Meet the students and researchers supported through the Il Circolo Awards and Italy Made Me over the years, celebrating their achievements across a wide range of research fields.
2025 AWARD WINNERS
Alfredo Conte
Alfredo Conte studied classical piano at the Benedetto Marcello Conservatoire of Venice and at the Santa Cecilia Conservatoire of Rome; at the latter he obtained both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with top marks, laude and honourable mention. He also graduated with first class honours from the Faculty of Music at King’s College London and simultaneously attended the Advanced Performance Studies programme at the Royal Academy of Music.
Awarded the Innovation and Knowledge prize from the association in Circolo and the prestigious Sir Antonio Pappano scholarship, he is currently pursuing a PhD in Classical Piano Performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama of London.
Alfredo has received prizes in numerous international piano competitions and attended masterclasses with leading professors. He has extensively performed as soloist in Italy, United Kingdom, Romania, Austria and Montecarlo. He regularly performs also for the Rotary Club, of which he is an active member, in concerts dedicated to charitable and humanitarian causes.
Lorenzo De Mauro
Lorenzo De Mauro is a graduate of John Cabot University in Rome, where he completed a B.A. in International Affairs with a minor in Business Administration (2014). He later completed an M.A. in Public Policies at LUISS Guido Carli (2019) and an MSc in Marketing at King’s College London (2025). This interdisciplinary path enabled him to combine an understanding of societal and institutional frameworks with a strong interest in consumer psychology, strategic marketing, and market dynamics.
Alongside his studies, Lorenzo worked for three years as a Business IT Consultant at Engineering S.p.A., contributing to Digital transformation projects and gaining practical experience in data-driven systems, software architectures, and organisational innovation.
He also cultivated his longstanding passion for music and audio engineering, working as a freelance mixing and mastering engineer with international artists. This experience gave him a unique perspective on the intersection of artistic creation, technology, and digital consumption, further shaping his understanding of contemporary consumer behaviour.
Giovanni Tagliani
Giovanni Tagliani is an economist whose work lies at the intersection of development and industrial economics, innovation, and the green transition. His research focuses on green and digital industrial policy, including biotechnology and artificial intelligence, as well as the economic modelling of green transitions and the role of state-owned enterprises.
After completing a BSc in Economics at the University of Bologna, Giovanni pursued an MPhil in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge and an MSc in Economics at the University of Ferrara. He subsequently completed a joint PhD in Economics at the Universities of Ferrara and Parma, developing an economic model examining the impact of circularity on economic growth.
He later earned a second PhD in Economics, specialising in Economic Policy, at University College London (UCL). His research explored technological capabilities and green patenting in national oil companies. He is currently a postdoctoral researcher at UCL, working on the regulation of Artificial Intelligence.
2025 ITALY MADE ME WINNERS
Francesca Bellazzi
FunMo: Functionality at the Molecular Scale – Social Sciences and Humanities
Carmen Silvestri
Italian as a Heritage Language in London: An Ethnographic Perspective on Identity and Pedagogy – Social Sciences and Humanities
2024 AWARD WINNERS
Beatrice Limonti
Beatrice Limonti is an Italian violinist with over 15 years of experience between Italy and the UK. She specialises in crossover performances across classical, jazz, cinematic, and contemporary music. After graduating from the Conservatorio in Cosenza, she’s completing a Master’s in Jazz Violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
She has performed at major venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, LSO St Luke’s, and BBC Northern Ireland and recorded at Abbey Road Studios. In 2024, she co-founded BriosOrchestra, an orchestral project by Italian musicians in London that aims to foster cultural dialogue and support emerging talent.
She was awarded the Circolo Award 2024 for her essay “The Power of Dialogue: Why Me?”, which explores music as a tool for connection during times of global uncertainty. Alongside her musical career, she is also an active content creator with over 35K followers on Instagram.
Shide Mazaheri
Shide Mazaheri is a researcher whose work focuses on how autistic people with co-occurring alexithymia perceive their quality of life.
Her research explores how autistic young adults thrive, cope, adjust and find positive meaning in their experiences, using a neuro-affirmative approach to better understand and support their well-being. Her work aims to translate these insights into meaningful support for autistic people in everyday life.
She was awarded the Il Circolo Award 2024 for her work related to the theme “Global Uncertainty: The Power of Dialogue”.
