Michaela Saisana is Head of the Science for Modelling, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre in Italy.

She has been working in the JRC since 1998, where she obtained a prize as “best young scientist of the year” in 2004 and together with her team the “JRC policy impact award” for the Social Scoreboard of the European Pillar of Social Rights in 2018.

Scientist and engineer with specialization on process optimization and spatial statistics, she is actively involved in promoting a sound development and responsible use of performance monitoring tools.These monitoring tools feed into EU policy formulation and legislation in a wide range of fields from social rights and fairness to innovation and competitiveness, from enterprises and firms to state aid, from employment to culture and creativity, from cohesion to sustainable development.

She collaborates, by auditing performance indices, with over 150 international organizations and world-class universities, including the United Nations, Transparency International, Oxfam, the World Economic Forum, INSEAD, the World Intellectual Property Organization, Yale University, Columbia University, and Harvard University.

Michaela graduated in 1998 from the National Technical University of Athens with a degree in Chemical Engineering (receiving the Technical Chamber of Greece Award in Chemical Engineering) and went on to complete her PhD in Chemical Engineering with focus on air quality and spatial statistics.
She is the author of ~ 30 articles in academic journals, 100 working papers, and co-author of two books: 2008 OECD/JRC Handbook on Composite Indicators and 2008 Global Sensitivity Analysis-The Primer (Wiley). Reviewer for top journals including Nature Communications.

Lorenzo Pirelli is the Head of the Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre.

He holds a PhD in Management, Economics, and Industrial Engineering from Politecnico di Milano (Italy), focusing his research on EU R&D policies for innovative start-ups (incubators, venture capital, research networks to favour technology transfer between academia and industry). 

Before joining the JRC in 2024, he worked at the European Court of Auditors carrying out performance audits on the efficiency of EU spending in transport, energy, environment, and agriculture. He was also EU fellow in the energy field at the Florence School of Regulation at the European University Institute and lecturer of several courses on performance audit and project evaluation methods, like Cost-Benefit Analysis, for the European Institute of Public Administration and other international organisations. 

In his current role, he coordinates and supervises the development of monitoring frameworks in the field of inequalities, regional policies, innovation, and competitiveness.

Alberto Guidi currently works at the European Commission's Joint Research Centre – Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards, where he is part of the team developing the JRC Indicators Explorer.

Before joining the European Commission, Alberto worked for six years as a data journalist for Il Sole 24 Ore, one of Italy's leading economic newspapers. He has also collaborated with the Italian Ministry of Finance and several European think tanks.

Alberto holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and two master's degrees: one in Political Economy of Europe and the other in Specialized Economic Analysis.

Anastasis Katsinis works at the Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (COIN) at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission.

He supports the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) portfolio as a quantitative policy analyst by developing analytical tools that assist in policy-making. His background in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) enables the spatial interpretation of socioeconomic phenomena.

Prior to joining the JRC, he worked for the Greek Public Administration in several posts (Ministry of Development, National Cadastre Agency, and Local Authorities) as well as in the private sector as a consultant.

He holds two Master degrees, one in Geoinformatics and the other in Spatial Planning and EU Policies, and a Bachelor degree in Engineering. Currently, he is a PhD candidate in the field of Economic and Electoral Geography.

Cinzia Cocco joined the JRC's Unit S.3 in 2017 as external consultant to work on the Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (COIN), later extending her collaboration to other Knowledge Services of the Unit.

Her work focuses on web communication and design, in particular on the visual identity of COIN's tools and flagship events, with a role as editor and author for the Knowledge4Policy and Science Hub platforms. 

A Drupal developer with many years of experience in web design and development, she also contributes to related activities in other Knowledge Services such as the Competence Centre on Microeconomic Evaluation (CC-ME) and the Survey Methods and Analysis Centre (SMAC). 

Elizabeth Casabianca is a Socio-Economic Analyst at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. Her main interests lay in the field of gender, poverty and loneliness. She particularly looks to carry our research with specific policy implications.

