People at the ESOC-LAB

Robert Leonardi

Robert Leonardi, since his retirement in 2010, is Visiting Professor at LUISS in Rome, Department of Political Science and School of Government, where he teaches courses on European Policies. In his academic career he has been a professor at the University of Michigan, University of Detroit, DePaul University in Chicago and Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence. He has taught as a Visiting Professor at various European and American universities. In the years 1990-2010 he held the first Jean Monnet Chair at the London School of Economics, where in 1992 he created ESOC-Lab and directed over forty Consortia for evaluation and research projects on European policies. In 2008-2009 he was Director General of Programming for the Region of Sicily. He has been a member of the Managing Authority of NAUSICAA of the Port Authority of Naples, a member of the Board of the Italy-UK Chamber of Commerce and Industry the coordinator and moderator of the Chamber's annual conferences, and a consultant to the Commission of the European Union on the Cohesion Fund. He has published widely.

Robert Leonardi graduated in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. He received a Masters in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University (SAIS, School of Advanced International Studies) and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has received academic awards and funding for studies and research from prestigious foundations, such as the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, National Science Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, and Volkswagen Stiftung Foundation.

Raffaella Y. Nanetti

Raffaella Y. Nanetti, since her retirement in 2010 has been Professor Emerita in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where she was director in the 1990s and where she directed the Great Cities London Program from 1998 to 2010. In the Chicago city administration of Mayor Harold Washington (1983-1987), Nanetti was Commissioner for the development of commercial districts in the western area of ​​the city, devastated by abandonment and segregation. She graduated in Political Science from the Catholic University of Milan, earned a Masters in City Planning from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a doctorate in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Michigan. Nanetti was one of the three members of the research team that conducted the longitudinal study of the performance of Italian regions (with Robert Putnam and Robert Leonardi) from which the concept of ‘social capital’ was empirically extracted (‘Making Democracy Work’, Princeton University Press, 1993)

A senior researcher at ESOC-LAB from its foundation, since the mid-90s Nanetti has worked on the application of the concept of social capital to the field of ‘development planning’. In the context of globalization, Nanetti has empirically identified ad hoc strategies for increasing social capital to trigger sustainable development processes. In particular, she has directed studies and projects for the World Bank in the Balkans, from Albania to Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia. She has been part of many research projects promoted by the European Union and which include social capital as a lever for development. Nanetti has an extensive resume of publications and has taught at universities in the United States, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.

Michele Parrella

Senior Researcher at ESOC-LAB, Michele Parrella worked as the coordinator of the field research on numerous projects and co-authored various evaluation reports. Specifically, he collaborated on the publication of the book “Region Effect in Basilicata. The Synergies of Development” - that came out in 2010 and for which he wrote the chapters 3 and 4 - as well as on “The Study on the Use of Structural Funds in Basilicata”, which focused on the first three programming cycles; “The Ex-Post Evaluation of the European Social Funds”, 2000 – 2006;    “The  Evaluation of the Community Support Framework, Objective 1, Italy”,  2000  – 2006;     “KARMA:   Knowledge,   Research, Monitoring, and Assistance for the Public Administration in Italy”. He held the post of Adjunct Professor at the School of Government at LUISS in Rome for the courses: Cohesion Policies in Europe and The Policy of EU  Structural Funds.   

Parrella graduated in Economics at LUISS and completed an Erasmus Programme at Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University in France. He earned a Master of Science in Energy, Trade & Finance at Cass Business School in London and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) at LUISS Business School, while also attending an Exchange Program at the School of Business Administration of the University of San Diego (California). He worked as an analyst at  Pacifica Enterprises, Inc., in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Currently, he is pursuing an  entrepreneurial  career  specifically engaging in the farming and in the tourism business sectors. 

Catalina Holguin

After completing her studies, Holguin worked for seven years at the British Council, managing and coordinating the Council's sustainable community development projects in Latin American countries through strategies based on civil society engagement and its interaction with institutions. The  resulting increase in social capital  in particular has occurred in the areas of: job placement and education, thus improving youth leadership capacity and support for social development, especially in depressed territorial communities, both in urban and rural areas. 

In recent years, Holguin has enhanced her training in monitoring and evaluating community investment programs, completing M&E (Monitoring and Evaluation) courses at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the International Training Center of the ILO. Currently, continuing her collaboration with ESOC-LAB, Holguin is a consultant to the United Nations for community development programs.