The International Affairs Institute (IAI) founded in 1965 by Altiero Spinelli as a non-profit organization, is Italy’s major research centre in the fields of international politics, security and economy, as well as being Italy’s research institution with the most developed international network capabilities. The main objective of the Institute is to promote an understanding of international relations through inter-disciplinary and policy-oriented research, meetings and publications. In particular IAI seeks to promote the idea of Europe, an objective which is enshrined in the Founding Act of the Institute. Its main areas of interest are: Italian foreign policy, European integration, the Mediterranean and Middle East, transatlantic relations, international security and international political economy.
IAI has a long-standing tradition in the study of European foreign policy and Euro-Mediterranean relations. It leads or co-leads the current three lead Horizon2020 projects on the EU, the Mediterranean and Middle East, and Turkey (MEDRESET, MENARA; FEUTURE). It also coordinates the New-Med Research Network –funded by the IAI in collaboration with the Compagnia di San Paolo, the OSCE and the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs – as well as the Global Turkey in Europe network funded by the Mercator Foundation. It has also led numerous research projects on the area in the past (POWER2YOUTH, SHARAKA, etc.). IAI has a substantial network in the Middle East, the US, and Russia.
Recently, IAI has also begun to start a new program of international education aimed at high school students, undergraduate and graduate students, and private and public professionals.
IAI has highly-developed networks with research and policy institutes.
Matteo Bonomi, Research Fellow, IAI
Matteo Bonomi is working on “EU, politics and institutions” and “Eastern Europe and Eurasia” programmes. His professional experience has been increasingly related to EU enlargement policy, in particular to the Balkan – EU integration process. He has worked and cooperated with various institutes, think tanks, foundations and administrative agencies in Belgium, Germany, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania. His PhD dissertation was on “European Integration and the Crisis of the Nation State. Analysis of the Interlinkages between Law and Politics within the EU“, defended at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa.
Federico Castiglioni, Research Fellow, IAI
Federico Castiglioni is a researcher working in the programme “EU, politics and institutions” at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI). Prior to this job, he briefly worked at the EU Parliament as MEP policy advisor and then as analyst for a Security and Defence consultancy company. In both these tenures, his main activities were related to the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the development of the European Defence Fund (EDF). In 2020, he earned a PhD in European Studies from the University Roma Tre, presenting a final dissertation on the European response to the 9/11 attacks and the following war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq. Federico volunteers in different no-profit organizations and is a contributor to several magazines specialized in Defence and International Relations.
Former WB2EU Network & IAI team members:
Daniele Fattibene, former Research Fellow, IAI
Eleonora Poli, former Research Fellow, IAI
