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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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Manfredi Valeriani

Manfredi Valeriani earned his PhD at Hamburg University and Luiss University with a thesis on “Funding Instruments to Italian NGOs” is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Luiss where he also teaches Political Risk Analysis and International Politics and Businesses. He has been Adjunct Professor at the University “L’Orientale” in Naples and at the American University of Rome. His research currently focuses on Structured Analytic Techniques, Scenario Analysis, and Italian Foreign Policy.
Marc Reverdin

Marc Reverdin is an international expert in public affairs and strategic diplomacy. He is the founder and CEO of Reverdin Consulting, a high-level advisory firm that helps companies and institutions navigate major geopolitical, economic, and environmental challenges. A former French diplomat, he served in Paris, Rome, and the services of the French Prime Minister before co-founding the Paris Peace Forum, an initiative of the French President launched in 2018. He now leads or advises several international initiatives, particularly in the agrifood, African, and Mediterranean sectors. Marc is also a frequent speaker, high-level moderator, and lecturer in international affairs.
Marco Massoni

Marco Massoni (PhD, Rome 1972) is an independent political analyst and international relations expert, specialist in Africa, Latin America, and Extra-Western philosophies. Since 2022, he has been teaching African Studies at LUISS University of Rome. As of 2025, he directs the Africa and Latin America Research Unit at LUISS’s Centre for International and Strategic Studies (CISS). Previously, he served as Diplomatic Senior Advisor for the Italian G8 Presidency and worked with the EU, OSCE, UN (FAO, UNHCR), NGOs, and think tanks. From 2011 to 2017, he was Director of African Research at IRAD at the Italian Centre for Defence Higher Studies (CASD), where he still lectures. He was Editorial Director of the quarterly Politica Africana. He has taught Development Studies at The American University of Rome (AUR) and International Law and Peace Processes at Roma Tre University. He is a consultant of the European Union External Action Service (EEAS) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), extensive experience in the field of democratisation processes, electoral observation & electoral assistance, diplomacy & negotiation, cyber-diplomacy, human rights & humanitarian law, mediation, peacebuilding & conflict resolution, post-war reconstruction and strategic studies.
Maria Giulia Amadio Viceré

Maria Giulia Amadio Vicerè is Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) in Political Science at the Department of Political Science of Luiss University and a Visiting Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (EUI). Before that, she has been a Marie Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow at Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (EUI), an Adjunct Professor and post-doctoral fellow at Luiss University, and an Assistant Professor at Leiden University. She held various visiting positions in international renowned institutions, among which the German Institute for International Affairs, the Centre for European Studies at Harvard University, the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington, and the Policy Institute at King’s College. Over time, she has also been the recipient of merit-based scholarships and grants from the European Commission; the Zegna Group; the Lazio Region; and the The Australian Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethic. Beyond academia, she has been a Research Associate at the Istituto Affari Internazionali, a Research Fellow at the Policy Planning Unit of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, a Blue Book Trainee at the Service for Foreign Policy Instrument of the European Commission and a research intern at the European Policy Centre. Moreover, she has briefed and provided training to public and private institutions, among which the Institute for Advanced Studies of the Italian Ministry of Defence, Oxford Analytica, the European Institute for the Mediterranean, the Swedish Institute for European Studies, the Foundation for European Progressive Studies, Villa Vigoni, and il Sole 24 Ore Business School.
Marlène Agnès Laruelle

Marlene Laruelle is a Full Professor of Political Science at Luiss Guido Carli University and previously served as Research Professor at The George Washington University’s Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES) from 2011 to 2025, where she held leadership roles as Associate Director and Director. She earned her Ph.D. in History from INALCO in Paris and a habilitation in Political Science from Sciences Po Paris. Laruelle leads the Illiberalism Studies Program, a transatlantic platform dedicated to research on illiberalism and postliberalism, and is a non-residential Senior Fellow at the Stimson Center. Throughout her career, she has held fellowships and visiting appointments at notable institutions such as the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen in Vienna, IFRI, the Carnegie Council, the Woodrow Wilson Center, and SAIS–Johns Hopkins University. She has authored or edited over twenty books with top academic presses, including recent monographs like Ideology and Meaning-Making under Putin Regime (2025) and Russia’s Arctic: A Changing Geopolitical and Environmental Context (2026), alongside numerous articles in leading scholarly and policy publications.

Trained as a historian of ideas, Laruelle’s early work focused on post-Soviet Central Asia and Russia, examining nation-building processes, regional geopolitics, labor migration, and the intellectual underpinnings of Putin’s regime. Her research later expanded to the Russian Arctic, exploring how environmental change, infrastructure development, and territorial imaginaries influence political worldviews. More recently, she has turned to conceptual history and global comparative studies, analyzing the challenges facing liberalism and the emerging normative alternatives to the liberal international order. Her scholarship bridges academic rigor with policy relevance, offering insights into the evolving political and intellectual dynamics of Russia and the broader international system.
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Researcher

