The research area adopts an interdisciplinary approach to analyze the challenges of sustainable development, social equity, and territorial resilience, with a focus on contemporary socio-economic transformations.
It explores the interconnections between ecological, economic, and social transitions, assessing the distributive impacts of public policies and the opportunities offered by the circular economy. The analysis includes transformations in digital labor, new organizational models, and the evolution of welfare systems in response to demographic challenges, with particular attention to active aging and innovative tools to combat multidimensional poverty.
A specific focus is placed on territorial development dynamics through participatory governance processes, cohesion strategies, local resource enhancement, and monitoring of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP).
The methodological approach emphasizes ex-ante, process, and ex-post evaluation, including the use of advanced techniques such as microsimulation, synthetic population generation, and digital twins to develop systemic resilience models for managing shocks (climatic, economic, geopolitical, and social) and adaptation strategies.
By way of illustration, the research lines are organized as follows:
ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION AND SUSTAINABILITY
• Ecological transition and social justice: Distributive impacts of green policies, Circular economy and green jobs, Sustainable competitiveness
• Circular economy and resilient value chains: Sustainability of production chains, Strategic reshoring and productive autonomy
WELFARE AND SOCIAL INCLUSION
• Socio-economic inequalities and new welfare tools: Multidimensional poverty, Innovation in social protection systems
• Active aging and welfare system sustainability: Long Term Care (LTC), Healthcare and pension sustainability and inter-/intra-generational redistributive effects, Policies for active aging
WORK AND DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
• Work 4.0 and inclusive digitalization: New organizational models, Digital skills and lifelong learning, Reducing the digital divide
• Digitalization and production processes: How digital technologies reshape production in manufacturing and services
• The role of digital technologies in innovation processes and the transition to sustainability
• Digitalization, sustainability, and innovation ecosystems
TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT AND GOVERNANCE
• Territorial cohesion and sustainable local development: Reducing territorial gaps, Convergence, Enhancing local resources
• Governance, institutional trust, and civic participation: Inclusive decision-making processes, Social capital and trust in institutions
MOBILITY AND HUMAN CAPITAL
• Human mobility and integration policies: Brain circulation, Talent attraction, Socio-economic integration of migrants
• Applied and theoretical analysis of the relationships between education, inequalities, and social mobility, and related education, labor, and social inclusion policies
EVALUATION, MICROSIMULATION, AND RESILIENCE
• Impact evaluation of territorial public policies: Evaluation methods, NRRP monitoring, Evidence-based policy making
• Ex-ante evaluation: Generation of synthetic populations and digital twins, Static, spatial, behavioral, and dynamic microsimulation modeling
• Systemic resilience and shock management: Climate, geopolitical, and economic shocks, Adaptation and mitigation strategies, Preparedness, risk scenarios, and crisis response.
Referees
Prof. Marcello Morciano, Prof. Fabrizio Patriarca, Prof.ssa Federica Rossi, Prof. Giovanni Gallo.
Disciplinary areas
Economics and Public Policy Evaluation, Labour Law and Industrial Relations, Economic Policy, Organisation and Human Resource Management, Economics and Management, Economic and Labour History