The Italian Foreign Policy and Security Laboratory (ItaSecLAB) research unit at the Center for International Strategic Studies at Luiss Guido Carli, dedicates itself to understanding and advancing Italian national interest in a complex global environment. This specialized unit emphasizes strategic foresight by researching on the latest global trends and by providing scenario and political risk analyses for various stakeholders both governmental and non-governmental.
Comprised of a blend of senior and junior researchers, each with diverse institutional affiliations, the ISFD team offers a broad yet in-depth understanding of global politics. Their expertise spans from security issues and the evolving impact of technological advancements on international relations to diplomatic studies and foreign policy analysis. This multidisciplinary approach enables the unit to foresee and interpret the dynamic interplay between current national and international issues and geopolitical shifts, a crucial factor for promoting a better-informed Italy’s foreign policy.
The unit aims to gather information and insights on the impact of the so-called emerging and disruptive technologies, including military drones, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, cloud computing, robotics, and autonomous systems, as well as on trends in military innovation and the defense market. The unit analyses the potential impact of these technologies and trends on the military and security sectors, including their effects at the strategic, operational, and tactical level, as well as their general implications in great power competition.
A focal point of the ItaSecLAB is also its work is hybrid diplomacy, a conceptualization of the diplomatic effort that sees the systematic engagement of various stakeholders besides the governmental bodies in drafting and acting in Foreign Policy. By actively engaging with the government at the national and local levels and with actors from the private the third sector, the unit studies and develops alternative strategies to the government-to-government diplomacy. Besides the analytical part, the Unit regularly organizes events to facilitate the communication and the synergy among these foreign policy actors.
Head of Unit
Manfredi Valeriani
Manfredi Valeriani earned his PhD at Hamburg University and Luiss University with a thesis on “Funding Instruments to Italian NGOs” is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Luiss where he also teaches Political Risk Analysis and International Politics and Businesses. He has been Adjunct Professor at the University “L’Orientale” in Naples and at the American University of Rome. His research currently focuses on Structured Analytic Techniques, Scenario Analysis, and Italian Foreign Policy.
Antonio Calcara is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. He received his PhD in Political Science from the LUISS Guido Carli University in 2015. His research interests are in the fields of European security and defence-industrial issues. His twitter account is @AntonioCalcara.
Andrea Gilli is a Senior Researcher at the NATO Defense College, Rome. He receivedhis PhD in Social and Political Science from the European University Institute in 2014. His research interests focus on issues related to technological change and military innovation. His Twitter account is @aa_gilli.
Ivan Zaccagnini is a PhD candidate and a teaching assistant in the Department of Political Science at LUISS Guido Carli University. He is enrolled in a joint PhD program between LUISS and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). He received his MA in International Relations from Rome Tre University in 2019. His research interests focus on emerging and disruptive technologies and future of war. His Twitter account is @ZaccagniniIvan.
Raffaele Marchetti (Laurea, Rome-La Sapienza; PhD, London-LSE) is Deputy Rector for Internationalization and Professor in International Relations at the Department of Political Science and the School of Government of LUISS. His research interest concerns global politics and governance, hybrid and city diplomacy, transnational civil society, (cyber-)security and political risk, and democracy.
He acts as external expert for the European Commission and other public/private institutions on issues of global governance, public policies, civil society, and security. He is ISA’s United Nations-NGO Representative (2022-2024). He is also member of the editorial board of The International Spectator, the Academic Advisory Board of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA), LabGov – the LABoratory for the GOVernance of the City as a Commons, International Institute for Social and Economic Studies (IISES). He is the editor of the Routledge series Innovations in International Affairs and the Luiss University Press series Radar.
Carolina Polito is a PhD Candidate at LUISS Guido Carli University, where she deals with the geopolitics of surveillance technologies, in particular the export of biometric technologies to developing countries. She is also an associate researcher at the Center for European Policy Studies (Brussels) where she works on Tender-based projects for the evaluations of European policies on cybersecurity. She was an associate researcher at the International Affairs Institute (IAI) where she also worked on digital-related issues such as the proliferation of cyber weapons.
Sofia Eliodori earned her Ph.D. in International Relations from the University for Foreigners of Perugia in 2022. Currently, she is collaborating with the Law department of LUISS Guido Carli as a Postdoctoral Fellow, engaged in the Horizon project EUARENAS, focusing on the democratic dynamics in cities. Her primary area of interest lies in understanding the intricacies of United States domestic and foreign policy, Atlantic relations, and Italy-US relations. She’s also attentive to populism, diasporas, public communication and public diplomacy.
Claudio Christopher Passalacqua is currently a teaching assistant in international relations at Luiss Guido Carli. He earned a Ph.D. in international studies from the University of Trento, with a focus on power shifts in standard settings. His research interests include Foreign Policy Analysis, EU-China relations, and the competition between great powers over digital connectivity plans. Claudio holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from John Cabot University, as well as a Double-Master Degree in International Relations from LUISS Guido Carli and China Foreign Affairs University. In addition, he worked as a lecturer and teaching assistant at the University of Trento, as a Schuman trainee at the European Parliament, and as an intern at the Italian Trade Agency in Beijing.
Jean-Pierre Darnis (MA Université Toulouse, Université Paris X; PhD Université Paris X Nanterre) teaches Contemporary History at LUISS. A full professor at the Université Côte d’Azur (Nice, France), he directs the master’s degree program in French-Italian relations. He coordinates the research program “France, Italy and their Mediterraneans” in the CMMC (Centre de la Mediterranee Moderne et Contemporaine) in Nice and is a member of the scientific council of the Courtyard of the Gentiles (Pontifical Council for Culture) in Rome. He is also an associate fellow of the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique (FRS, Paris). He was previously director of the Security, Defense, Space program at the International Affairs Institute (IAI) in Rome, and there created the Technology and International Relations program. Email : jpdarnis@luiss.it
Martina Lucaccini is a PhD candidate in Cybersecurity and a teaching assistant at LUISS Guido Carli University. She is enrolled in a joint PhD program between LUISS and Sapienza. Her research focuses on cybersecurity and Internet controls. Currently, she investigates digital transnational repression targeting political exiles and diaspora communities. She received her MA in International Relations and European Studies at the University of Florence.
