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RusLab

The Russia Observatory (RUSLAB) is a dedicated research hub for the study of Russia, its domestic politics, historical trajectories, and international role, combining academic rigour with policy-relevant analysis and public-facing outputs. The research is situated within the broader debate on post-liberal contestation and the transformation of the international order.

RuLAB’s work aims to integrate close analysis of domestic governance, political economy, and social dynamics with a strong historical perspective rooted in Soviet and imperial legacies. It also examines how past institutional configurations, political cultures, and identity narratives continue to shape contemporary Russian politics and society.

Thematically, the Observatory covers four main interconnected areas:

Domestic politics and society — governance structures, center–periphery relations, regional identities, social stratification, ideological, religious and cultural evolutions, and the interaction between elites and the Russian society.
Russia–Europe relations — historical entanglements, energy interdependence, security architecture, and the reconfiguration of ties under war and sanctions.
The Eurasian space — relations with neighboring states, regional integration, and alignments involving China, Turkey, India, and other major Global South actors.
Global footprint — Russia’s political, economic, and security presence in Africa, the Middle East, and Russia’s role in reshaping the broader international order.

Head of Unit

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Alfonso Giordano

Alfonso Giordano is an associate professor of Economic and Political Geography at Niccolò Cusano University of Rome and an adjunct professor at LUISS University, where he teaches “Exogeography, Astropolitics, and Space Economy”. His research focuses on population geography, political demography, and human-environment interactions, with a particular emphasis on border studies. Recently, he has investigated the geographical, political and economic dimensions of space exploration, analysing its implications for governance, resource allocation, and territoriality beyond Earth.
Angelo Mario Taraborrelli

Angelo “Mario” Taraborrelli has held strategic senior roles for over three decades in the national and international energy sector, significantly contributing to the definition of industrial and corporate policies in the oil & gas field and, more recently, in the electricity sector. With a strong background in international law and oil economics, he began his career at Eni in 1973, progressively taking on top positions, including that of CEO of the Refining & Marketing division, where he led a thorough strategic restructuring program and important international M&A operations. As Senior Vice President of Strategic Control, he directly influenced capital allocation decisions and key investments for the entire Eni group. Subsequently, he expanded his influence in the energy sector by joining the Board of Directors of Enel SpA, where for years he chaired the Internal Control and Risk Committee, contributing to the evolution of corporate governance in the context of the energy transition. Since 2015, he has been an Adjucnt Professor of Energy and Climate Policies at Luiss University, combining managerial expertise and academic vision in the global political-energy field.
Antonio Leandro

Antonio Leandro (Law Degree, Bari; PhD, Rome-La Sapienza) is a Full Professor of International Law at the Department of Law of the Aldo Moro University of Bari, where he teaches public and private international law, international law of the sea, and international trade law. Expert for the European Commission and UNIDROIT, member of the Italian Foreign Policy and Security Laboratory at the CISS, he has been appointed as Scientific Advisor to the Italian Navy. He served as a director of a short-term master’s program on safety and security at sea in cooperation with the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza).

Author of five monographs and several scientific papers, he is also editor or co-editor of six collective volumes. He serves on the editorial boards of several academic journals and co-directs an international law book series. His research interests range across private international law, public international law, and their intersections with European Union law.

As regards maritime topics, he particularly focused – through scientific publications, workshops and lectures – on the Exclusive Economic Zone, maritime security, piracy, criminal jurisdiction at sea, migration by sea, maritime labour safety standards, naval peace-keeping, maritime spatial planning, underwater normative and regulatory framework, foreign direct investments in port and maritime environment, economic warfare in maritime activities, GHG emissions, and sustainable development in ocean governance.
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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.
Francesca Maria Corrao

Francesca Maria Corrao is Full Professor of Arabic Culture and Language in the Department of Political Science in LUISS University of Rome, director of MISLAM Program (Master in Economics and Institutions of Islamic Countries) of the School of Government at the same university. Previously she was Professor at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” (1996-2011), and visiting professor at the Alsun Faculty of the ‘Ayn Shams University in Cairo (2004), École Pratique des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris 2007), at Fudan University (Shanghai 2017), Science Pò (Menton 2017/19). She held conferences and seminars at the Universities of Cairo, Beirut, Amman, Rabat, Tunis, Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard. The main focus of her scholarly activity is on Arabic Literature, Islamic Culture and History, Mediterranean Studies, Intercultural dialogue.

