GIOVANNI PARENTE
Dr Giovanni Parente is Fulbright Schuman’s Visiting Scholar in Political Science at the University of Texas at Austin, co-funded by the European Commission and the United States Department of State and hosted by Professor Michael Mosser between September 2026 and May 2027. He is currently on unpaid leave from University College Dublin, where he is a Research Ireland’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow (GOIPD/2025/935) for his project on the European Union’s maritime security strategy, mentored by Professor Ben Tonra. Previously, he was an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Trinity College Dublin, an Adjunct Lecturer at Dublin City University, and an Adjunct Professor at Maynooth University, the Irish Department of Defence, the Irish Military College, the Irish Naval Service, and the Armed Forces of Malta. Dr Parente holds a PhD in History from Maynooth University, where he was an Irish Research Council/Research Ireland’s “Government of Ireland” scholar, supervised by Professor Ian Speller. His doctoral thesis, “The European Union at Sea”, was shortlisted for the “Global Strategy PhD Prize” by the European Security and Defence College and the Egmont Institute in 2025. He is the author of “Rethinking Naval Diplomacy: Roles and Impacts of Smaller Member States on the European Union’s Maritime Security Strategy” (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming in 2027), and he is currently working on his second manuscript on the European Union-United States maritime security cooperation for Routledge (out in 2028) as part of his Fulbright Schuman’s grant.
Created by:
MATTEO PIASENTINI
Matteo Piasentini is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of the Philippines Diliman, Department of Political Science, where he also serves as a Senior Lecturer. He is the China and Indo-Pacific Program Coordinator at the Center for Geopolitical Studies (Geopolitica.info), a non-resident Vasey Fellow at Pacific Forum, and an external analyst for FACTS Asia. His primary research focuses on Indo-Pacific minilateralism from the perspective of smaller Southeast Asian states and the agency of less powerful states in shaping regional security. Additionally, his expertise includes Philippine foreign policy, South China Sea security, and European engagement with Southeast Asia. He has also contributed to scholarly debates on technology and minilateralism. He is the co-author of two academic papers on minilateralism and participates in a multinational scholarly working group on the subject. Furthermore, he has authored book chapters and papers on Philippine foreign policy and Italy’s economic engagement with the Indo-Pacific. Finally, he is active in writing policy editorials for outlets such as ISEAS Commentaries, EUI Cadmus, Geopolitica.info, FACTS Asia, Eastwest, and the Australian Institute for International Affairs. He also participated as a speaker and contributor for a report on the Philippines’ middle-power engagements for Torino World Affairs Institute.
Created by: