An Italian and British citizen, Laura Polverari is Associate Professor in Political Science at the University of Padua, where she also founded and directs the Institutional & Administrative Capacities Observatory, #CAPIS.

She graduated in Political Science from LUISS University in Rome (cum laude) and gained a PhD in European Public Policy from Strathclyde University. For her PhD dissertation, which was awarded without changes, she received the First Prize in the prestigious European Committee of the Regions Doctoral Thesis Competition.

From 2000 to 2019 she worked at the University of Strathclyde, European Policies Research Centre, where she directed and managed many multi-disciplinary research projects, several with international partners, for the European Commission, European Parliament, national and regional governments, and others.

She currently serves as Book Review Editor and Regular Associate Editor of Regional Studies, as member of the Editorial Boards of Italian Political Science, Rivista Giuridica del Mezzogiorno and Regional Studies and Local Development.

She is Co-Convenor of the UK Political Studies Association’s Italian Politics Specialist Group and Co-Chair of the Italian Political Science Association’s Standing Group on Public Policies.

She is a member of SVIMEZ’ Board of Trustees, co-organiser of the RSA Cohesion Policy Network, member of the Board of Regional Studies Centre "Giorgio Lago" at the University of Padua and, since December 2023, of the Board of the Centro Studi Ettore Luccini in Padova. In the past, she was President and Programme Chair of APSA’s Conference Group on Italian Politics & Society.

She has been an invited plenary speaker at major international events organised by the European Commission, EU Presidencies, European Committee of the Regions, OECD and Regional Studies Association (RSA), and has provided evidence on cohesion policy reform (most recently at the High Level Reflection Group on post-2027 cohesion policy and at a EU Presidency event organised by the Belgian Presidency).

A Fellow of the RSA, Laura has published widely: authored and edited books, articles in peer-reviewed journals (Italian Political Science Review, Policy and Society, POLIS, Regional Studies, Regional and Federal Studies, Rivista Italiana di Politiche Pubbliche), and numerous policy reports, as well as delivered invited lectures/speeches to international conferences and EU and national insitutions.

Her main research interests include the design, implementation and evaluation of public policy; EU Cohesion Policy; PA reform, administrative capacity and capacity building; public policy accountability; multi-level governance, devolution and EU policies and policymaking.

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