Maria Salvetti is a Part-time Professor and the Director of Florence School of Regulation Water and Waste Area. She also worked as a water economist and policy analyst for the past 20 years in several institutions. She worked for the Water Governance Programme of the OECD, and was also an expert for the World Bank: Policy/Institutions/Regulation analysis in various countries, Danube Water Program, Mid-term review of the Portugal Water Strategy, Analysis of the water supply and sanitation services in Central Asia, Financial sustainability of the water sector in Haiti, Reform of the water subsidies in Algeria, Strategic Financial Plan to reach EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive in Romania, Aggregation of water and sanitation services. Former chief economist for the French national agency for water and aquatic environment, Maria Salvetti produced the first report on water services performance presented during the World Water Forum (2012). From 2008 to 2010, she worked for the largest water service in Europe (SEDIF) providing economic and financial advice in the preparation of the PPP contract. She has also worked as senior economist for Seine Normandy water Agency (France) and the Environment Agency (England & Wales). Maria also performed numerous training programmes and academic courses and lectures related to water economics (Sorbonne University, Sorbonne Business School, Paris School of Economics, Sciences Po Paris & Lille).

Stéphane Saussier is Scientific Advisor at the Florence School of Regulation. He is also a Professor of Economics and Management at the Sorbonne Business School. He is a specialist of contract and organization theories. Since 2009, he has been running a research group working on the Economics of Public Private Partnerships at the Sorbonne.

He published more than 40 articles, many in international journals such as the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Industrial and Corporate Change, Review of Industrial Organization, International Journal of the Economics and Business, European Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Marketing Channels, Journal of Transport and Economic Policy, Utilities Policy… He is also regularly involved in reports for international institutions such as OECD and European Parliament.

For the last 10 years, he has expanded his work towards public private contracts and the organization of public services. He has developed research studies in the water sector with the French authority in charge of water services performance indicators and sunshine regulation. He joined the Florence School of Regulation in 2013.

Chiara Natalie Focacci is specialised in labour market policies, technological change, and the circular economy. She holds a PhD in Economics (University of Bologna), a PhD in Law (Erasmus University Rotterdam), and an MSc in Economic History (University of Oxford). She recently joined FSR Water as a Research Associate to partake in the EU-funded InnWater project led by Maria Salvetti and interested in enhancing water governance practices for a more sustainable future. Previously, she worked at UCL with Carlota Perez on the EU-funded Beyond 4.0. project, where she investigated reskilling measures during technological revolutions across countries and over time. She is also a Research Affiliate at the Law & Economic Centre of ETH and a Research Fellow at HEC Liege’s Laboratory for Studies on New Forms of Work, Innovation and Change. Her work has been published in international peer-reviewed journals including Technology in Society, International Review of Law & Economics, Social Policy & Administration, European Journal of Law & Economics, International Journal of Sociology & Social Policy, Plos ONE, Quantity & Quality.

Selected research output:

Focacci, C. N., & Perez, C. (2022). The importance of education and training policies in supporting technological revolutions: A comparative and historical analysis of UK, US, Germany, and Sweden (1830–1970). Technology in Society, 70, 102000. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2022.102000

Focacci, C. N. (2021). Technological unemployment, robotisation, and green deal: A story of unstable spillovers in China and South Korea (2008–2018). Technology in Society, 64, 101504. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2020.101504

Focacci, C. N. (2020). “You reap what you sow”: Do active labour market policies always increase job security? Evidence from the Youth Guarantee. European Journal of Law and Economics, 49(3), 373-429. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10657-020-09654-6

Focacci, C. N., & Quintavalla, A. (2020). Unpredictable spillovers among water uses? An analysis of agricultural, industrial, and household uses of water in the Balkans. Plos one, 15(7), e0235079. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0235079

Ian is a Project Manager of the FSR and works with the team on all externally funded projects.

Since graduating, he has worked at three of the former UK Research Councils (ESRC, AHRC and STFC), now UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), as programme manager for a wide range of national and international funding schemes. He subsequently worked at the UK’s liaison office for European funding programmes in Brussels, the UK Research Office (UKRO), for more than four years. He joined the EUI in March 2018 initially working on the 2018 and 2019 editions of the Institute’s largest annual conference, The State of the Union, before joining the RSCAS and FSR in October 2019.