About me
I am a dual national by birth (British-Italian) and a naturalized Senegalese citizen. Nomadic spirit, I have lived and worked in different European, African and Asian countries. Since 2009, I am based in the Netherlands. I have two beautiful children and in my spare time I love meeting people from different walks of life, am a keen Instagram user, enjoy outdoor hiking and biking, as well as reading and listening to music.
About my work
Borders fascinate me. Especially when they can be crossed. I specialize in research about international migration and in research applied to different professional fields, from international development and humanitarianism to healthcare and sustainable energy. Ethnography is my core research method.
I spent 20+ years researching how migrants live their lives across multiple worlds, promoting development and change in their home and host countries. From my ethnographic approach to research and my work among migrants I have learned that innovation requires stepping out of our comfort zone by experiencing and engaging with different worlds.
Today, I carry this insight into cross-border collaborations with organizations and companies, in which I use ethnography to address their challenges. I ask questions, observe, listen and organize information in a coherent narrative to tell otherwise unseen stories. People I have worked with say our collaboration helped them reframe problems in a new light.
I joined the Social and Cultural Anthropology Department at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2014. Prior to this and after obtaining a PhD in 2006, I held positions at universities in Italy, Senegal, the UK and the Netherlands. I have extensive experience working at the crossroads between academia and practice, and have conducted research-based assignments for the European Commission, United Nations, intergovernmental agencies, NGOs and industry companies. Before making research my passion, I was an international development and humanitarian practitioner in Africa and Asia.
I spent 20+ years researching how migrants live their lives across multiple worlds, promoting development and change in their home and host countries. From my ethnographic approach to research and my work among migrants I have learned that innovation requires stepping out of our comfort zone by experiencing and engaging with different worlds.
Today, I carry this insight into cross-border collaborations with organizations and companies, in which I use ethnography to address their challenges. I ask questions, observe, listen and organize information in a coherent narrative to tell otherwise unseen stories. People I have worked with say our collaboration helped them reframe problems in a new light.
I joined the Social and Cultural Anthropology Department at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2014. Prior to this and after obtaining a PhD in 2006, I held positions at universities in Italy, Senegal, the UK and the Netherlands. I have extensive experience working at the crossroads between academia and practice, and have conducted research-based assignments for the European Commission, United Nations, intergovernmental agencies, NGOs and industry companies. Before making research my passion, I was an international development and humanitarian practitioner in Africa and Asia.
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