World Complexity Science Academy

Governance

Our Board

Andrea Pitasi (Ph.D.)

WCSA President

Honorary Life President of the World Complexity Science Academy since 2011. He is a Tenured Professor of Sociology of Law at D’Annunzio University; Visiting Professor of Law as a Social System, PUCPR, Brazil; Adjunct Professor of Strategic Consulting at the SFAI Business School, Malta. He is also former President of Eurocitizen, owner of the Studio Pitasi Strategic Consulting Firm. Author/co-author of approximately 150 scientific publications appeared in several languages. Nominor of the Inamori Foundation, Kyoto and Member of the Executive Board of SFAI Holding, Malta as Scientific Advisor. He is the theorist and policy modeler of the Systemic Hypercitizenship Program for Supranational Institutions, which is the core of his research, investment, consulting, divulgation, and didactic activities.  He is the Editor in Chief/Co-editor in Chief of  four  book series and Associate editor of  several book series and journals worldwide. He is an Independent Expert for the European Union Commission.

E-mail: pitasigda@gmail.com

Webpage: https://unich-it.academia.edu/AndreaPitasi/-MY-BEST-ACADEMIC-WRITINGS-SELECTION

Emilia Ferone (Ph.D.)

Vice-President, Deputy President, General Manager, Secretary and Treasurer

She is a Postdoc Research Fellow at D’Annunzio University and a Qualified Associate Professor in Sociology of Law. She is a founding member of World Complexity Science Academy and has acted as General Manager and Scientific Director for WCSA. Dr. Ferone is also Editor in chief of the book series Political, Legal, and Social Sciences published by Esculapio, Bologna. She is the author of numerous national and international scientific publications; among her research topics are: the evolution of academic system and new forms of citizenship.

E-mail: emiliaferone@gmail.com

André Folloni (Ph.D.)

Vice-President and Scientific Director

He is a Full Professor and the Law School Dean of the Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, Brazil. Andre Folloni has been a WCSA member since 2013, and has acted as Chief Communications Officer. He worked for 20 years as a tax lawyer and business consultant and is currently a professor fully dedicated to scientific research and University management. He has a Ph.D. and Master’s degree in Law, and a Bachelor’s degree in Law and another in Philosophy. And, Folloni has worked, published, and taught on Tax Law, complexity theory, and development theory.

E-mail: folloni.andre@pucpr.br

Daniela Caruso (Ph.D.)

Vice-President

She currently teaches “China Studies” at the United Nations International University for Peace, whose Rome office is delegated to represent her in South East Europe, the Middle East, the Mediterranean basin and North and Sub-Saharan Africa. As sinologist, for several years she has been dealing with the historical transformations of contemporary China with a particular focus on the evolution of welfare, but also cultural and scientific policies. She is a member of the European Association for Chinese Studies (EACS) and a board member of the World Complexity Science Academy (WCSA). As a visiting professor, Daniela Caruso has held lectures and workshops on intercultural communication at Tsinghua University in Beijing, L’École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris and the ‘Jean Monnet’ Department of Political Science at the University of Campania ‘Luigi Vanvitelli’. She has also coordinated international research projects on interculturality, health policies in China, migration and relations between China and the Mediterranean. Author of numerous publications in English, her latest monograph in Italian, “Quarant’anni di Cina. La storia di un’ascesa che sta cambiando il mondo” is from 2019 and has been published by Eurilink University Press.

E-mail: dcarusochina@gmail.com

Rudy Aernoudt (Ph.D.)

Vice-President

Rudy Aernoudt holds Masters degrees in Economy, Philosophy and European economics. He has served as Chief of Staff at European, federal and regional (Flanders and Wallonia) levels. Besides, he was consecutively served as Credit Manager at ING bank, Secretary-General of the Department of Economics and innovation, Director-General of One laptop per child, a spin-off of MIT.

Presently, he is Senior Economist at the European Commission, where he is actually dealing with financing issues, industrial, taxation and space policy.

He is also professor of corporate finance and enterprise policy at the Universities of Ghent and Nancy; curator of TEDxBrussels; columnist and author of several books and papers on politics and economics.

E-mail: raernoudt@gmail.com

Roberta Iannone (Ph.D.)

Vice-President

Roberta Iannone is a Full Professor of General Sociology and Sociology of modern and contemporary processes for the Scientific Disciplinary Sector SPS/07 at the Department of Political Sciences of Sapienza University of Rome. She is Rector’s Delegate for Merchandising at Sapienza University and Editor in Chief  of the “Rivista Trimestrale di Scienza dell’Amministrazione. Studi di Teoria e Ricerca Sociale”.

