7 025005. 

(2011) Mazzolai B, Mondini A, Corradi P, Laschi C, Mattoli V, Sinibaldi E, Dario P. A Miniaturized Mechatronic System Inspired by Plant Roots. IEEE Transaction on Mechatronics, 16(2), 201-212.

Awards and prizes

In 2010 Barbara Mazzolai received the "Marisa Bellisario" award for the scientific and management activity of the "DustBot" project, in 2013 she was awarded the Pio Manzù Prize with the Medal of the Senate of the Italian Republic for her commitment as a scientist for the creation of technologies that open new paths to sustainable development. In 2015 she received, for the same reasons, the Genoa international award: a woman out of the chorus.

In September 2021 she is  named among the 50 most inspiring Italian women in the world of technology with the award InspiringFifty for Italy. 

Position/Role

Tenure Track Assistant Professor at the Department of Social and Economic Sciences of La Sapienza University (Rome). Aggregate Professor of History of North Africa and the Middle East and of Globalization and International Relations at the Department of Social and Economic Sciences of La Sapienza University.

Professional career

From 2013 to 2014, she was research fellow in History and Institutions of Africa at the Department of Political and Social Science, University of Catania, and from 2017 to 2018 at the Department of Social Sciences and Economics (DiSSE), La Sapienza University. 

She coordinated the scientific program “Nation/States and minorities in Mediterranean Africa” for the PRIN 2010-2011 (Programmi di Ricerca Scientifica di Rilevante Interesse Nationale), funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research(MIUR).

Since 2016 she has collaborated with the Centre of Research on the Southern System and the Wider Mediterranean (CRiSSMA – Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan) and she is faculty member of the Master in “Migrazione e Sviluppo – Migration and Development”, Department of Social Sciences and Economics (DiSSE), Sapienza University, of the “Master in Middle Eastern Studies” – MIMES, Graduate School of Economics and International Relations (ASERI), Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan and member of the scientific committee of ReaCT – Osservatorio sul Radicalismo e il Contrasto al Terrorismo. She is Tenure Track Assistant Professor at Sapienza University of Rome since May 2019.

Scientific results

Alessia Melcangi’s researches are mainly focused on the Contemporary history of North Africa and Middle East; geopolitics and international relations in the Euro-Mediterranean area; ethno-religious minorities (in particular the Copts and the Berbers); identity dynamics and dynamics of polarization in the contemporary Middle East; political and social issues in contemporary Egypt and Libya. Regarding these issues she has published several monographs, peer review articles in Italian or international Journals, papers in edited works and policy papers. 

She has participated in the activities of the Centre of Research on the Southern System and the Wider Mediterranean (CRiSSMA) about the Contemporary Libyan political, economic and security dynamics; in the field of research in interreligious dialogue she has collaborated on a project on Freedom and Human Rights coordinated by CRiSSMA and the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies (RIIFS) of Amman; in the field of defense and security she’s participating to the research activities of ReaCT – Osservatorio sul Radicalismo e il Contrasto al Terrorismo.

Editorial work and publications

[2018] Melcangi A, Statualità e minoranze: meccanismi di resistenza e integrazione in Medio Oriente. Il caso dei cristiani copti in Egitto, Ledizioni.

[2018] Melcangi A, Divide et impera: the political application of sectarianism in the Egyptian context. From the Sadat years to the reign of Mubarak (1970-2011), in Demichelis M (ed.), “Religious Violence, Political Ends. Nationalism, citizenship and radicalizations in the Middle East and Europe”, Georg OLMS Verlag, Hildesheim 2018, pp. 35-53.

[2018] Melcangi A, Fanfani auspica giorni più sereni agli italiani in Egitto. La comunità italiana nell’Egitto di Gamal‘Abdal-Nasser e la visita di Fanfani attraverso l’analisi dei documenti diplomatici italiani, in Ventunesimo Secolo. Rivista di studi sulle transizioni, 43, FrancoAngeli.

[2018] Melcangi A, “Gli aqbāt al-mahjar e l’internazionalizzazione della questione copta dagli anni Settanta al regime di Mubarak”, in El Houssi L (ed.), in Minoranze in Nord Africa e Medio Oriente tra tradizione e modernità, numero monografico di “Ricerche Storiche”, XLVIII, 1, pp. 19-33. 

[2017] Melcangi A, I copti nell’Egitto di Nasser. Tra politica e religione (1952-1970), Carocci.

[2017] Melcangi A,“Under the Same Flag”: the Copts of Egypt and the challenges of Nasserist Nationalism”, in Demichelis M, Maggiolini P. (eds.), The Struggle to Define a Nation: Rethinking Religious Nationalism in the Contemporary Islamic World, Gorgias Press, pp. 161-194. 

[2016] El Houssi L, Melcangi A, Torelli S, Cricco M (eds.), North African Societies after the Arab Spring: Between Democracy and Islamic Awakening, Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

[2016] Melcangi A, ‘Church, Intellectuals and Youth Movements: Contemporary Understandings of Secularism and Tradition within the Egyptian Coptic Community’, in El Houssi L, Melcangi A, Torelli S, Cricco M.(eds.), North African Societies after the Arab Spring: Between Democracy and Islamic Awakening, Cambridge Scholars Publishing,  pp. 102-129. 

