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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

  • Ginevra Le Moli

    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

    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

    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

    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

    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.