E-mail: roberta.iannone@uniroma1.it

Leonardo Rodrigues Zoya (Ph.D.)

Vice-President

Holds a double Ph.D., in Sociology from the University of Toulouse (France) and in Social Sciences from the University of Buenos Aires (Argentina). He graduated with honors in Political Science, from the University of Buenos Aires. He works as a full-time researcher at the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET) of Argentina and he is professor of methodology of social research at the University of Buenos Aires. He is the director of the science, planning and managing of complex problems research program at the Gino Germani Research Institute of the University of Buenos Aires. He is the founder and manager of the Study Group on Interdisciplinary and Complexity in Social Sciences (GEICCS) at the Gino Germani Research Institute, of the Complex Thought Community (www.pensamientocomplejo.org) and of the Latin American Publishing Community (www.comunidadeditora.org).

Email: leonardo.rodriguez@conicet.gov.ar

Laura Leonardi (Ph.D.)

Vice-President

She is PhD in political sociology, full professor of General Sociology at the University of Florence. As part of her teaching activities, she has also received two grants to cover a Jean Monnet Module (1999) and a Chair (2008) on “Social Dimension and European Integration”. In 2016 she received a grant for the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence’s SharEU project. She currently coordinates the WP “Fostering Joint Research Capacity” of the European Project ValEUs Research & Education Network on Contestations to EU Foreign Policy, ERASMUS-JMO-2023-NETWORKS (2023-2026). She is Director of the “Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence” at the University of Florence (2017 to present). From 2017 to 2021 she was President of the Master’s Degree Course in Sociology and Social Research/ Sociology and Global Challenges at the “Cesare Alfieri” School of Political Science of the University of Florence. She is a member of the teaching board of the Doctorate in Social and Political Change (University of Florence and Turin). She has held numerous elective and rectoral appointments at School, Department and University level. She has been a member of the board of the Section of Sociological Theories and Social Transformations since 2019. She has directed and been part of numerous research projects on competitive calls mainly focused on the topics of conflict and social change, in relation to the processes of globalisation, Europeanisation, social inequalities, life chances and social citizenship.

Email: laura.leonardi@unifi.it

Eric Van den Broele (Ph.D.)

Vice-President

He is based in Antwerp, BE, and currently the Director of Research & Development at GraydonCreditsafe Belgium, bringing experience from previous roles at GraydonCreditsafe Belgium, Belgium Federation for Business Information and Belgian Navy. Eric Van den Broele holds a 1983 – 1988 Universiteit Gent. With a robust skill set that includes Coaching, Business Strategy, Dutch, Management, Operations Management and more, Eric Van den Broele contributes valuable insights to the industry.

Email: ericvandenbroele@me.com

Adele Bianco (Ph.D.)

Vice-President

She is professor for Sociology at the University of Chieti-Pescara. She is Ph.D. in Sociology of Development (University of Pisa, 1994). She has been lecturer and vising professor in several foreign Universities in Germany, Denmark, Kosovo. Her research interests are: the analysis of the work policies; the technological changes the world is undergoing; the shifting balance of power from industrialized to emerging countries; the classical (German) sociological theories. Before getting a permanent position at the University, she worked for ten years in a PES as a civil servant at the Italian Ministry of Labour.

Publications: Domination and Subordination as Social Organization Principle in Georg Simmel’s Soziologie, Lexington Books (2014); Italian Studies on Quality of Life, Springer, 2019 (coeditors); The Next Society. Sociologia del mutamento e dei processi digitali, Milano, 2019, http://ojs.francoangeli.it/_omp/index.php/oa/catalog/book/422; Mutamento e disparità sociali nel pensiero di Georg Simmel, Milano, 2021, https://series.francoangeli.it/index.php/oa/catalog/book/774.

Email: bncdla@gmail.com

Francisco del Canto Viterale (Ph.D.)

Vice-President

He currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Space Studies in the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences at the University of North Dakota. He is also an Associate Researcher at the Institute of Science and Technology Studies and Co-Editor of the Journal Artefactos at the University of Salamanca (Spain). His core area of knowledge is social science, and his area of specialization is the intersection between Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) and International Relations (IR) with emphasis on International Space Relations, Space Policy, Space Geopolitics, and Space Diplomacy. Dr. Del Canto Viterale received his Ph.D. in International Studies from the University of Deusto, Spain (2014) and he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Systems Institute of Johns Hopkins University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2014-2016). Prior to his Ph.D., he earned a Bachelor of Science in International Relations (1998), and a Post-Graduate in International Affairs and Diplomacy (1999) in Argentina.