In “L’Orientale” University of Naples, Corrao was in charge of the Socrates European Projects: “Les Communautés Africaines en Europe” ( Paris 2000), Les Communautés Musulmanes en Europe” (Paris 2001). She is the “contact person” for the “Manifesto” for Inclusive University” (http://manifestouniversitainclusiva.unhcr.it/), Universities network for peace (RUniPace http://www.runipace.org/ ) and for the University Corridors for Refugees UNICORE 3.0 (http://universitycorridors.unhcr.it/ ); the latter is promoted by Italian universities with the support of UNHCR, in cooperation with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other partners. Corrao chairs the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Orestiadi in Gibellina (Sicily); She is Overseas Research member of the Institute of Oriental Studies (Soka University, Tokyo); and is also Member of the European Union of Arabist and Islamist (UEAI), the Scientific Council of the Cortile dei Gentili (Pontifical Coucil for Culture, Vatican), International Affairs Institute IAI-Rome, the European Teachers of Modern Arabic Literature (EMTAR), Member of the Scientific committee of the Journals: Rivista Africa e Orienti, Semicerchio, ARABLIT, Journal of Arabic Literature, Dialoghi Mediterranei, open access e-journal of the Istituto Euro-Arabo.

Her most recent books include: Corrao F.M., Redaelli R., States, Actors and Geopolitical Drivers in the Mediterranean, Palgrave 2021; I cavalieri, le dame e i deserti. Storia della poesia araba (Istituto per l’Oriente, 2020); In guerra non mi cercate. Poesia araba delle rivoluzioni e oltre, with O. Capezio, E. Chiti e S. Sibilio (Le Monnier, 2018); L’Islam non è terrorismo, with L. Violante (Il Mulino, 2018); Islam, Religion and Politics (LUP, 2017); Islam, State and Modernity. Mohammed Abed Al-Jabri and the Future of the Arab World, with Z. Eyadat and M.Hashas (Palgrave, 2017); Le Rivoluzioni Arabe. La transizione Mediterranea, (Mondadori, 2011); Poeti Arabi di Sicilia (Mesogea, 2002); Giufà il furbo, lo sciocco, il saggio (Sellerio 2001, Nawādir Juhā, in Arabic 2020).
Francesco Cherubini

Francesco Cherubini is Associate Professor of EU Law at the Department of Political Science, Luiss “Guido Carli”, Rome. He is also the Director of the Luiss intensive course for the diplomatic career and the coordinator of the Luiss Master in Art Law. From 2022, he is UNCHR independent expert at the Rome Commission for asylum. Among his recent publications: Decisions under the Law of European Union: ‘You May Be Six People, but I Love You’, in YEL, 2022, pp- 1-60. 
Gianfranco Pellegrino

Gianfranco Pellegrino is an Associate Professor at LUISS Guido Carli Rome, where he teaches Political Philosophy. His interests are in the history of political thought (mainly Jeremy Bentham and Henry Sidgwick), distributive justice theories, migration, and environmental ethics. He wrote on global justice, the ethics of climate change and the Anthropocene. Among his publications: The Handbook of the Philosophy of Climate Change (edited with M. Di Paola), Springer, Switzerland, 2023, “Sidgwick and the Many Guises of the Good”, Philosophical Explorations, 2021; “Robust Responsibility for Climate Harms”, Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 2018, “Climate Refugees: A Case for Protection”, in G. Pellegrino e M. Di Paola, eds, Canned Heat. Theoretical and Practical Challenges of Global Climate Change, London/Delhi: Routledge, 2014.
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Researcher

Antonio Calcara

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.
apirri@luiss.it

Anna Pirri Valentini is Senior Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Political Science of Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, where she teaches Heritage, Tourism and Sustainable Economic Development Policies. She is also Adjunct Professor of Art Market Legislation at NABA, Milan.
Dr. Pirri Valentini obtained her Ph.D. in Analysis and Management of Cultural Heritage at IMT School for Advanced Studies, Lucca (2020) and graduated in law at Sapienza University, Rome (2015).

She has been a Visiting research scholar at the Institut des Sciences Sociales du Politique -École normale supérieure Paris Saclay- (Paris) and at the LSE- London School of Economics and Political Science (London).
Her research focuses on the policies and regulation of cultural heritage and art law. Her first monograph will be published (2023) in the She published in Italian (Rivista Trimestrale di Diritto Pubblico, Giornale di Diritto Amministrativo, AEDON, Diritto dell’Arte) and international (International Journal of Constitutional Law) journals. Dr. Pirri Valentini is member of the International Society of Public Law (ICON·S) and the Istituto di Ricerca sulla Pubblica Amministrazione (IRPA).
Arianna Monte
Arlo Poletti

Arlo Poletti is Professor of International Relations at the Department of Sociology and Social Research of the University of Trento. He holds a PhD from the University of Bologna, previously held a postdoctoral position at the University of Antwerp (2009–2013), and served as Assistant Professor at LUISS Guido Carli (2013–2016) and at the University of Bologna (2016).

