Current Position
2024 – PhD Candidate in Public Governance, Management and Policy (40th cycle), Department of Economics, University of Bologna. Research project: Income Support and Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from Togo, France, and Brazil. Supervisor: Prof. Paolo Verme.
2026 – Visiting Doctoral Researcher, Chaire ESoPS (Économie Sociale, Protection et Société), Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Project: Welfare, Stigma, and the Subjective Persistence of Poverty: Intergenerational Evidence from France.
2026 – Research and Policy Intern, OECD, Directorate for Education and Skills, Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI). Project: Evidence Web for Education.
2024 – Member of the International PhD College, Collegio Superiore, University of Bologna. Part of the project Explain it Like I'm AI: Decoding AI – Without Panic, Beyond Hype, a podcast offering a critical discussion of artificial intelligence, in collaboration with Bologna University Press (BUP).
2023 – Instructor for the Crash Course in Principles of Economics [code 88611], LEGo Master, Department of Sociology and Business Law.
Research Interests
Poverty and inequality; social protection and cash transfers; subjective wellbeing and non-monetary measures of poverty; public policy evaluation.
Work in Progress
Beyond Material Poverty: Revenu de Solidarité Active and Subjective Wellbeing in France, 2026.
Average and Distributional Impacts of Novissi in Togo: Evidence on Wealth, Per Capita Consumption and Subjective Poverty, 2026.
Disasters and Grades: How Nature's Fury Impacts High School Performance and Future Prospects, 2024, with Giuseppe Pignataro and Luca Bonacini.
Research Experience
2024–2025 – Research Fellow, University of Bologna, Department of Economics. Inequality of Educational Opportunities (PRIN 2022, Prot. P2022C572P). Analysis of educational inequality using survey and administrative data.
2024 – Member of the research team on Equality of Opportunity: Remedial Interventions in Tanzania, under an agreement with WeWorld Tanzania. Supported by the University of Bologna Global South Grant 2024.
2022 – Graduate Visiting Researcher, Centro de Estudos em Administração Pública e Governo (CEAPG), Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV), São Paulo, Brazil.
Education
2024 – TALETE Honours Programme "Talenti e Territori", University of Trento and Centre for International Cooperation. Advanced training programme on global interdependence.
2023 – M.Sc. in European and International Studies (110/110 cum laude), University of Trento. Thesis in Development Economics: Bolsa Família Programme and its Impact on Female Recipients: A Qualitative Meta-Analysis. Supervisor: Prof. Stefano Schiavo. Exchange semester at the Metropolitan University of Prague (International Relations and European Studies) with an Erasmus+ scholarship, 2021–2022.
2020 – B.A. in Development and International Cooperation (110/110 cum laude), Department of Statistical Sciences "Paolo Fortunati", University of Bologna. Exchange semester at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University (European Studies), with an Erasmus+ scholarship, 2019–2020.
Further Training
2025 – BREAD-IGC PhD Course on Social Protection, International Growth Centre.
2025 – Summer School in Microeconometrics and Policy Evaluation: Modern Estimation Methods and Machine Learning, Paris School of Economics (PSE).
2024 – Summer School in Development Economics, Italian Development Economists Association (IDEAs), Prato – University of Verona and Centre for Development Economics and Sustainability, Monash University.
Conference and Seminar Presentations
2026 – Inequality and the Future Conference and Summer School on Socioeconomic Opportunity and Inequality, presenting the paper Beyond Material Poverty: Revenu de Solidarité Active and Subjective Wellbeing in France; University of Chicago Stone Center for Research on Wealth Inequality and Mobility, Dondena Centre (Bocconi University) and ISPI, Milan, June–July.
2026 – COMPIE 2026 Conference (Counterfactual Methods for Policy Impact Evaluation), presenting the paper Average and Distributional Impacts of Novissi in Togo: Evidence on Wealth, Per Capita Consumption and Subjective Poverty; European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) and IÉSEG School of Management, Paris, June.
2026 – Seminar Income Support and Poverty Alleviation: Evidence from Togo, France, and Brazil, Chaire ESoPS, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, January.
2024 – Workshop on Poverty, Inequality and Intergenerational Mobility: Measurement Issues, Empirical Evidence and Policies, presenting the work in progress Disasters and Grades: How Nature's Fury Impacts High School Performance and Future Prospects; Sapienza University of Rome, September.
Scholarships and Grants
2025/2026 – Collegio Superiore Mobility Grant and Marco Polo Mobility Grant, University of Bologna, for a six-month research stay at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne.
2024/2025 – Pre-doctoral Research Fellowship, Inequality of Educational Opportunities (PRIN 2022), University of Bologna.
2022/2023 – Post-graduation Internship Scholarship and Research Thesis Abroad Scholarship, University of Trento.
Academic Service and Outreach
2025 – PhD Representative, PhD Programme in Public Governance, Management and Policy, University of Bologna.
2025 – Spokesperson for the project Explain it Like I'm AI: Decoding AI – Without Panic, Beyond Hype, Collegio Superiore, University of Bologna. Co-host of two podcast episodes, Bologna University Press.
2025 – LaBo2030 project, University of Bologna: four hours of lectures on social justice and economic opportunity at a secondary school.
Other Activities
2023 – Project Management Intern, Fondazione WeWorld, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Project Pamoja Tudumishe Elimu – Promotion of Quality and Inclusive Education.
2022 – MAECI-CRUI Intern, Italian Embassy in Brasília, Brazil.
Publications
Fidenti, V. and Pignataro, G. (2024). Uguaglianza di Opportunità: la Complessità delle Aspirazioni nel Contesto della Povertà Minorile, Menabò di Etica ed Economia, vol. 218, ISSN 1594-7599.
Pignataro, G. and Fidenti, V. (2024). Una questione di opportunità: così la povertà nega il futuro ai bambini, lavoce.info, June.
