People

Giulia Cimini is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Bologna. Her research interests include political parties, security assistance, and environmental governance in the Middle East and North Africa. She authored Political Parties in Post-Uprising Tunisia and Morocco (Routledge 2023) and co-edited Political Islam Inside-Out (Routledge 2022). Among others, she published in the Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Contemporary Politics, and Middle Eastern Studies. Between 2019 and 2023, Giulia was the Principal Investigator of the research project "Security for Whom?" funded by the German Gerda Henkel Foundation. Since 2023, she has been the Scientific Responsible and Coordinator of the inter-departmental project "Go Green: A Trans-Mediterranean Approach to Climate Change" with the International University of Rabat, financed by the University of Bologna. Giulia is Associate Editor of the scientific journal Interdisciplinary Political Studies (IdPS).

Beatriz Mesa holds a PHD in political science from the University of Grenoble (France). She is an associate professor at the College of Social Sciences at the International University of Rabat. She is a member of the "Gestion de conflits, dynamiques régionales et sécurité en Afrique: géopolitique des tensions, polémologie contemporaine et Peacebuilding" (Conflict management, regional dynamics and security in Africa: geopolitics of tensions, contemporary polemology and peacebuilding) axis at the Centre d'études globales (CGS) and a research member of the "Culture, Société et fait religieux" (Culture, Society and Religious Fact) Chair headed by Farid El Asri.
She is also a member of the research team at the Laboratoire d'analyse des sociétés et des pouvoirs - Afrique / Diasporas (LASPAD). Her current areas of interest and work focus on security, migration, identities, political Islam, conflicts, armed groups and the criminal economy in the Maghreb and Sahel region. In addition, she has over 13 years of professional experience as an international analyst for the mass media. Beatriz is a member of various scientific associations and is the author of several articles, including, but not limited to: La falsa yihad: el negocio del narcotráfico en el Sahel (Dalya, 2013) and Les groupes armés du Sahel. Conflict and the criminal economy in northern Mali (Halfa, 2021). 

Farid El Asri is an anthropologist and holds a PhD in Political and Social Sciences from the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), and a degree in Islam, Judaism and Arabic. He is an Associate Professor at Sciences Po Rabat, Université Internationale de Rabat (UIR) and Center for Global Studies Director. He also holds the dual position of Director of the Chair of "Cultures, Societies and Religious Facts" and the journal Afrique en Mouvement. He represents the UIR in the Global Africa Consortium and is a member of the editorial board of the journal Global Africa. Prof. Farid El Asri is also the founding director of the European network EmridNetwork: European Muslim Research on Islamic Development (Brussels, 2014)

Massimiliano Trentin works on the International History of Western Asia and North Africa with a special focus on the interplay between diplomacy, economics and development. He authored monographs as Engineers of Modern Development: East German Experts in Ba'thist Syria, 1965-1972, La Guerra fredda tedesca in Siria. Diplomazia, politica ed economia, 1963-1970 (Cleup 2010 and 2015) and edited volumes like The Middle East and the Cold War (CSP 2012) and  Linee di conflitto. Il mondo arabo in trasformazione (Afriche e Orienti, 2013). He published articles in academic journals (Diplomatic History, Cold War History, Foro Internacional, Phoenix, Afriche e Orienti, Middle Eastern Studies, Contemporary European History) and several volume essays (IB Tauris, Lynne Rienner, Peter Lang, Cahiers Irice, Bruno Mondadori, Marsilio, Franco Angeli, il Mulino). More recently, his research has focused on the international history of the "debt crisis" of the 1980s in the region as Principal Investigator of the state-funded research project "The Making of the Washington Consensus. Negotiating international assets, debts and power (1979-91)" (Prin, 2015).

Nadia PINARDI holds a Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Harvard University, and she is full professor of Oceanography at Bologna University. Her interests range from ocean numerical modelling and predictions to data assimilation, numerical modelling of the marine physical-biological interactions and pollutants at sea. She has written more than hundred and seventy papers in peer reviewed journals on a wide range of subjects. The last topic of her research is the understanding of uncertainties in ensemble forecasting, oil spill numerical modelling coupled to operational oceanographic forecasts and the analysis of climate indices in the Mediterranean Sea, such the Mediterranean Sea Overturning Circulation index.

