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OGID

The Observatory on Gender, Inclusion and Democracy was established in 2022 and is directed by Emiliana De Blasio. The observatory carries out research and consultancy on three main thematic streams:

  1. gender, diversity and inclusion, with particular reference to the development, evaluation and monitoring of D&I policies and the related communication and cultural processes;
  2. sustainability and governance, pointing at the design and impact assessment of public policies, and the observation of the institutional changes brought out by democratic innovations, stakeholder engagement and civic participation;
  3. communication, technologies and democracy, which focuses on the study of media, digital technologies and artificial intelligence, in their relationship with democratic systems and processes.

Portfolio

OGID has run projects on media coverage of political, economic and social phenomena (e.g. on armed conflicts and public debate issues), research on political and institutional communication, public policy analysis on Agenda 2030-related topics (e.g. sustainable cities and communities, smart cities, digital platforms for governance, D&I policies, stakeholder engagement), studies on disinformation and propaganda.
The members of OGID have extensive experience in working with the public sector, private companies, NGOs, citizens’ associations, with an approach based on social listening and stakeholder engagement.

Head of Unit

  • Emiliana De Blasio

    Emiliana De Blasio

    Emiliana De Blasio  is Advisor to the Rector for Diversity, Inclusion and Sustainability and Professor of Sociology of Cultural and Communicative Processes at LUISS, where she teaches Sociology of Communication, Open government, Political participation and governance and Gender politics. She has been awarded research grants such as FIRB and PRIN and coordinated several research projects throughout her career.

    She has taught at Italian and foreign universities, including New York University, SciencesPo, Pontifical Gregorian University, University of Molise. She regularly teaches at LUISS Masters, Executive Masters and School of Journalism on topics related to inclusion, diversity and sustainability. She is also part of the Italian Open Government Forum and member of several scientific associations such as SISCC, AssoComPol, ECPR, ESA, SISP.

Researcher

  • Noemi Ciarniello

    Noemi Ciarniello graduated in Philosophy at University of Bologna and holds a Master’s degree in Gender Studies at SOAS. She is a postdoctoral researcher at LUISS University, with a project on the assessment of D&I policies in public and private environments. Her research focuses on the relationship between current political/economic trends and gender, with particular attention to the rise of neoliberal feminism and the economic, political, and sociological implications of this intersection. She has been a research associate at Goldsmiths, University of London, and is a member of the editorial board of DWF, a longstanding Italian journal dedicated to gender studies and feminist political practices.

  • Mattia Zunino

    Mattia Zunino

    Mattia Zunino is postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Political Science at LUISS, where he also teaches Sociology of Communication. He holds a PhD cum laude in Politics: History, Theory and Science at the same university. He previously held a research fellowship at the University of Salerno and currently collaborates with the Sacred Convent of Assisi and the Italian National Forum of the Third Sector on training and tutoring initiatives aimed at civic and social actors. His research interests focus on political participation, media studies, and peace and conflict studies.

  • Donatella Selva

    Donatella Selva

    Donatella Selva is Associate Professor and teaches Crisis Communication and Political Communication at LUISS. She graduated in Political Science at LUISS and holds a PhD in Sociology of Communication from the University of Urbino. She previously held teaching and research positions at the University of Florence, the University of Tuscia and the Pontifical Gregorian University. Her research topics focus on disinformation studies and journalism, AI, digital technology and social media, and the interplay between politics and culture. She is the PI of a three-year project about news avoidance funded by the Italian Ministry of Research (FIS 2).