Email: f.delcantoviterale@und.edu

Altea Croce

Junior President

Born in Italy, she has resided and pursued her career in the UK and Belgium, where she now resides. She earned her Bachelor in International Economics and Management from Bocconi University (2021), followed by a Master’s in European Studies at the LUISS School of Government (2022), and a Master’s degree in International Relations at LUISS University. (2023) Her areas of interest include governance, policymaking, and energy policy. Additionally, she holds the position of Director of Events & Partnerships at EU&U, an organization dedicated to fostering democratic values, supporting EU policy-making, and empowering young people.

Email: altea.croce@gmail.com

Massimiliano Ruzzeddu (Ph.D.)

Vice-Scientific Director

He is a Tenured Researcher in Sociology at University Niccolò Cusano.  He is also co- Editor in Chief of the WCSA Book Series – Cambridge Scholars Publishing – and Associate Editor of the journal System Research and Behavioral Science (Wiley). He authored several scientific works in Epistemology of Social Science and Social Theory. Among his most recent works, he edited, together with prof. Andrea Millefiorini  the book Between Rationality and Irrationality, L’Harmattan Paris.

E-mail: mruzzed@hotmail.com

Edit Fabó (Ph.D.)

Vice-Scientific Director

She began her career as a qualified librarian and Hungarian language teacher in 1987. Therefore, she has a great experience in the field of librarianship at the University Library of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest. Her university studies were enriched with a degree in management (1998) and sociology (2000). Later, she gained a doctoral degree in the field of cultural history (2009). She entered into the Hungarian Sociological Association (2010) and became a founding member of the Section of Family Sociology (2011). Meanwhile, she was admitted into the Public Association of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2011) as well. She joined the World Complexity Science Academy in 2012. Fabó became a member of the Editorial Board of WCSA Book Series published by Cambridge Scholar Publishing in 2014. Then she was delegated to the Editorial Board of Central European Political Science Review in 2018. Her main research fields are the complexity of society, science management, and the history of the celebration of historical anniversaries.

E-mail: dr.fabo.edit@gmail.com 

Ilaria Iannuzzi (Ph.D.)

Vice-Scientific Director

She is Lecturer in General Sociology and Sociology of Modern and Contemporary Processes at the Department of Political Science of Sapienza University of Rome and Adjunct Professor at the University of International Studies of Rome (UNINT). She is the winner of the third edition of the “Vilfredo Pareto Prize for Sociology” in “Public speaking and methodological rigor” (2018), of the “Minerva Prize for scientific research” (2021) and of the Ph.D. thesis prize of the Sapienza publishing house (2020). Her main focus is on capitalism and the history of sociological thought.

Email: ilaria.iannuzzi@uniroma1.it

Michael Selis

Vice-Scientific Director

He graduated in 2023 with a Master’s Degree in “History and Civilization” at the University of Pisa with a grade of 110 cum laude. He is currently enrolled in the national Ph.D. program “European Studies, History of the Idea of Europe and European Integration” at the University of Genova. Some of his papers have appeared in important scientific journals, such as “Instituta. Journal of History of European and International Institutions” and “Central European Political Science Review”. His expertise is in contemporary history and the history of international relations, with a focus on the European integration process and NATO.

Email: michaelselis@libero.it

Romina Gurashi (Ph.D.)

Vice-Scientific Director

Romina Gurashi, Ph.D. is Research Fellow in General Sociology (SPS/07) at Sapienza University of Rome, Managing Editor of the prestigious journal “Rivista Trimestrale di Scienza dell’Amministrazione. Studi di Teoria e Ricerca Sociale”, Deputy Editor of the journal “Studime Sociale/Social Studies” of both the Albanian Institute of Sociology and Albanian Sociological Association and Board Member of the “Lab’s Quarterly”. In the context of the European Sociological Association she is Member of the Board of the Research Network 36 – Sociology of Transformations: East and West. 

Among her research topics there are the processes of mutual implication of peace and sustainable development; macro, meso and micro processes of social change; smart society and globalization; social conflict; processes of social recognition and identity through fashion and made in Italy. 

