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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

Nicola Scaraggi

Nicola Scaraggi is a Master’s student in International Relations at LUISS University in Rome, specializing in Security Studies, with academic experience at George Mason University in Washington, D.C., where he focused on Intelligence and Cybercrime. He holds a B.A. in Political Science, with research centered on climate security and conflict dynamics.

He serves at the Operations in the Information Environment (OIE) desk of the Irregular Warfare Center, conducting analysis on Open Source Intelligence and cognitive warfare.

Previously, he interned at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation – Directorate General for Political and Security Affairs – supporting research and strategic assessment on issues affecting Italy’s national security and foreign policy.

His broader interests include hybrid warfare and the intersection between intelligence, technology, and global politics.
Noemi Ciarniello

Noemi Ciarniello graduated in Philosophy at University of Bologna and holds a Master’s degree in Gender Studies at SOAS. She is a postdoctoral researcher at LUISS University, with a project on the assessment of D&I policies in public and private environments. Her research focuses on the relationship between current political/economic trends and gender, with particular attention to the rise of neoliberal feminism and the economic, political, and sociological implications of this intersection. She has been a research associate at Goldsmiths, University of London, and is a member of the editorial board of DWF, a longstanding Italian journal dedicated to gender studies and feminist political practices.
Novella Oliana

Novella Oliana is a transdisciplinary researcher, a lecturer at LUISS University and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, and a visual artist based in Rome. She received her initial training in cultural studies focused on the Mediterranean and the Middle East (University of Naples L’Orientale – Italy) and holds a practical-theoretical PhD in Visual Arts (Université Aix-Marseille – France) focused on contemporary visual representations in the Mediterranean. She is interested in the perception of the Middle East and of the Mediterranean identity through images; in particular, she focuses on the current phenomena of the displacement of images, whether material or mental and cultural, mainly considered as migrations through territories of all kinds and as fluctuations between media. Her works have been exhibited in Italy and abroad in group and solo exhibitions, and have appeared in various books, catalogues and journals.

Her latest publications as an author include the following: “Possibili idee di mare”, in Il corpo solitario. L’autoscatto nella fotografia contemporanea, a cura di Giorgio Bonomi, Edizioni Rubbettino 2022; “The Mediterranean surface and the archetype of the island as contemporary paradigms for accessing cultural commons”, in Cultural Commons and Urban Dynamics. A multidisciplinary perspective, Università di Catanzaro, (ed. Macrì, Morea, Trimarchi), Springer edizioni 2020; “Cartografia performativa del Mediterraneo”, in Arcoscenico, catalogo del progetto e della mostra curata da Numero Cromatico e MiBACT, Roma 2020; “What I need to be myself elsewhere”, in Il sangue delle donne. Tracce di rosso sul panno bianco, a cura di Manuela De Leonardis, Postmedia Books 2018; “Chambres, univers: fragments dun espace inventé. Photographie, interférence et récit dans la représentation dun lieu liminaire”, in Espaces d’interférence narrative, Art et récit au XXI siècle, ed. Jean Arnaud, Bruno Goosse, PUM Université de Toulouse 2018; “Lo spazio dell’abitare e una categoria dello spirito”, in L’Aquila 2010: dietro la catastrofe, Meridiana Rivista di Scienze Sociali, n. 65-66, ed. Viella, Roma 2018; “Il linguaggio dell’Altro: la rivista egiziana Wajhat al-Nadhar e l’11 settembre”, in Oriente Moderno, 3/224, Istituto per l’Oriente, Roma 2018.
Pietro Pustorino

Pietro Pustorino is full professor of international law in Luiss Guido Carli since 2017. He is in Luiss co-director of the Center for International and Strategic Studies, Teaching Area Leader for international law, responsible for the Erasmus Program (Department of Law) and member of the PhD Committee on Law and Business. He is also Director of the Master on International Comparative European Union Law and on Public International Law, Luiss. He was visiting scholar and professor in many European and non-European Universities. He was appointed as expert or counsel by the Italian government for many dossiers on public intenational law as diplomatic protection, protection of human rights, climate change (member of the Committee of experts in support to the G20 on Climate and Energy held in 2021) etc.
Rebecca Maria Perla Iotti

Rebecca Maria Perla Iotti is a PhD candidate at LUISS Guido Carli University. Her research interests intersect across International Relations, Geopolitics, and Political Economy, with a focus on Chinese Economic Statecraft. She previously earned a Master’s degree in Politics and Economics from the University of Bologna and studied at the University of Bologna and Sciences Po Paris. She is currently a Teaching Assistant at LUISS University.
Renata Pipicelli

Renata Pepicelli is Associate Professor of History of Islamic countries at the department of Civilizations and forms of knowledge at University of Pisa, where she teaches History of contemporary Arab world and Islamic Studies. In 2017 she was visiting scholar at the University of Bristol, in 2018 at the University Cadi Ayyad of Marrakesh, in 2020 at the University of Kairouan, in May 2022 at University of Granada. Her scholarly activity focuses on gender studies in Islamic contexts, particularly in North Africa and Europe, social movements and Islamism in the MENA region. Recently she has also started to investigate the subject of enviromental crises and social movements in the Arab world. Her 2010 book titled Femminismo islamico: Corano, diritti, riforme is considered a milestone in the field of studies on gender in Islamic context with 10 reprints. Her book Il velo nell’Islam: Storia, politica, estetica (Carocci 2012) was translated in Finnish by the publishing house Vastapaino in 2014. 
Satoko Kawamura

Satoko Kawamura is Professor and Associate Dean at the College and the Graduate School of International Relations of Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto Japan. Deputy Director at the Institute of Humanities, Human and Social Sciences of the Kinugasa Research Organization of Ritsumeikan. Specialized fields: International Relations (Governance of Advanced Technology, Thought of International Relations), International Administration, the Law of International Relations, and the Sociology of International Relations. Currently work: A research about the system of transnational governance and its norms, which are established by not only states or international organizations but also non-state actors that regulate themselves voluntarily. On Global Order: The Resonance of Transborder Thought, Institutions, and Norms published in Japanese is under translation into English.
Sofia Eliodori

Sofia Eliodori earned her Ph.D. in International Relations from the University for Foreigners of Perugia in 2022. Currently, she is collaborating with the Law department of LUISS Guido Carli as a Postdoctoral Fellow, engaged in the Horizon project EUARENAS, focusing on the democratic dynamics in cities. Her primary area of interest lies in understanding the intricacies of United States domestic and foreign policy, Atlantic relations, and Italy-US relations. She’s also attentive to populism, diasporas, public communication and public diplomacy.
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Thomas Christiansen

Thomas Christiansen joined Luiss University as a Professor in the Political Science Department in September 2019. He previously held positions at Maastricht University, at the European Institute of Public Administration, at Aberystwyth University of Wales and at Essex University. He is Executive Editor of the Journal of European Integration and co-editor (with Sophie Vanhoonacker) of the ‘European Administration Governance’ book series at Palgrave Macmillan. He has published widely on different aspects of European Union politics. He recently co-authored, with Emil Kirchner and Uwe Wissenbach, The European Union and China (London: Palgrave, 2019) and co-edited, with Elena Griglio and Nicola Lupo, The Routledge Handbook of Parliamentary Administrations (London: Routledge, 2023).