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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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  • Paolo Glisenti

    Paolo Glisenti

    Paolo Glisenti is a journalist, international strategist, and expert in communication and large-scale event management, known for his leadership as Italy’s Commissioner General for Expo 2020 Dubai and Expo 2025 Osaka–Kansai. With a background in economic and financial journalism in London, New York, and Italy, he held senior executive roles in major multinational companies—including News Corp Europe and Montedison USA—and served on the boards of listed firms across media, telecoms, and pharmaceuticals. Founder of PGConsultants, he has advised governments, institutions, and corporations on communication strategies and international bids, playing a pivotal role in Milan’s successful campaign for Expo 2015, for which he was awarded the Knighthood of Merit of the Italian Republic. His work blends public diplomacy, strategic vision, and deep industry knowledge, making him a key figure in Italy’s global outreach and event diplomacy.

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  • Raffaele Marchetti

    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.

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  • Rosario Forlenza

    Rosario Forlenza

    Rosario Forlenza specializes in the history of modern Europe and Italy in its global implications. He works at the intersection of history, politics and anthropology and focuses particularly on democracy and authoritarianism, political revolutions, nationalism and the politics of memory, politics and religion, symbolic politics, and the Cold War. He has written six books, co-edited two volumes, and published over forty peer-reviewed articles and chapters, most notably in The American Historical Review, Past & Present, and Journal of Contemporary History, He is currently working on a comparative history of revolutions from the perspective of political anthropology, on the totalitarian experiences in interwar Russia, Italy, and Germany, and on the global history of Christian Democracy.

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  • Silvia Menegazzi

    Silvia Menegazzi is Head of the AsiaLAB Research Unit and Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Luiss Guido Carli University, where she teaches International Relations and Asian Studies. Her research interests span International Relations, Global Governance, and Area Studies, with a particular focus on the politics and economic development of Asian countries, especially China, Japan, and South Korea.

    She has held visiting scholar positions at Sciences Po (Paris), George Washington University (Washington, DC), the Department of Politics and International Studies (PAIS) at the University of Warwick, and China Foreign Affairs University (CFAU) in Beijing. Dr. Menegazzi has been the recipient of research grants and scholarships from several European and Asian institutions.

    She lived in China for more than four years and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese. Her work has been published in academic journals and media outlets, including International Politics, Global Society, Asia Europe Journal, East Asia Forum, and China Files. Among her most recent publications are China’s Blueprint for Global Leadership: GSI, GDI, GCI and Xi Jinping’s Vision for the International Order (Palgrave Macmillan, 2025, with M. Dian); La Cina e la politica globale (Mondadori, 2023); The NATO–South Korea strategic alignment and contemporary order-building, (International Politics, 2026, with T. Novotna).

Researcher

  • Claudio Christopher Passalacqua

    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.

  • Corrado Giustozzi

    Corrado Giustozzi

    Corrado Giustozzi is a cybersecurity strategic advisor and public speaker. He is a professor of Cybersecurity at Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome, member of the ICT Authority of the Republic of San Marino, and member of the Scientific Committee of Clusit. He served as a super-senior cybersecurity expert at the Agency for Digital Italy (AgID) and as a member of the Advisory Group of the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA). His current interests are cybersecurity in AI systems, in cyber-physical environments and in future space settlements. He holds a degree in ICT Engineering from Tor Vergata University of Rome.

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    Cristoforo Romanelli

    Cristoforo Romanelli is an electrical engineer and industrial manager with extensive experience in planning and strategic control. He has worked with AGIP, SIP, STET, IRI, and FINSIEL, holding key roles in corporate affairs, external relations, and executive management. Since 2001, he has been active in the aerospace sector, serving at Alenia Aeronautica, as CEO of Quadrics (UK), and as General Manager of ALTEC. He is a professor of Space Economy at the University Guglielmo Marconi, a staff consultant to the CEO of MBDA Italia, and event manager of the New Space Economy ExpoForum.

  • Dalva Raposo

    Dalva Raposo

    Dalva Raposo is a Master’s student in Global Management and Politics at LUISS Guido Carli, where she is an ENI Scholar and serves as President of the African Student Association. She holds a dual BSc in Foreign Service and International Politics from Georgetown University. Her academic interests include African regional politics, the political economy of development, and Gulf–Africa relations within the broader field of Global South international relations. She has held research roles at the Center for Regional and International Studies (Qatar) and the Euro-Gulf Information Center (Italy), contributing to projects on Gulf migration regimes, civil society under authoritarianism, and energy diplomacy. She is contributing a chapter on youth to African Regional Organizations. In 2025, she has served as Assistant Director at Ivy Camps USA in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and she has been an intern at the Embassy of Mozambique in Rome. She speaks Portuguese, MSA Arabic, English, and Spanish. Dalva focuses on how emerging powers and alternative finance are reshaping Global South partnerships, especially in Lusophone energy diplomacy and shifting alliances in Francophone Africa.

  • Daniela Irrera

    Daniela Irrera

    Daniela Irrera is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the School of Advanced Defence Studies, CASD, Rome. She is also Visiting Professor of Political Violence and Terrorism and Civil Society and Sustainability at the OSCE Academy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. She currently serves as Chair of the ECPR, associate editor of the Journal of Contemporary European Studies, co-editor of the Springer book series on Non-State Actors in International Relations, together with Marianna Charountaki. She is a member of the EU Research Committee of the Knowledge Hub on Prevention of Radicalization and is consultant for the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries.

  • 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).

     

  • Donato Di Carlo

    Donato Di Carlo

    Donato Di Carlo is senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, in Cologne, and lecturer at Luiss University. Prior to joining Luiss, he has been Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute, in Fiesole. His research interests revolve around the study of comparative political economy, with a focus on growth models and the role of the state in economic development and industrial policy. His current research project analyses the steady expansion of the international tourism industry in Southern Europe, investigating the determinants and properties of governments’ developmental policies undertaken to foster tourism-led growth.

  • Donato Greco

    Donato Greco

    Donato Greco is Junior Assistant Professor of International Law at the LUISS Guido Carli (Rome), Department of Law, where he lectures on International Law, International Organisation and Human Rights, and International Legal Education.
    In January 2021, he earned a PhD at the University of Naples Federico II, with a thesis on the normative relevance of soft law in the international legal system. Over the years, he has completed his academic education abroad at the Universities of Amsterdam (2014), Freiburg im Breisgau (2014-2015) and at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law (University of Cambridge) from January to June 2022. At The Hague Academy of International Law, he attended the 2019 Winter Courses on Public and Private International Law and the 2022 Summer Courses on Public International Law, the latter having been awarded a scholarship funded by Dame Rosalyn Higgins.
    He authored several papers published in specialized international law journals and book chapters in collective works, both in Italian and English. His research interests mainly focus on legal sources and their interpretation, the relationship between international and municipal law, global health, international economic and environmental law, immunities, and human rights.

  • Elvira Simonelli

    Elvira Simonelli

    Elvira Simonelli is a master student in International Relations at LUISS University in Rome, with an academic experience at the University of Exeter, UK. She holds a B.A. in Political Science, culminating in research centred on US Foreign Policy analysis towards Israel.

    Her academic interests lie at the intersection of strategic studies and communication, with a specific focus on the Middle East and the evolving dynamics of geopolitical security.

  • Emanuele Vincent