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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 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 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

Emidio Diodato

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.
Ersilia Francesca

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

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.
Fiamma Concarella

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

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

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.
Gabriele Marchionna

Gabriele Marchionna is a Cyber Strategy Manager, currently at BIP Spa – CyberSec CoE. He serves as Cultore della Materia in Political Risk Analysis and as Research Fellow at LUISS MedPlatform, and works with several private entities. He is a Next-Gen Fellow at the NATO Defense College and a member of the EU CyberNet Expert Pool. Areas of Expertise: cyber risk management, critical infrastructure protection with a main focus on energy security and submarine infrastructure, tech geopolitics, national and international security.
Giacomo Leccese

Giacomo Leccese currently serves as Subject Expert for the course of Strategic Studies in the Department of Political Science at LUISS University. He holds a Second Level Master in Intelligence and Emerging Technologies from the Centro Alti Studi per la Difesa (CASD) of the Italian Ministry of Defense and the University of Udine, and an M.A. in International Relations from LUISS. He had previous professional experience at the Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Training Center (CIFIGE) of the Italian Defense General Staff, the Analysis and Planning Unit of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAECI) and for the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN in New York.

His research interests include security studies, intelligence, and emerging technologies, with a particular focus on the maritime and air domains. On these topics, he will soon participate in a joint research program between the University of Cambridge and the Department of War Studies at King’s College.
Gianluca Ansalone

Gianluca Ansalone currently serves as Head of Public Affairs & Sustainability at Novartis Italia. He is a lecturer in Geopolitics, Strategy, and Public Affairs at the University of Rome – Tor Vergata, Campus Biomedico di Roma, and Luiss – Guido Carli. He has held institutional positions at the Presidency of the Republic, the Senate of the Republic, and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. His latest publication is “Geopolitics of Contagion – The Future of Democracies and the New World Order after Covid-19” (Rubbettino, foreword by Gianni Letta).
Gianluca Casagrande

Gianluca Casagrande is a full professor of Geography at the European University of Rome, where he directs the GREAL-Geographic Research and Application Laboratory. He teaches “Geographical Technologies and Environmental Control” and “Space Exploration and Exogeography”. His research focuses on geographical technologies, UAVs for remote sensing, and risk geography. He has led Arctic expeditions has recently shifted his focus toward space exploration, examining how remote sensing and mapping techniques developed on Earth can be applied to planetary environments.