She’s been awarded with the international “Books for Peace” award in 2020 and with the Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation on Cooperation to Development in 2019 by Sapienza Foundation.

E-mail: romina.gurashi@uniroma1.it

Melissa Sessa (Ph.D.)

Vice-Scientific Director

She is a Ph.D. in Political Studies at Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, and also a Ph.D. for Sapienza School for Advanced Studies (SSAS). Her doctoral dissertation was rated “excellent with distinction”. She is currently an administrative officer at C.N.R. During her career she conduct part of her studies at Helsinki University and at London School of Economics and Political Studies. She is currently a member of the Board of the RN24 – Science and Technology Research Network of the European Sociological Association. During her academic career, she has been concerned with the relationship between technologies and society, particularly smart technologies, as evidenced by the numerous articles and books she has published including M. Sessa (2021). The Processes and theories of smart city. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. With her dissertation, “The social dimension of the smart home”, she won the prestigious “Vincenzo Dona” Prize. She was among the top 400 graduates in Sapienza in 2019.

Email: melissa.sessa@uniroma1.it

Piero Dominici (Ph.D.)

Vice-Scientific Director

Prof. Piero Dominici (PhD), sociologist and philosopher, World Academy of Art & Science (WAAS) Fellow and Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, UN Invited Expert and speaker, is Scientific Director of the International Research and Education Program “CHAOS” and Director of Scientific Listening at the Global Listening Center. Vice President of the World Complexity Science Academy, he teaches Public Communication, Sociology of Social Complexity, Sociology of Cultural and Communicative Processes and Intelligence. Complex Systems and Networks at the University of Perugia. 

As scientific researcher, educator, author and international speaker, his main areas of expertise and interest encompass (hyper)complexity, interdisciplinarity and knowledge sharing in the fields of education, systems theory, technology, innovation, intelligence, security, citizenship and communication. Member of the MIUR Register of Revisers (Italian Ministry of Higher Education and Research), he is also standing member of several of the most prestigious national and international scientific committees.

He is currently participating in several international projects: the United Nations/WAAS Project “Global Leadership in the 21st Century” and the Project COSY Thinking, an EU-funded Project (2020-2023). Author of numerous essays, scientific articles and books. Among the scientific accolades received by Professor Dominici, it should be remembered that his treatise “Inside the Interconnected Society. Ethical prospects for a new ecosystem of communication” (published in 2014 by FrancoAngeli, Milan and released in a new 2019 edition entitled “Inside the Interconnected Society. A culture of complexity for inhabiting the boundaries and tensions of the hyper-technological civilization” with the addition of new chapters and updates), received the prestigious International scientific “Elisa Frauenfelder” Award in the “Culture and Innovation” section in. He has taught and carried out research at a number of national and international universities, and he is Visiting Professor at Complutense Universidad of Madrid. 

Aside from his academic activities and participation in international conference and lecture circuits (such as UN Office at Geneva, WCSA, Altius Conference, Oxford University, Oxford 2017, 2018, 2019, Bateson Circle, Rome 2018; IEEE Conference, Milan 2019, Illinois Institute of Technology, World Academy of Art and Science and UN international congress and projects), he has published several books and many peer reviewed scientific articles.

Piero Dominici received his international PhD in “Social Theory and Research” from Sapienza University of Rome (with Franco Ferrarotti and Edgar Morin), later winning a Post-Doc Fellowship from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, (Doctorate Program of Complex Industrial Systems) at Roma Tre University of Rome. He is standing member of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), the European Association for Digital Humanities (EADH), the European Complex Systems Society and the New England Complex Systems Institute, and he is Scientific Committee Member of the International Scientific Board of Communication and Media Research Center and the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Political Science & Diplomacy, as well as member of the Scientific Committee of the Italian Association of Public and Institutional Communication, among others. 

He is also member of the International Higher Education and Teaching Learning Association (HETL) and the Technology, Knowledge, and Society Research Network, international networks of scholars and researchers. He has taught and carried out research at a number of national and international universities and has been working in the field of complexity and systems theory for over twenty years, He currently performs activities of research, education and consulting for public and private organizations, and has coordinated projects of national and international renown. In his university courses in Sociology and Philosophy, Piero Dominici has continued to teach approaches to complexity and systems theory – with particular reference to the issues of education, organization and democracy – and to organize academic seminars and systems thinking workshops.

E-mail: dominici@worldacademy.org

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