Arianna is Professor of Political Sociology in the Department of Economics, Society and Politics at the University of Urbino, Italy. Prior to that, she was Associate Professor of Local Politics and Public Policy, and the Deputy Director of the Local Governance Research Centre (LGRC) at De Montfort University. Between 2019 and 2020, and again between 2021 and 2022, she was Director of IPPR North, the leading think-tank for the North of England.
Arianna’s research focuses on local and territorial governance, devolution, centre-local relations, regional inequalities and democracy. Recently, her work in these areas has concentrated on devolution in England, and in particular in the North; the politics, governance and political economy of regional policy; the changing landscape of local government; the new municipalism; and regionalism. She has published on these topics in a range of journals such as Environment and Planning C, Territory, Politics, Governance, Policy & Politics, Regional and Federal Studies, The Political Quarterly and Political Studies.
Arianna’s work actively engages with policy and practice. She has published many influential policy reports (e.g. with IPPR North, APSE, Unlock Democracy) and regularly provides evidence to Parliamentary Committees and policy advice to policy makers, in particular on devolution, local government and multi-level governance dynamics.
Arianna regularly appears on international, national and regional broadcast media, including SkyNews and BBC News, and writes for a range of online and print publications.
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