Advisory Board WIIS Italy
Irene Fellin
Founder and Honorary President
Irene Fellin is NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative on Women, Peace and Security.
Prior to this appointment, Irene Fellin was responsible for research on gender, peace and security issues at the Institute for International Affairs (IAI), where she mainly collaborated on research projects related to the implementation of Resolution no. 1325 (2000) of the United Nations Security Council on “Women, Peace and Security” in Mediterranean countries, and within NATO and the OSCE. She coordinated a gender mediation project in the Mediterranean area, while also conducting trainings on the pillars of the “Women, Peace and Security” agenda.
She holds a Masters in “Women’s Rights and Gender Issues” from the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara. Before working at IAI, she was adviser to the Special Representative of the NATO Secretary General for “Women, Peace and Security” issues and a consultant to UNDP and UNICEF in Ankara.
She founded the Italian antenna of the WIIS – Women in International Security Association and is the Honorary President.
Ha fondato l’antenna italiana dell’Associazione WIIS – Women in International Security ed è la Presidente Onoraria.
Lia Quartapelle
President of the Advisory Board
At 17 she moved to Wales with a scholarship where she completed her studies at the United World College of the Atlantic, an international high school that supports young people from all over the world aiming at promoting intercultural and interreligious dialogue.
In 2005 she obtained a Masters in Economics from the SOAS (School of Oriental and African Studies) in London and in 2012 a PhD in Development Economics from the University of Pavia. She worked for the CIVICUM Foundation which deals with the transparency of public administrations. In 2007 she moved to Mozambique where she worked with the government as an economic analyst of development aid policies.
Previously she has also worked at ISPI, the Institute for International Political Studies, in Milan, a think tank that provides consultancy for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and creates bridges between Italian economic and cultural realities and foreign countries. Lia also teaches at the Development Policies at the University of Pavia.
Her political experience began in 2007 with the Democratic Party. She was among the founders and secretary of the 02PD, which is now the club with the most members in Milan. In the 2009 primary, she was elected member of the National Assembly. Since 2013 she has been a Member of Parliament and Secretary of the Foreign Affairs Commission and a member of the National Directorate of the Democratic Party until her election as political party group leader in February 2016.
She is currently the PD group leader at the Foreign Affairs Commission and was appointed Head of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the National Secretariat. She is also Research Associate of the Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale in Milan (ISPI).
Members of the Advisory Board
Elisabetta Belloni, Director General of the Security Intelligence Department
Emanuela C. Del Re, European Union Special Representative for the Sahel
Alba Lamberti, Deputy Director European Council on Foreign Relations
Nathalie Tocci, Director Istituto Affari Internazionali
Marta Dassù, Editor-in-Chief of Aspenia e Senior Director Europe of The Aspen Institute
Marta Grande, Member of the Italian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Marina Sereni, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