The Award will support the development of her research and contribute to her academic career. She strongly believes in dialogue as a tool for navigating an increasingly complex and plural society and shares Il Circolo’s commitment to promoting the scientific, literary and cultural contribution of the Italian community in London.
Sebastian Willis
Sebastian Willis is a doctoral candidate in Human Geography at the University of Hull, specialising in the relationship between human societies and the ocean. With a background in late medieval and early Renaissance environmental history, particularly the Venetian Lagoon, his current research focuses on the UN-defined concept of Ocean Literacy.
His PhD explores how different cultures, both historical and contemporary, understand and represent the sea, navigation and their relationship with marine environments. Drawing on material culture, his research ranges from 19th-century whaling societies in Fiji to Venetian and Genoese portolan charts and Marshallese stick charts.
Through his work, Sebastian aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of human-ocean relationships and how these perspectives can support more balanced and culturally informed approaches to environmental management.
2024 ITALY MADE ME WINNERS
Federica Bruni
Magic in Surrealism: Exploring Surrealist Legacies in the Work of Ambra Castagnetti, Chiara Fumai, Francesca Grilli, Agne Raceviciute, and Federica Bruni – Social Sciences and Humanities
Elena Spinelli
Women’s Dialogue in English Neoclassical Tragedy, 1550 to 1610 – Social Sciences and Humanities
2023 AWARD WINNERS
Luisa Fassi
Luisa Fassi is a third-year PhD student in Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. Her research explores the relationship between social media use and the decline in youth mental health, and how best to support young people growing up in an increasingly digitalised world.
The Il Circolo Youth Mental Health Award offered an opportunity to gain both funding support and access to a diverse network of researchers, clinicians, entrepreneurs and funders, while bringing her work to a wider audience beyond academia.
Winning the Award enabled Luisa to present her research at the Italian Embassy, take part in a Q&A session in London following a theatre performance, and connect with professionals from different fields. The experience provided valuable opportunities to share her research, build new connections and engage with audiences beyond the academic community.
Eleonora Aiello
Eleonora Aiello is pursuing an Interdisciplinary Policy Studies MPhil/PhD at King’s College London, School of Education, Communication and Society, supervised by Dr John Owens and Dr Clare Coultas. Her research focuses on social justice and the relationship between education and health and well-being, which she explores from critical, creative and participatory perspectives.
In her PhD, Eleonora uses Photovoice and Critical Discourse Analysis of policies to investigate how Italian secondary school students experience their mental health and well-being in relation to their school environments.
Eleonora discovered the Il Circolo Youth Mental Health Award 2023 through The Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding. She applied both to support her PhD studies and to connect with the Italian community and fellow researchers in the UK. The Award provided valuable financial support as well as opportunities to build connections through Il Circolo’s events and wider network.
2021 AWARD WINNERS
Annarita Botta
Science Awards
Lorenzo Mangone
Science Awards
Antonio Morabito
Royal College of Music
2021 ITALY MADE ME WINNERS
Michela Picardi
Social Sciences and Humanities
Emanuela Vai
Social Sciences and Humanities
2020 AWARD WINNERS
Lisa Nan
Lisa Nan, studente all’Istituto Marangoni, ha ideato Forward, un accelerator per startups nel Fashion Tech. Abbiamo scelto Lisa in quanto il suo progetto intende contribuire ad un’industria della moda più sostenibile a partire dalla produzione, passando dalla logistica, alla vendita al dettaglio e arrivando fino al riciclaggio post-consumo. Troverete il suo progetto e la sua testimonianza nella sezione Testimonials e sul nostro canale YouTube.
Rossella Monopoli
Rossella Monopoli e’ una storica dell’arte italiana in particolare sul Rinascimento in centro Italia. Rossella, ammessa come PhD student al Warburg Institute, ha elaborato un progetto intitolato “Prices and Patrons in L’Aquila and its area: 1461-1586”. Il progetto è orientato allo studio degli aspetti socio-economici legati alla produzione delle opere d’arte a L’Aquila tra il XV e il XVI secolo, e volto al confronto con altre realtà italiane come Firenze e Perugia.
Chris Mosz
Chris Mosz e’ un tenore americano con radici europee. Chris ha maturato un’esperienza significativa in America, in particolare in Oklahoma. Oggi Chris vive a Londra e frequenta il Royal College of Music.
