Publications

Emanuele Chizzoni holds an Erasmus Mundus International Master in Security, Intelligence and Strategic Studies. He has previously contributed to wargaming initiatives for Italian defense institutions and conducted research at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. Following his professional experience in the cybersecurity consulting sector, his interests have turned towards emerging technologies, economic warfare, and strategic wargaming.

Emidio Diodato is Professor of Political Science at the University for Foreigners of Perugia. He has held teaching and research positions at several international institutions, including the University of Damascus, Boğaziçi University (Istanbul), Universidad Nacional de Cuyo (Mendoza), Odessa Law Academy, BTU Cottbus, Yaşar University (Izmir), and the University of Rhode Island. His research, which examines foreign policy and geopolitics from both theoretical and comparative perspectives, has been published in leading international journals such as Contemporary Politics, The International Spectator, Journal of Common Market Studies, and Contemporary Italian Politics. He is the author or co-author of more than seventy scholarly publications, including numerous essays and books. Among his works on Italian foreign policy, two volumes published by Palgrave stand out: Italy in International Relations: The Foreign Policy Conundrum (2017) and Berlusconi “The Diplomat”: Populism and Foreign Policy in Italy (2019). On the same subject, he published the Handbook of Italian Foreign Policy (in Italian, Il Mulino). He has also served as the scientific coordinator of three research projects funded by the European Union.

Emma Bellon holds a Double Master’s Degree in International Affairs from LUISS Guido Carli University and Sciences Po Bordeaux, where she graduated with a thesis on demographic transition in India and its socio-economic impact, tracing pathways to securitisation in national policy and discourse from 1980 to 2025.

Her research interests focus on India and Southeast Asia, combining demographic and social challenges with critical security studies and the region’s evolving geopolitical dynamics. She has gained professional experience at the Italian Embassy in Bangkok, the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Italy, and CeSI – Centro Studi Internazionali, where she published analyses on the Asia-Pacific. She has a basic knowledge of Hindi.

Ersilia Francesca is Full Professor of History of Islamic countries at Università “L’Orientale” in Naples – Asia Africa and Mediterranean Department, where she teaches “Contemporary history of Economy of Middle East and North Africa” and “Gender Politics in Islamic Context”. She is chief editor of the peer-reviewed journal Studi Magrebini (Brill), and former director of the Center for Islamic World at L’Orientale. She is president of the University “L’Orientale” Quality Assurance Board. She is also chief editor of the series Studies in Ibadism and Oman, Olms (Germany).  

Her scholarly activity focuses on Islamic law, gender studies in the MENA region, and history of Islamic economics. She published 5 books and 3 edited books; and wrote over 20 articles in PR journals and contributions in edited books in the last 10 years. Her 2002 book titled Teoria e pratica del commercio nell’islam medievale is considered a milestone in the field of studies on Ibadism and early Islam (s. review in JSAI 2004/29). Her bookEconomia, religione e morale nell’islam (Carocci 2013) is the first attempt of a comprehensive reconstruction of the Islamic economic thinking in Italian.    In the last five years she has supervised over 50 Master thesis, 6 PhD projects, 1 joint-supervision (cotutelle) with EPHE, Paris, and one Postdoctoral fellow.  

Among her recent publications: Economia, religione e morale nell’islam, Carocci, Roma 2013; “Gender and Economics in Mediterranean: Looking for New Opportunities for North African Women”, in States, Actors and Geopolitical Drivers in the Mediterranean, Palgrave 2021; “Economia islamica: significati e prospettive”, in L’islam non è terrorismo, Il Mulino, 2018; “Denaro e valori: la business ethics dal punto di vista islamico”, in Divus Thomas, 119/2016; “Economic Opportunities and Social Challenges in the North African Transition”, in Emerging Actors in Post- Revolutionary North Africa, 2017. She is editor of the book: Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works, G. OLMS, Hildesheim-Zürich-New York 2015 and co-editor with A.M. Di Tolla of La rivoluzione ai tempi di Internet. Il futuro della democrazia nel Maghreb e nel mondo arabo, Naples 2012, and of Emerging Actors in Post- Revolutionary North Africa, 2 vols., Naples 2017. 

Fabio Caffio, graduated with full marks in Law at the La Sapienza University of Rome, served in the legal branch of the Italian Navy until 2011, when he retired with the rank of Rear Admiral. He later collaborated with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and served as a Naval advisor. An expert in the law of the sea, he has participated in numerous meetings concerning maritime delimitation, as well as international instruments such as the SUA and SAR Conventions. He was a member of the Group of experts convened in 1994 to draft the San Remo Manual on International Law applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea and is a member of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War.

He regularly contributes to leading legal journals and is the author of Glossario del Diritto del Mare. He has also served as Adjunct Professor of Geopolitics and the Law of the Sea at Aldo Moro University of Bari.

Federico Brogi Carraroli is a PhD candidate in Energy Policy at Luiss Guido Carli University and Doctoral Fellow for the Enel Foundation. Federico holds an Italian second level advanced degree in Politics and International Relations, a Master’s in Global Management and Politics, and a Bachelor’s in Politics: Philosophy and Economics. He has previously worked at the Ministry for Enterprise and Made in Italy, at the Confindustria association FederUnacoma, and as “Fausto de Franceschi” Fellow for the Italian trade Agency.

Fiamma Concarella is a PhD Candidate at the Department of Law of LUISS Guido Carli University, where she is also assistant professor of “International law and Artificial intelligence” and “International Organizations and Human Rights”. She is also Tutor of International Law for the Faculty Political Science and Law. She is part of the LUISS Team of Research for the EU-funded REMIT project.

Flavia Lucenti is a postdoctoral researcher at LUISS University, Department of Political Science, for the EU Horizon Project REMIT.

Her research interests include IR theory, China, Russia, technology and norms. At LUISS University, Flavia is also PhD tutor and teaching assistant while she is an adjunct professor at the American University of Rome. Previously, she worked as a research assistant at the University of Oxford for the EU Horizon Project EU3D and as a postdoctoral research fellow and adjunct professor at the University of Bologna. Flavia was also an adjunct professor at the University of Roma Tre and a senior teaching assistant in International Relations at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

She holds a PhD in Political Studies and International Relations from the University of Roma Tre. During her doctoral studies she was a visiting PhD student at the University of Hong Kong, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and the European University Institute. From 2020 to 2023 she was a member of the Early Career Development Group of the European International Studies Association and in 2022 she was part of the annual cohort of the Next Generation Policy Expert Network, a program launched by Chatham House and the Korea Foundation. Currently, Flavia is a deputy editor for the annual Global Policy: Next Generation issue of the journal Global Policy from Durham University. She holds an MA (Summa cum Laude) in Diplomatic and International Affairs from the University of Bologna – Forlì Campus.

Francesco Lapenta is the founding director of the Institute of Future and Innovation Studies at John Cabot University in Rome. Since 2018, he has led the Institute in fostering interdisciplinary dialogue to develop governance frameworks for ethical and sustainable technological innovation. His research focuses on AI, data ethics, digital governance, and the socio-political implications of space exploration. Previously, he was an associate professor at RUC University, a visiting professor at NYU, a Mozilla Fellow, and technical editor of IEEE’s Global AI Ethics Initiative.