[2015] Melcangi A, ‘Identità contestata, identità condivisa. I copti tra nazionalismo e rivendicazioni comunitarie nell’Egitto contemporaneo’, in Cresti F. (ed.), Minoranze, pluralismo, stato nell’Africa mediterranea e nel Sahel, Aracne, pp. 155-198. 

[2013] Melcangi A., ‘La questione confessionale nell’Egitto post-rivoluzionario’, in Cantaro A (ed.), Dove vanno le primavere arabe?, Ediesse, pp. 83-90. 

[2008] Melfa D, Melcangi A, Cresti F. (eds.), Spazio privato, spazio pubblico e società civile in Medio Oriente e in Africa del Nord, Giuffré.

Awards and prizes

Melcangi is a member of the scientific committee of different organizations (ReaCT – Osservatorio sul Radicalismo e il Contrasto al Terrorismo; The Square – Mediterranean Centre for Revolutionary Studies), of Italian and international associations (Middle East Studies Association; Società Italiana di Storia Internazionale; British Society for Middle Eastern Studies; Società per gli Studi sul Medio Oriente – SeSaMO) as much as a member of the scientific secretariat of the Italian Journal Storia Urbana, Rivista di studi sulle trasformazioni della città e del territorio in età moderna, published by Franco Angeli.

Position/Role

Vice President BT Security EMEA & APAC at BT

Professional career

Graduated in computer science and mathematics from Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv, she later obtained an MBA in technology and innovation from Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa.

From 2003 to 2008 she worked at Avnet Information Security & Risk Management as VP Products and Services. In 2008 he worked in Eurekify, with the role of Vice President EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa). From 2009 to 2015 she is in CA Technogies, with the initial role of EMEA Sales Director and then Head of Security Strategy, also in EMEA. From 2016 to 2018 she is in HP, where she leads the ESS (Enterprise Security Services) activities as Head of South EMEA. In March 2018 he joined BT, where he leads a pan-European team of security experts protecting some of the world's most important and complex organisations against the ever-increasing cyber threats. 

Scientific results

Hila Meller has developed a significant experience along the years applying methods of Cyber Security both in military and defence environments as well as in the commercial and civilian space. She is recognized as one of the first pioneering experts of Security for ERP systems, acting as a special Security advisor for more than 30 projects. She developed a significant experience in the area of Identity and Access Management, contributing to the creation of a start-up which was later acquired by CA Technologies. In BT she gained additional experience related to Cyber Intelligence use cases and the application of Artificial Intelligence in Cyber Security scenarios.

She is often invited to attend as keynote speaker at Information Technology conferences and trade exhibitions. Some past examples include: RSA Conference in San Francicso, Kuppinger Cole EIC conference in Munich, Cyberweek in Tel Aviv, Security summit in Milan  and Forum PA in Romea.

Position/Role

Psychologist and Psychotherapist at the Child Neuropsychiatric Unit of the Scientific Institute for Research and Healthcare Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome

Professional career

After her Master Degree in Developmental Psychology and Education at “La Sapienza” in Rome, she attended a Diploma Course in Psychopathology of Learning at the University of San Marino. Since 1998, she has been carrying out clinical and research activities at the Scientific Institute for Research and Healthcare Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital. In 2004, she got a Ph.D in Cognitive Science and Rehabilitation. In 2016 she took a postgraduate diploma in Cognitive Behavior Therapy and in 2018, she got a national qualification as Full Professor in General Psychology, Psychobiology, and Psychometry.

Scientific results

Her field of interests concerns the link between behavior and brain in several neurodevelopmental disorders, such as specific learning disorders, language disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and intellectual disabilities. She is now coordinating a research team on the study of innovative rehabilitative perspectives as the use of non-invasive brain stimulation for neurodevelopmental disorders.  She has produced over than sixty peer-reviewed publications, several books and chapters for the neuropsychological assessment of children with neurodevelopmental disorders

Editorial work and publications

She has authored numerous scientific publications in national and international journals, including: 

[2018] Costanzo F, Rossi S, Varuzza C, Varvara P, Vicari S, Menghini D. Long-lasting improvement following tDCS treatment combined with a training for reading in children and adolescents with dyslexia. Neuropsychologia. 

[2018] Menghini D, Armando M, Calcagni M, Napolitano C, Pasqualetti P, Sergeant JA, Pani P, Vicari S. The influence of Generalized Anxiety Disorder on Executive Functions in children with ADHD. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 268(4):349-357.

[2016] Costanzo F, Varuzza C, Rossi S, Sdoia S, Varvara P, Oliveri M, Giacomo K, Vicari S, Menghini D^.. Evidence for reading improvement following tDCS treatment in children and adolescents with Dyslexia. Restorative Neurology and Neuroscience, 34(2):215-26.