Ginevra Le Moli

Ginevra Le Moli is part time Professor at the European University Institute (EUI), Florence, and a Fellow at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge Centre for Environment, Energy & Natural Resource Governance (C-EENRG), where she serves as the Managing Editor of the C-EENRG Research Series. She started her academic career as Assistant Professor of Public International Law at Leiden University, Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies in 2019. Ginevra is a general international lawyer with research interests both in foundational areas, including human rights and environmental law, as well as emerging fields, such as the governance of negative emission technologies (including geo-engineering) and global health security. She has published over 30 studies and she has co-authored several reports and studies commissioned by intergovernmental organizations. She has also an expanding portfolio of practice, including as a legal advisor and co-counsel in international proceedings before human rights bodies and the International Court of Justice. Ginevra holds a Ph.D. in Public International Law from the Graduate Institute of International Law and Development Studies (IHEID), Geneva. She also holds an LL.B. and a Masters in Law (cum laude) from the University of Roma Tre, an LL.M. in International Law from the Graduate Institute and a Diploma in International Law from the LSE (UK) and Advanced Certificate on the prevention of pandemics from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health/Harvard Medical School (US). She is a native Italian speaker, with fluency in English and French, and working knowledge of Spanish.
Giorgio Briozzo

Giorgio Briozzo is a practising lawyer in international and maritime law, and teaching assistant in International Organisations and Human Rights and International Institutions and Global Governance at LUISS Guido Carli. He is also a member of the International Society for Military Law and the Law of War and of the Italian Maritime Law Association. Among his recent publications: The Establishment of the European Union Agency for Asylum, in Osorin (eds.), Working Paper 2-2022M; Il ruolo del comandante di nave in relazione ad ipotesi di soccorso in mare nel diritto nazionale ed internazionale, in DirMar, 2019, pp. 715-747. 
Giulia Ongari

Giulia Ongari is a PhD candidate in Politics at Luiss Guido Carli. Her research focuses on the EU’s external action, particularly in defence and security cooperation with third countries. She holds a Master’s degree in International Relations with a specialisation in Diplomacy from Luiss, a Master’s in Global Ethics and Human Values from King’s College London, and a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations, Journalism and Advertising from Bond University in Australia.

Currently, she also serves as a research assistant at Luiss for the Horizon Europe projects REMIT, and as a teaching assistant for the course on the Integration of Europe.

She previously served as a research assistant at Luiss for the Horizon Project RED-SPINEL and the Journal of European Integration, and as teaching assistant for the course in Asian Culture and Politics.
Giulia Tranchina

Giulia Tranchina is a Master’s student in Global Management and Politics, part of a Double Degree programme between LUISS University and Nova School of Business and Economics in Lisbon, where she cultivated a strong academic and professional interest in Africa and Latin America. Her research focuses on economic development strategies and regional cooperation in these regions. She previously interned at the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC) at OECD in Paris, where she contributed to analyses on regional dynamics and development policies. Through an internship at the Italian Embassy in Brazil, she gained experience in Latin American affairs, as she deepened her understanding of Brazil’s domestic and foreign policies. She is passionate about exploring how regional integration and investment can support sustainable development across emerging economies.
Giuliana Lampo

Giuliana Lampo is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Law of the LUISS Guido Carli, where she is also Adjunct Professor of “International and EU Economic Law”. She obtained her PhD in International Law from the University of Naples Federico II in 2022, with a thesis on the topic of “Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration”. She has authored several works, published in Italian and international peer-reviewed journals and in collective works, with a particular focus on International Investment Law and Arbitration.
Giustino Luberti

Graduate from the University of Oxford with a Master of Science in African Studies, Giustino Luberti is an expert in African politics and security. His research interests span from elections and political systems to defence, geopolitics and civil-military relations. His geographical focus is on Sub-Saharan Africa, with a detailed attention to Southern Africa and specifically Mozambique. His most recent work analysed the election strategies of opposition politicians in Mozambique, and he conducted his research with a period of fieldwork in Maputo. He is an aspiring scholar, eager to produce knowledge on the politics of the continent with an Afrocentric approach and methodological innovation.
Glauco Calzuola

Glauco Calzuola is an international consultant and former EU Ambassador with extensive experience in international relations, development, and Europe-Africa relations. His career began as an infrastructure engineer before transitioning to roles within the European Commission. A significant portion of his work has been focused on fostering cooperation and development in Africa. He served as Head of Delegation in Rwanda from 1997 to 2000. Following this, he returned to HQ to lead negotiations with West African and Central African countries. His expertise led to his appointment as EU Ambassador in Angola in 2002, where he served until 2006, followed by a similar role in Mozambique from 2006 to 2011. These ambassadorships highlight his skills in diplomacy and managing international relations at a high level. From 2011 to 2015, he served at the General Directorate for International Cooperation and Development. His career reflects a deep commitment to international development and cooperation, particularly within the African context.
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Ibrahim Assane Mayaki

Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Niger. Previously he worked as senior manager of the uranium industry in Niger. He is a former Chief Executive Officer of the NPCA (New Partnership for Africa’s Development-NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency), which he transformed into the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) between 2009 and 2022, and he is former President of the OECD Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC). He graduated from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration Publique of Quebec, Canada and holds a PhD in Administrative Sciences from the University of Paris I. Since 2022, he has been co-teaching the course on African Politics and Institutions at LUISS University in Rome. Since 2023, he has been the African Union Special Envoy for Food Systems.
Ilaria Cinelli

Ilaria Cinelli is a senior engineer and leader in healthcare and space exploration with over a decade of experience. Her expertise includes space medicine, expeditions, and global health initiatives. She holds degrees in biomedical engineering and a doctorate in neural engineering. Ilaria is a fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association and co-chairs an educational curriculum on Space and Global Health with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and the World Health Organization. She is a prolific author, speaker, and recipient of numerous awards, shaping the future of space and healthcare.