I am a permanent staff researcher at ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development. My work focuses on the social, political and justice-related dimensions of sustainable energy transitions, with particular attention to energy communities, energy poverty, energy justice, social acceptability, energy-related social innovation, and the social impacts of emerging energy technologies.

From November 2021 to December 2025, I was a tenured Associate Professor of Social Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway. At NTNU, I served as Principal Investigator and Work Package leader in the Horizon 2020 project ACCTING, which examined behavioural change, Green Deal policies and the inclusion of vulnerable groups. I also contributed to other European research projects, including SMARTEES, ENTRANCES and MULTIFUTURES. At ENEA, my current research addresses solidarity energy communities and energy poverty in Italy, as well as the assessment of the social impacts of energy technologies.

I completed my PhD in 2017 at the School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society of Heriot-Watt University in the United Kingdom, with a thesis on the social acceptability of onshore wind farms and community engagement in wind power schemes. I have held academic and research positions at De Montfort University, the University of Glasgow, Heriot-Watt University, the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, and NTNU.

Alongside my academic and research career, I have developed direct policy and administrative experience. In 2012 and 2013, I served as Councillor for the Environment, Technological Innovation and European Funding of the Municipality of Lucca, Italy, coordinating policy implementation in these areas and representing the municipality in regional institutional bodies.

I am the author of the monograph Wind Power and Public Engagement: Co-operatives and Community Ownership, published by Routledge, and of numerous peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters and research reports on energy transitions, energy justice, social innovation, public engagement and sustainability. Two of my papers have been cited in official reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). I also serve as Associate Editor of Frontiers in Sustainable Energy Policy and Frontiers in Political Science, and as Editor of Environmental Research: Energy.

PhD Supervisions:

Priman Boostani, first supervisor (NTNU, September '22- June '25)

Francesco Bartolomei, co-supervisor (University of Turin, January '24- Ongoing)

Giorgia Picca, co-supervisor (Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, September 25- Ongoing).