I am an Associate Professor at the Design Department of the Politecnico di Milano where I investigate visual design thinking and social innovation - working on the NetZeroCities H2020 project on cities' climate neutrality and on the RoadSTEAMer EU-funded project.

Previously I worked for 10 years at the School of Management of the University of St. Gallen. I have been a visiting researcher at Harvard University (Boston), the University of Cambridge (U.K.) and the National University of Singapore.I published over sixty papers in international journals, as book chapters and proceedings of key international conferences. Our research project on Life Design received the Impact Award 2022 of the University of St. Gallen, the Best Paper award from the Frontiers of Business Research in China International Symposium 2014, the International Conference of Information Visualization in 2013 and in 2010.

I have been an adjunct/visiting professor at various universities worldwide including at the Universidad del Pacifico (Peru), Central University of Finance and Economics (Beijing, China) Franklin University Switzerland, Università della Svizzera italiana, Aalto University (Finland), the American University in Bulgaria, Eurocampus at Universidad Jaume I (Spain) and the University of Freiburg (Germany).

I lived in 8 countries, have two multicultural children, and I'm the founder of Kolours, a non-profit organization for scientific education and public outreach on the topic of diversity (supporting girls with disabilities in India through design, parents of children with autism spectrum disorder and highly sensitive people). I am listed in the official directory of researchers on sensory processing sensitivity, I specialized in high sensitivity, ACT and DBT skills with Marsha Linehan.

I published two books: "Visual Communication Design" (Hoepli) and"Assesment Framework for People-Centred Solutions to Climate Neutrality: A Comprehensive List of Case Studies and Social Innovation Indicators at Urban Level" (Springer).

I received three best paper awards and published in the following scientific journals: Sustainability, Design Studies, Climate, Computers in Human Behavior, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphic, International Journal of Innovation Management, Journal of Brand Management, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, Cross Cultural & Strategic Management.