Prior to joining the JRC, Elizabeth worked as an applied economist in a research and advisory company based in Bologna, where she was mainly involved in analysing the implications of economic policies on income distribution. Prior to that, she held a post-doc position at the Polytechnic University of Marche.

She has also collaborated with the Gender Section of UNCTAD, particularly on capacity building activities. Elizabeth has teaching experience at university level and she regularly presents her research at international conferences.

Giulio Caperna is a researcher and statistician at Eurojust.

Giulio worked at the University of Padua as Post-Doc researcher where he taught statistics and construction of composite indicators.

Before taking his PhD in Statistical Science at the University of Padua, he worked as data-manager and data-analyst in a medical department in Rome. Giulio studied Statistical Science and Demography at the “Sapienza” University of Rome.

His main research interests include the methodology of composite indicators, as well as its use for the description of complex concepts such as civic participation and well-being.

Jaime Lagüera González is a research statistician at the European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC). Before joining the Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (COIN), he worked at the European Central Bank (ECB) and in other areas of the JRC, where he collaborated on topics like data quality, data visualisation and text mining analysis.

Jaime holds a Bachelor degree in Economics as well as two Master degrees, one in Econometrics and Operation Research and the other in Big Data and Business Analytics.

His main research interest is the use of non-conventional data related to different topics like economics and composite indicators

External consultant Klimis Symeonidis works at the JRC on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (COIN) as an Application Architect.

A software engineer with an M.Sc. in Signal Processing and a long history of developing large-scale software applications, he joined the S.3 Unit in 2019 to help create and maintain a suite of websites and tools. His main skills include backend development, database architecture, and DevOps.

Some of the tools he has contributed to: Composite Indicators & Scoreboards Explorer, the Gender Equality Strategy Monitoring Portal, the EU Multidimensional Inequality Monitoring Framework, and the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor.

Laura Di Bella currently works at the Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (COIN) at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, which she joined in October 2022.

She is part of a team providing analytical support in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) policy area. Her main focus since she joined has been developing a new composite indicator monitoring the Twin Transition of SMEs across the EU.

Prior to joining the JRC she worked for many years as a social researcher for the UK Government, managing small teams and delivering research and analysis for policy makers across different departments and policy areas (including justice, education, democracy, and housing). During this time she developed an expertise in mixed-methods approaches and multidisciplinary research and analysis.

Her academic background is in Social Psychology.

Michela Bello is a Socio-Economic Analyst at the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), where she is in charge of the scientific coordination of a research project monitoring the innovation performance of the EU. 

She works with quantitative and qualitative information to provide evidence-informed advice in a wide range of policy areas through technical and policy reports and using applied statistics and micro-econometric techniques. 

She also leads and undertakes economic analysis in the area of industrial and innovation policy. Prior to joining the JRC in 2021, Michela worked at OECD (Paris) and UNIDO (Vienna).  

Her main research interests include innovation, digitalization, foreign investment, and global value chains.

Milene Tessarin is an economist with an interest in regional development, innovation, workers' skills, productive structure, and peripheral areas.

Prior to joining the JRC, she was a researcher in Economic Geography at Utrecht University, where she worked on EU-funded projects focused on regional development, innovation, and spatial inequality. She also worked on industrial and technological development projects at the South African Research Chair in Industrial Development at the University of Johannesburg, and as a senior economist in an industry association and consultancy projects in Brazil.

She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of São Paulo (USP), a Master's in Science and Technological Policy from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP), and a Bachelor's in Economics from São Paulo State University (UNESP).

Minna Nurminen is a Socio-Economic Analyst at the Joint Research Centre. In her role, she focuses on policy-oriented research in the areas of loneliness, fairness and gender equality. She also works on the Composite Indicators & Scoreboards Explorer.  

Prior to joining the JRC, Minna gained policy and research experience in international settings including at the European Commission and UN Women. 

As a social scientist, Minna holds an MSc degree in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford and a Master’s degree in Social and Public Policy from the University of Helsinki. 

