The Future of Globalization: Politics, business, Lifestyle, Brands

Antonio Noto, sociologist, has been analyzing the social, political and economic behavior of the Italian population and productive fabric for 35 years. He directs the demoscopic institute Noto Sondaggi, which he founded. A scholar of social change, his latest book entitled: Who Changed Italy? in which he explains whether it was Politics or Economics that generated the great transformations of society in the last 30 years, is currently being published. He collaborates on a regular basis with RAI, Italy's public TV, both with the in-depth talk show Porta a Porta, hosted by Bruno Vespa, in which he illustrates citizens' opinions on major current events, and with broadcasts on election days in which he is the front man for the Exit Poll. He is also a regular presence for newspapers Il Sole 24 Ore and La Repubblica in which he analyzes the sentiment of the population, stakeholders and businesses.

Simon Kuper (born in Kampala, Uganda in 1969) was educated at Oxford University and Harvard. He has been working for the Financial Times since 1994, and now writes a general column for the newspaper. He is British but lives with his wife and three children in Paris. He is the author of several books including Football Against the Enemy (winner of the William Hill prize for Sports Book of the Year 1994), Ajax, The Dutch, The War: Football in Europe During the Second World War (2003), and – as co-author with Stefan Szymanski - Soccernomics (2009). His recent books include The Happy Traitor, his biography of the double agent George Blake (2021) and Barça: The Rise and Fall of the Club that Invented Modern Football (2021), which won the Sunday Times award for Football Book of the Year. His Chums: How a Tiny Caste of Oxford Tories Took Over the UK, appeared in 2022 and became a Sunday Times bestseller. He also writes for magazines in Japan, The Netherlands, Switzerland and other countries. He has won several awards for his journalism, ranging from the Manuel Vázquez Montalbán prize for sportswriting in 2008 to the British Society of Magazine Editors’ prize for Columnist of the Year in 2016 and 2020.

Nona Mikhelidze is Senior Fellow at the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI). She holds a PhD in Political Science from Scuola normale superiore (Pisa), and a M.A. in Regionalism: Central Asia and Caucasian Studies from the Humboldt University Berlin (HU). Since 2020 she has written for the newspaper La Stampa on Russia and the post-Soviet space. She is also a member of the European Leadership Network (ELN), an independent, non-partisan, pan-European network of over 300 past, present and future European leaders working to provide practical real-world solutions to political and security challenges. Her research interests include the ENP and conflict resolution in the South Caucasus, the Wider Black Sea and regional cooperation, Turkey and Caspian Region, and Russian foreign policy in the ex-Soviet space.

Elisabetta Lamboglia is a senior professional with extensive expertise in space systems, programmatic, and strategic planning. Remarkably, already at the age of 23 she completed her first professional experience as maintenance engineer at Alitalia S.p.A, at 26 she participated to the UNISAT-4 launch campaign at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and shortly thereafter, she first joined ESTEC, the European Space Technological Center of the European Space Agency (ESA). With a Master of Science degree in Astronautic Engineering, earned with the highest honours, Elisabetta embarked on a journey at the International Space University at the NASA Ames Research Centre in 2009, where she made significant contributions to the DREAM project for The World Bank Group. After a working experience in the Marine and Off-Shore Industry, her unwavering enthusiasm for exploring our Planet Earth led her to take on the role of external officer for the PRISMA project of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in 2013, and in 2015, she pursued a postgraduate degree in International Relations at the London School of Economics (LSE). Elisabetta serves as an influential advocate for women in STEM fields, both in Italy (through 100esperte.it) and throughout Europe. Currently Ph.D candidate in geo information at 'Tor Vergata', she leads various endeavours related to the ESA Climate and Sustainability and Cost Engineering for the Earth Observation programs.

Fabio Fregi joined Google in June 2014, after having served as Vice President and CEO of CA Italy. A computer science graduate from the University of Bologna, he began his professional career at Oracle. He then joined Microsoft, where he held various positions of increasing responsibility, eventually becoming Director of the Enterprise & Partner Group division of Microsoft Italy. He was Country Manager in Italy and France for Google Cloud for two years and is currently Country Manager for Google Cloud Italy.

Dr. Yuan Ding is an established scholar in the area of accounting, corporate governance, and mergers & acquisitions with numerous academic publications and more than 20 years of teaching at the level of MS, MBA, EMBA and PhD in Europe and in China. He has been continuously on the Elsevier annual list of Highly-Cited Chinese Researchers in the category of Business Management since the list was established in 2015. At CEIBS, Dr. Ding co-founded the first CFO open programme in China and Centre for Globalization of Chinese Companies. Adept at cross-border M&A, he frequently provides consulting services for Chinese companies going overseas which span across different industries and continents. He has also served and continues to serve on the Boards of Directors of several listed firms and financial institutions in mainland China, Hong Kong, Europe and North America. In May 2011, Dr. Ding launched the “Ding Yuan Index Neutral Fund” in A share market, becoming the first accounting and finance professor in mainland China to run a hedge fund. In 2013, his fund was named the Best Hedge Fund in China in the category of stable investment return. Fluent in French, English and Mandarin Chinese, Dr. Ding is also a frequent contributor to academic and executive conferences across the world, including World Economic Forum in Davos, French German Forum, Roland Berger Symposium, Soft Power Conference in Italy, EFMD Conference for Deans and Directors, GMAC Asia Pacific Conference, New Development Bank ThinkLAB, and CEIBS Europe Forum, etc. His keynote speeches cover a span of topics including: business management, globalization, China economic development, as well as impacts of geopolitics on both Chinese and foreign companies.

Over a 30 -year career in journalism, communications and advocacy, Rob Cox has embraced often-demanding opportunities to tell stories, found and build businesses, empathetically lead diverse teams and challenge prevailing narratives with solid facts, sound arguments and good humor. Rob is currently a senior advisor on strategic communications to UBS and its Chief Executive Officer Sergio Ermotti. Prior to that, Rob was global head of corporate communications for Credit Suisse during the acute phase of the Swiss bank’s existential crisis. Rob is the co-founder and former global editor of Breakingviews, the leading global financial commentary brand of Thomson Reuters, which bought the company in 2010. He has won numerous awards for his published work, which has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, la Repubblica, Newsweek, Le Monde, Fortune and other publications. Previously, Rob held various positions at Bloomberg News, including head of European finance and South Europe bureau chief. In 2012, Rob joined with members of his Connecticut hometown after the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre to create, and eventually chair, a non-profit and advocacy group to eliminate gun violence in America. Sandy Hook Promise is today one of the leading groups working with both sides of the political aisle to pass common-sense gun legislation in the United States. Rob, who divides his time between Zurich and Rome, has also worked and lived in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Milan and Chicago. Rob is a graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism and the University of Vermont, which awarded him its alumni achievement award for his work combatting gun violence. In 2017, he was the James H. Ottaway Sr. Visiting Professor of Journalism at SUNY New Paltz. Rob has two adult sons who live in New York City.

Elena Musi is Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in Communication and Media at the University of Liverpool where she is Program lead of the MSc in Data Science and Communication. Before joining UoL Elena has been the Language Engineer for Alexa in Italian (Amazon Alexa Applied Modelling and Data Science team) and a postdoctoral fellow at the Data Science Institute at Columbia University. Her research interests rest at the interface between artificial intelligence and communication, including theoretical and applied argumentation, (mis)information and the development of human computer interaction technologies to advance critical thinking skills. Her research agenda is currently focused on developing digital tools to advance critical thinking skills for media literacy. She is currently member of the UKRI (UK Research and Innovation) “Digital Footprints: Strategic Advice Team".