Robert Leonardi is Visiting Professor in the School of Government of the LUISS University in Rome. He was a Professor at De Paul University in Chicago before joining the London School of Economics where he was a faculty member (1991-2010) in the Department of Government and in the European Institute (Jean Monnet Chair in European Policy and Politics) as well as Director of the Economic and Social Cohesion Laboratory. He has taught at numerous universities in the US and Europe and has published extensively. He is a member of the UK Academy of Social Sciences.

Professor Leonardi has served as a consultant to the European Commission, and to national (Italy, Portugal), regional (Madrid, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna) and local (Naples, Viareggio, Brescia) governments on the Structural Funds and on socio-economic cohesion policy programmes. In 2008-2009 he was appointed Director General for Planning and Extra-Regional Affairs of the Sicilian Regional Government. Since 2010 he has been a member of the Advisory Board (Cabina di Regia) for EU funds and foreign investments in the President’s Office in the Sicilian Regional Government.