Giorgia Perletta is an adjunct professor at the Faculty of Linguistic Sciences and Foreign Literatures at the Brescia campus, where she teaches Geopolitics.

From 2022 to 2024, she was a Research Fellow at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna. Since 2019, she has also been an adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Economics and International Relations (ASERI) in Milan, where she teaches "History and Politics of Modern Iran" and "Water Security in the Middle East." She is also a Visiting Lecturer at the Prague University of Economics and Business, where she teaches "Iran and the International System: Past and Present."

In 2023, she was an Academic Visitor at the Middle East Centre of St Antony's College, University of Oxford (UK), and in 2017, she was a Visiting Researcher at the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto (CA).

From 2020 to 2022, she served as Program Assistant for the Master's in Middle Eastern Studies at the Graduate School of Economics and International Relations (ASERI) in Milan.

In 2019, she obtained her Ph.D. in Institutions and Policies from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. At the same university, she is also a Subject Expert for the courses "History and Institutions of Asia," "Post-Conflict and Emergency Management," and "Geopolitics."

Eugenia Baroncelli is Associate Professor of Political Science (DSPS Unibo), where she teaches Politics of the World Economy, Relazioni Internazionali, Politics and Development in the Global World. Former trade and tariff consultant at the World Bank (2001-2006), she has published extensively in international and domestic outlets. She currently investigates the roots of neo-protectionism (AlmaIdea 2017; PRIN 2019 SH1), as well as the regional-global interplays on the HDP Nexus in the context of the SDGs (ECRP-ESF; HDP Lab Synex4 Future). She has taught, among others, at SAIS-The Johns Hopkins University, HSE Moscow, SNS Pisa. She has coordinated projects-workpackages awarded competitive funding at the EU and national levels. She is external independent evaluator (Horizon, VQR, SIR), and referee for IR, IPE and Development Journals and publications (Italian Political Science Review; Industrial and Corporate Change; Journal of Intellectual Property Rights, Global Affairs among others). She is member to the Editorial Board of Italian Political Science Review, as well as member of the Editorial Committees ‘Political Science’ and ‘Security’ at Il Mulino.

Arrigo Pallotti is a Full Professor of African History and Institutions at the Department of Political and Social Sciences of the University of Bologna, where he is also the Director of the Second Cycle Degree in International Relations and Diplomatic Affairs. His research interests involve Regional integration in Southern Africa, UE-ACP cooperation, conflict, and democratization in sub-Saharan Africa (with a focus on Tanzania).

Francesca Biancani is Associate Professor at Bologna University since May 2022. She holds a BA in Oriental History from Bologna University, an MA in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London and a PhD in Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has been adjunct professor of History and Institutions of the Modern Middle East, International Relations and Political Development of the Middle East at UNIBO from 2010 to 2018. In 2017-2018 she has been Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the IFAO and CEDEJ, Cairo. From 2018 to 2022 she has been TT Assistant Professor at UNIBO.

Matteo Mannocchi is an analyst and researcher specializing in environmental policies, focusing on energy management and disaster risk reduction. His academic and professional experiences have enabled him to develop significant skills in analyzing policies and governance structures related to natural resource and environmental management. His academic Background : Ph.D. in Future Earth Climate Change and Societal Challenges (2023), University of Bologna, focusing on the mainstreaming process of Nature-Based Solutions for mitigating natural hazards and disaster risks. Master II in Environmental Sustainability of Energy Sources (SAFE) (2018-2019), Rome, encompassing studies on energy markets (gas and electricity) and new developments in renewable energy and circular economy solutions. Master’s degree in International Affairs (2019), University of Bologna. Bachelor's degree in International Relations (2016), University la Sapienza of Roma.

A graduate of the International University of Rabat (UIR), Moaad El Karchaoui is a doctoral student in Political Science at the Center for Global Studies under the supervision of Prof. Mehdi Alioua and co-supervised by Prof. Zineb Omary. He is mainly interested in public health policies. His thesis focuses on "The appropriation of medical data by users".

Yassine Ben Mokhtar is a PhD candidate from the Centre for Global Studies (CGS) at the International University of Rabat, and holds a Master's degree in Administrative and Judicial Careers from the Institute of Political Studies (IEP) in Grenoble, and also another MA in Geò-strategy, Defense, and International Security from the IEP in Aix-en-Provence. His research especially focuses on migration policies and governance on the African continent and their global ramifications.