About
Education
After high-school studies in accounting and management, and still keen to learn more, I enrolled at university, obtaining a B.A. - called Laurea in the Italian system - in Political Science from the University of Bologna in 1995.
After a gap year of work and holidays in Australia, I then went to Geneva to study at The Graduate Institute - a bilingual post-graduate institute of higher learning known at that time as: Graduate Institute of International Studies-GIIS, or Institut universitaire de hautes études internationales- IUHEI - where I obtained a diplômes d'études supérieures (DES- (equivalent to a MPhil) in International History and Politics in 1999.
After a stint (2000-2001) at the Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI - Institute for the Study of International Politics) in Milan - one of Italy's top think tanks on international affairs - I went to the United Kingdom to pursue doctoral studies, completing a PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2006. During my PhD years, had the great pleasure, and honour, to live in Goodenough College, a unique postgraduate residence and educational trust - it was funded in 1930 as a hall of residence for students from Commonwealth countries - located in Bloomsbury (central London).
I then spent four years (2006-2010) as a post-doc at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS) at the European University Institute in Florence - first as a Jean Monnet Fellow and subsequently as a Marie Curie Research Fellow.
It was during my PhD years in London that I begun teaching undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Scholar and Teacher
From 2003 to 2005 - during my doctoral years - I was appointed Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) in the Department of International History; and from 2002 to 2005, I was GTA in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Concurrently, in 2003-2004, I was appointed Teaching Fellow in the Department of Modern History and Politics at the London Metropolitan University.
From 2004 to 2006, while writing up my PhD thesis, I was appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the Richmond American University in London.
Following the defense of my PhD thesis in June 2006 and some minor revisions made during Summer, I begun a post-doc period at the EUI in Florence in September of that year - yet, I maintained contacts with the LSE and was invited to teach the Summer School's students.
In 2006 and 2007, I was Teaching Fellow for the Summer School organised by the Department of International Relations at the LSE.
While completing a Marie Curie Fellowship at the EUI in Florence, I was appointed Visiting Professor at Bocconi University in Milan for the academic year 2009-2010. At Bocconi, I taught two courses in English on 'International Relations' and 'The Evolution of the International System'.
In 2010, I went to Paris to work at the EUISS (more on that below) and begun teaching classes at Sciences Po Paris.
From 2016 to 2018, I was appointed Visiting Professor at The Graduate Institute in Geneva where I designed and taught a postgraduate course on 'China-Europe relations'.
In subsequent years, and until 2020 (when the covid-19 pandemic broke out and I left Europe for the United States), I continued to give classes in Geneva and Sciences Po Paris, teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate students.
Overall, I have lectured at various prestigious universities in Asia, Europe and North America, including the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Sciences Po (Paris), George Washington University, National Taiwan University, Fudan University (Shanghai), Seoul National University.
I have also consistently contributed to the scholarly community.
Service to the community
I have had the pleasure, honour, and responsibility to supervise students on their BA and Master's dissertations, as well as several doctoral students, serving also as external examiner to doctoral thesis at various universities, including the LSE, King’s College London, the Graduate Institute, and the EUI.
Have been peer-reviewer for some of the leading academic presses (Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Bristol University Press, MIT Press as well as Routledge and Palgrave) and journals, including: International Security, Journal of Common Market Studies, Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Journal of Strategic Studies, The International Spectator, Asia-Europe Journal, The Pacific Review.
Researcher and analyst
Alongside university teaching and scholarly publications, I have also held positions in various think tanks and engaged in policy work.
After finishing my post-doc years at the EUI in 2010, I was appointed Research Fellow/Senior Analyst at the EU Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) in Paris (the European Union's official think tank) where I was in charge of EU-China/Asia relations.
After leaving the EUISS in 2014, I spent a few months at the Wilson Center in Washington DC as a Public Policy Scholar.
Upon returning in Europe in 2015, I began my collaboration with the Rome-based Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) - possibly Italy's top think tank on international affairs - becoming Senior Fellow for Asia with the task to develop China/Asia-related research, including fund-raising and outreach.
I left my full-time position at IAI in 2020, becoming a non-resident Associate Fellow. From 2020 to 2022 (the Covid-19 pandemic years), I was in the United States, spending the whole of 2021 as a Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington DC.
In 2022, I went to South Korea for research and later that year I returned to Europe, once the covid-19 pandemic hysteria was over.
In 2024, I spent six months as a Visiting Scholar at the EU Centre at National Taiwan University (NTU).
Over the years, my scholarly research has focused, in particular, on Europe-China/Asia relations, in the areas of: politics, security, trade and monetary affairs, as well as on the China-EU-US strategic triangle.
Commentator
I had the opportunity, and the honour, to contribute to contemporary debates on the topics of my expertise in some of the world's leading media outlets. My work has appeared - through op-eds, interviews and citations - in (among the others): TIME Magazine, Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Project Syndicate, Reuters, Euronews, Politico, EUobserver, Deutsche Welle, Il Sole 24 Ore, Le Monde, The National Interest, The Hill, The Diplomat, Asia Times, China Daily, Global Times, South China Morning Post, The Japan Times, Kyodo News, The Korea Herald, The Korea Times, 38 North, Taipei Times, The Straits Times, Nikkei Asia.
Consultant
I have had the opportunity to work as an advisor and provide oral and written evidence on Europe-China relations for several public institutions, including: the European Parliament (Brussels); the House of Lords (London); Senate of the Italian Republic (Rome); US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (Washington DC).
In 2015, with some colleagues, I created Orientedworld.com, a boutique consultancy incorporated in the United Kingdom. Over the years, our clients have included: European External Action Service; US State Department; ROK Ministry of Unification, Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as some intelligence agencies and private companies.
Student
I remain a student in the following areas:
Business & financial education
Have invested 1000+ hours (or 7 years) of study and practice of financial education techniques and strategies, including attendance of personal finance classes and investing workshops on real estate and stocks.
Have invested 500+ hours (or 4 years) of study, practice and application of investing strategies in stocks and options.
Personal & spiritual development
Have attended various courses on time-management, self-awareness and mindfulness.
Have committed 3000+ hours (or 24 years) of study, practice and application of Human Inner Design, a system of tools and techniques for the harmonious development of people, offered by the International School of Self Awareness in Assisi (Italy). It includes 200+ hours of training in ‘OMM Meditation’, a technique which aims to allow the practitioner to go beyond laziness, beyond convictions, and improve creativity,
I have participated in several courses on sacred dances (Fourth Way/Sufi lineage) and on the Quadrato Motor Training (QMT), a technique conceived with the aim of producing an improvement in the cognitive functioning of the human being in terms of coordination, attention and creativity, developed by the Research Institute for Neuroscience, Education, and Didactics.
Mission
Looking back on what I have done over the years and the motivation behind it, my earthly mission could be summarised as follows: through publications, teaching, consultancy and media interventions, I seek to help western policy makers, businesses and public opinion develop broader understanding of the challenges, and opportunities, that the current power shift to the East - with China at its centre - entails.
As part of this mission, am developing a project (website + book) on how Eastern and Western spiritualities influence international relations, in particular Europe-Asia relations. Taking inspiration from teachers such as Gurdjieff, Steiner, Lao Tzu, Milarepa, and others, the project seeks to illuminate the connection between esoteric Schools and world events. This project is part of a broader undertaking that will be developed over the next years and is called: eternalwealth.