MEET THE Team

Daria Mendola is full professor of Social Statistics at the University of Palermo. She is currently the PI of the national research project AVRAI, funded by the Italian Ministry of University and Research. She got a Ph.D. in Applied Statistics at the University of Palermo. Her research interests are in vulnerability and poverty measurement, statistical sampling and data analysis.  She is member of the Italian Statistical Society (SIS), European Population Association (EAPS) and the Italian Association for Population Studies (AISP).

Eralba Cela is associate professor in Demography at the University of Milan, Italy. She is currently coordinating the research unit of Milan University for the project AVRAI. Her research has involved a range of themes situated within population studies, with a focus on ageing and migration from the perspective of both sending and receiving countries. She has worked as a researcher and consultant on several European and national projects on migrants’ integration and has extensive experience in the fields of integration, family dynamics, transnationalism, return migration, remittances, brain drain, international retirement migration, ageing migrants and intergenerational dynamics, active ageing, health, well-being, and refugees. 

Livia Elisa Ortensi is associate professor in Demography at the University of Bologna. She is Vice PI of the project AVRAI 2022 and coordinator of University of Bologna Research Unit. Her main research interests focus on the study of international migration and gender-based violence. She is member of the Scientific Committee of ISMU ETS Foundation (Milan). She is the leader, unit PI, or coordinator of several important projects funded by Italian or European funds and is a member of several others. She is member of the Italian Statistical Association (SIS), the European Association of Population Studies (EAPS), and the Population Association of America (PAA).

Maurizio Ambrosini is full professor of Sociology of Migration at the University of Milan and member of the Milan Research Unit. He gave courses at the University of Nice-Cote d’Azur, Sciences-Po Paris, at the Italian campus of Stanford university, at the Universidad Complutense of Madrid. He is also the editor of the journal “Mondi Migranti”, the Director of the Italian Summer School of Sociology of Migrations and the scientific head of the research centre Medì in Genoa. He is the author of more than 300 publications in the field of migration studies and has been involved in several H2020 research projects on this issue. 

Micaela Arcaio is an external contributor to the Palermo Research Unit. She has recently earned a Ph.D. in Social Statistics through the Health Promotion and Cognitive Sciences program at the University of Palermo (Italy). Her research focused on analyzing Sub-Saharan Africa. With a background in International Cooperation and Statistics, she specializes in using quantitative methods to study migration, intimate partner violence, and social sustainability.

Elisa Barbiano di Belgiojoso is an associate professor of Demography at the University of Milan-Bicocca in Milan, Italy. She is member of the Milan Research Unit. In 2009, she obtained her PhD in Statistics. Her research interests include migrants' health, migration and poverty, family migration, family reunification, citizenship acquisition, return and onward migration, migrant working trajectories, and demographic projections.

Annalisa Busetta is associate professor of Demography at the University of Palermo. She is member of the Palermo Research Unit. She has been teaching Demography in undergraduate and graduate programs since 2005. She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Interdepartmental Research Center on Migration (CIR Migrare) at the University of Palermo. Her recent research focuses on living conditions and vulnerability among migrants and refugees, as well as territorial inequalities.

Roberto Impicciatore is associate professor in Demography at Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna. He is member of the Bologna Research Unit. He teaches Demography and Social Demography and is the director of First cycle degree in International Development and Cooperation. He is member of the Faculty Board of the National PhD in “Life Course Research (DIN-LCR)” and of the PhD in “Economic Sociology, Organization and Labour Studies (ESOL)”, University of Milan. He is Vice President of the Neodemos Association. His research interests focus mainly on internal and international migration, family dynamics and life courses in Europe.

Eleonora Miaci is a Research Fellow of the AVRAI Project at the University of Milan. She earned a Ph.D. in Demography from the Department of Statistical Sciences at La Sapienza University of Rome and completed a research visit at the Stockholm University Demographic Unit. Her research interests focus on the life trajectories of migrants, with particular attention to health and access to healthcare services, fertility intentions and behaviours, work-family reconciliation strategies, family dynamics, and ethnic inequalities in employment and educational pathways.

Marta Parigi is a Research Fellow of the AVRAI Project at the University of Palermo. She holds a Ph.D. in Development Economics from the University of Trento. She completed her visiting at the Georg-August University (Goettingen) at the Chair of Development Economics. She previously worked as a Research Associate at the University of Hohenheim where she contributed to designing and implementing a survey in the informal settlement of Kibera (Nairobi). Her research interests focus on causes and trends in food security, inequality and international migration both in high- and low-income countries.

Anna Parroco is full professor of Social Statistics at the University of Palermo. She is member of the Palermo Research Unit. Her expertise is in quantitative methods for the social sciences. Her research interests include social issues related to family behaviours, refugee vulnerability, tourism, and various aspects of survey methodology. Throughout her academic career, she has published monographs and approximately 100 articles in national and international journals, presented her research findings at numerous conferences—including international ones—and participated in various research projects. She has held several institutional roles, including coordinating degree programs in psychological sciences and the PhD program in Tourism Sciences. Additionally, she has served on selection committees and expert boards for project evaluations. She has also supervised numerous master ’s and PhD students.

Manuela Stranges is associate professor of Demography at the University of Calabria. She is member of the Palermo Research Unit.
She serves as the Deputy Director of the Center of Women’s Studies “Milly Villa” at Unical. Among her other scientific appointments, she is currently a member of the Scientific Council of AISP (2023/2027) and was the Secretary for the 2023/2025 term.
She is the leader, unit PI, or coordinator of several important projects funded by Italian or European funds and is a member of several others. Her research covers a variety of topics including population ageing, social norms, subjective wellbeing, intergenerational transmission, and sexuality. However, her primary research interest has always been migration. She has conducted extensive research on various demographic, social, and economic aspects of migration, such as subjective well-being, remittances, labor outcomes, abortion, and discrimination in the labor market, with a particular focus on gender differences. In recent years, her research has particularly focused on refugees, studying their inflows, characteristics, family patterns, and trajectories.

Francesca Tosi is tenure-track assistant professor (RTT) of Demography at the University of Bologna. She is member of Bologna Research Unit. She obtained her Ph.D. in Economics and Quantitative Methods at the Department of Economics, Roma Tre University, with a dissertation on theories and metrics for multidimensional poverty assessment. Her current research concerns international migrations and transnational families, internal mobility and regional disparities in Italy, and the transition to adulthood. She carried out applied research on well-being and quality of life issues both in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. She authored papers published in peer-reviewed international journals in the fields of regional science, demography, and migration studies. She is member of the Italian Statistical Association (SIS), the European Association of Population Studies (EAPS), and the Population Association of America (PAA).