Monica Ghiringhelli holds the position of Secretary to the Unit and the Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (CC-COIN) and the Fairness Project at the JRC. 

She is responsible for providing comprehensive administrative support and assistance to the Unit, the Project Leader, and members of the CC-COIN and Fairness Project. 

Her duties include document management, organizing meetings and events, addressing logistical needs, coordinating missions, managing time and flexitime, and providing necessary information.

Nikola Radojičić currently works at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) – Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards. He is part of the team developing monitoring frameworks and engaging with policymakers and developers to promote the adoption of sound methodological practices.

Nikola is currently pursuing a collaborative doctorate at the Technical University of Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt) and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU Munich). His research focuses on EU fiscal transfers (e.g. Cohesion Policy, CAP), EU territorial and climate policies, and various aspects of public support.

Before joining the European Commission, Nikola worked as a researcher at TU Darmstadt within the cluster project “Clean Circles – Iron as an Energy Carrier in a Carbon-Neutral Circular Energy Economy”, where he contributed to defining economic, political, sustainability, and technological criteria for international renewable energy trade. He has also taught at LMU Munich and the University of Konstanz, offering courses on research methods, data visualization, the green energy transition, and EU regional policy.

Nikola holds an MA in Politics and Public Administration from the University of Konstanz and a BA in International Relations and European Integration from the University of Belgrade.

Oscar Smallenbroek works across thematic areas to develop monitoring frameworks and engages with developers to help implement the best fitting methodological practices. 

He is involved in the INNOVA project, where he works on the Innovation Output Indicator and does research on the state of innovation in the EU. 

He also works on monitoring frameworks for Intergenerational Fairness and Gender. He attained a PhD in Sociology from the European University Institute in 2020. 

His research focuses on measuring social stratification and personal value change over the life-course which has been published in several top-tier Sociology and Psychology journals.

Panagiotis Ravanos is a policy analyst at the Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards (COIN) of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC).  His research is related to performance evaluation, efficiency measurement, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), and the methodology and empirical applications of DEA to the development of composite indicators.

He holds a PhD in Economics from the Department of Economics at the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece. He has received his BA and MA in Economics from the Department of Economics at the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece. Prior to joining COIN, Panagiotis had worked in the Centre for the development of Vocational Education and Training (CEDEFOP), as a teaching and research assistant in the University of Macedonia, and as a research analyst in the private sector.

His other research interests include the effect of decision maker preferences in performance assessment, the analysis of judicial performance, as well as aspects related to employment precariousness and skills shortages.

Paula Schulze Brock is a quantitative policy analyst in the COIN team. Since October 2024, she has contributed to the "Monitoring SME Performance in the EU" project. 

In addition, she develops composite indicators and conducts statistical audits to enhance data reliability.

She has an academic background in Political Science, with a specialization in statistics, EU policy, and the representation, stability, and performance of democratic systems.

Petra Krylová is a Policy Analyst at the Competence Centre on Composite Indicators and Scoreboards at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. 

She has more than 15 years of experience in international development with a particular focus on the construction and use of composite indices for policymaking. 

Prior to joining the COIN team, she was the Research Director at the Social Progress Imperative where she oversaw the construction of global as well as locally relevant indices in countries around the world. She is also pursuing her doctoral studies at the University of Valencia. Her research focus is centered around social progress, wellbeing indicators and gender. 

In her current role she supports the development of different frameworks focused on social progress, gender, equality and rights.

Szilárd Erhart is an economist in the European Commission’s Competence Centre on Composite Indicators (in the Joint Research Centre, JRC), a former central banker and environmental finance specialist. 

His areas of research are monetary economics, decision making and environmental policy. 

Currently he works on the large-scale measurement and reporting solutions of corporate climate and environmental performance. 

Szilárd joined the JRC first in 2016 and worked in DG Environment’s Green finance team between 2017-2019 on the Sustainable Finance Agenda of the Commission. 

He got his degree in economics from Budapest University of Economics, pursued post-graduate studies in the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and in the Central European University, in the Environmental Science and Policy Department