His roles at Trento include coordinating the BA in International Studies and serving on the Board of the Doctorate of Research in International Studies at the School of International Studies. He also acts as an expert evaluator for national and international research funding bodies.

His research lies in International Political Economy, focusing on the political economy of globalization, including the politics of trade and investment, transnational advocacy at global and EU levels, and international regulatory cooperation. Recent work examines how globalization-induced economic distress shapes individual preferences and political behavior.

He is the author of five monographs, with research published in International Organization, Regulation & Governance, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of European Public Policy, Review of International Studies, European Political Science Review, and Review of International Organizations.
Bjørn Thomassen

Bjørn Thomassen is Professor in Social Science at the Department of Social Sciences and Business at Roskilde University. Research areas include: history of social thought, social theory, Italian studies, global religion, urban studies, identity & memory politics, nationalism, liminality and social change, revolutions, social and cultural dimensions of globalization. He has published more than 50 articles across the social and political sciences. He is the author of ”Italy’s Christian Democracy. The Catholic Encounter with Political Modernity” (Oxford UP, 2024, with R. Forlenza), ”From Anthropology to Social Theory: Rethinking the Social Sciences” (Cambridge UP, 2019, with A. Szakolczai), ”Liminality and the Modern. Living Through the In-between” (Routledge, 2016), “Global Rome: Changing Faces of the Eternal City” (Indiana UP, 2014, with I. Clough-Marinaro). He is currently leader of a research project funded by Velux on “The Catholic Ethic and the Spirit of Global Modernities” (2021-2025).
Camilla Migliosi
Carolina De Stefano

Carolina De Stefano is a Lecturer in European and Russian History at Luiss Guido Carli University and an associate member of the Centre d’Etudes des Mondes Russe, Caucasien & Centre-Européen (CERCEC-EHESS) in Paris.

After graduating in International Relations from Luiss Guido Carli University, she earned her PhD from Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa and the Higher School of Economics in Moscow and a post-doc from the Finnish Academy of Sciences, with a dissertation and research project focusing on the collapse of the USSR and the handling of post-Soviet ethnic conflicts.

From 2014 until early 2022, she has conducted long-term archival research in Moscow and speaks Russian fluently. She has been a visiting researcher at several research institutions, including Harvard University, George Washington University, the Hoover Institution at Stanford, and the University of Warsaw,

She is the author of Storia del Potere in Russia. Dagli Zar a Putin (Morcelliana, 2022) and has published several articles on late-Soviet and contemporary Russian history in international peer-reviewed academic journals such as Kritika (forthcoming, 2025), Russian History (2023), Cahiers du MondeRusse (2023), Russian Review (2022), the Journal of Eurasian Studies (2020). Her current book project aims to providethe first systematic historical account of the attempts made by experts and politicians under Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin to reform nationalities policies, handle ethnic conflicts, and give birth to a new Russia’s foreign policy towards its new neighbors in the years of the Soviet disintegration 1986-1994. This research aims to retrace some of the historical and political roots of today’s Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Since 2016, she has collaborated as a Russia expert with Oxford Analytica, as well as written analyses on Russian politics, foreign policy, and Russia-Ukraine relations for national newspapers (Il Sole 24 Ore, Corriere della Sera, Domani, and The Huffington Post).
Carolina Polito

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.
Christopher Hein

Christopher Hein is Professor on contract at the University LUISS Guidi Carli, Dep. Political Science. He is a former UN international civil servant and former Director of the Italian Council for Refugees. Among his recent publications: La protezione dei diritti umani (ed.), LUISS University Press 2021; The Reform of the Dublin System, in: I Flussi Migratori e le Sfide all’Europa, ed. E. Sciso, Turin 2020.
Claudia Candelmo

Claudia Candelmo is Researcher (RTD-B) in International Law at the Department of Law, University of Udine. Previously, she was Teaching Fellow in EU Law at Durham Law School and visiting research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Public, Comparative and International Law (Heidelberg). Her main research interests concern State responsibility and the interconnection between international humanitarian law and international human rights law.