[2016] Costanzo F, Varuzza C, Rossi S, Sdoia S, Varvara P, Oliveri M, Koch G, Vicari S, Menghini D. Reading changes in children and adolescents with dyslexia after transcranial direct current stimulation. Neuroreport, 27(5):295-300. 

[2015] Costanzo F, Menghini D, et al. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Treatment in an Adolescent with Autism and Drug-Resistant Catatonia. Brain Stimulation 8(6).

[2015] De Crescenzo F, Licchelli S, Ciabattini M, Menghini D, et al. The use of actigraphy in the monitoring of sleep and activity in ADHD: A meta-analysis. Sleep Medicine Reviews 26. 

[2014] Varvara P, Varuzza C, Sorrentino AC, Vicari S, Menghini D. Executive functions in developmental dyslexia. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8:120. 

[2013] Costanzo F, Menghini D, Caltagirone C, Oliveri M, Vicari S. How to improve reading skills in dyslexics: the effect of high frequency rTMS. Neuropsychologia, 51(14):2953-9. 

[2012] Costanzo F, Menghini D, Caltagirone C, Oliveri M, Vicari S. High frequency rTMS over the left parietal lobule increases non-word reading accuracy. Neuropsychologia, 50(11):2645-51. 

[2011] Menghini D, Costanzo F, Vicari S. Relationship between brain and cognitive processes in Down syndrome. Behavior Genetics, 41(3):381-93. 

Awards and prizes

In 1998, she obtained the Fellowship Award granted by Pio Sodalizio dei Piceni (Rome).

In 2010, she won a Grant by the Foundation Jerome Lejeune for studying the cerebral correlates of Down Syndrome. 

In 2012, she was funded by the Ministry of Health (Young Italian Researchers Grant) for studying innovative therapeutic approaches in neurodevelopmental disorders.

Position/Role

Senior Lecturer in Development Studies alla School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London

Professional career

Mezzadri is an economist who graduated at La Sapienza in 2000 with 110/110 cum laude. After working in Italy and at Swiss border for the European School of Economics, she obtained her MSc and PhD in Development Studies from SOAS, London. In 2008, she was hired by her alma mater as lecturer, where she is currently a Senior Lecturer. 

Scientific results

Her work focuses on globalisation and working poverty. Mezzadri has researched in depth global commodity chains in textile and garment production, sweatshops, global labour standards and CSR, and ethical consumerism. 

Editorial work and publications

Authored Books

[2017] Mezzadri A, The Sweatshop Regime: Labouring Bodies, Exploitation and Garments Made in India. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Articles

[2021] Barnett BS, Carlo AD, Ruwanpura K, Mezzadri A. 'The Invisible People Behind Our Masks'. Annals of Internal Medicine.

[2021] Stevano S, Mezzadri A, Lombardozzi L, Bargawi H. 'Hidden Abodes in Plain Sight: The Social Reproduction of Households and Labour in the COVID-19 pandemic'. Feminist Economics. 

[2020] Mezzadri A, Ruwanpura K. How Asia’s clothing factories switched to making PPE – but sweatshop problems live on, SOAS Research Online.

[2020] Mezzadri A, A crisis like no other: social reproduction and the regeneration of capitalist life during the COVID-19 pandemic, SOAS Research Online.

[2017] Mezzadri A, Lulu F, ‘Classes of Labour’ at the Margins of Global Commodity Chains in India and China'. Development and Change, (49) 4, pp 1034-1063.

[2017] Mezzadri A, Prentice R, De Neve G, Ruwanpura K, 'Health and Safety in Garment Workers’ Lives: Setting a New Research Agenda'. Geoforum, (88) Jan, pp 157-160.

[2016] Mezzadri A,'Class, gender and the sweatshop: on the nexus between labour commodification and exploitation'. Third World Quarterly, (37) 10, pp 1877-1900.

[2016] Mezzadri A,The informalization of capital and interlocking in labour contracting networks'. Progress in Development Studies, (16) 2, pp 124-139.

[2015] Mezzadri A,Why inequality matters – for the rich and the poor'. The Conversation UK [Online].

[2015] Mezzadri A,A ‘song of the wage’ for Rana Plaza'. New Internationalist.

[2015] Mezzadri A, 'Free to stitch, or starve: capitalism and unfreedom in the global garment industry''. Open Democracy: Beyond Trafficking and Slavery.

[2014] Mezzadri A,'Cambodian sweatshop protests reveal the blood on our clothes'. The Conversation UK.

[2014] Mezzadri A,'Indian Garment Clusters and CSR Norms: Incompatible Agendas at the Bottom of the Garment Commodity Chain'. Oxford Development Studies, (42) 2, pp 217-237.

[2014] Mezzadri A,'Backshoring, local sweatshop regimes and CSR in India'. Competition and Change, (18) 4, pp 327-344.

[2014] Mezzadri A,'Are Ethical Initiatives Successful in the Indian Garment Industry? A Focus on Homeworkers'.Development Viewpoint 83.

Awards and prizes

Young Scholar Award, Indian Society For Labour Economics (2008).