Biography

Lorenzo Piccoli coordinates teaching and training activities at the Migration Policy Centre in collaboration with the School of Transnational Governance.

His research examines political contestation over migrants’ rights and access to protection mechanisms, including social protection, with a particular focus on Southern Europe. He has published widely in international peer-reviewed journals and regularly contributes to international media discussions on migration and citizenship. He is currently writing a book on the dilemmas faced by volunteers providing social services to migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers in Mediterranean countries.

Lorenzo Piccoli holds a PhD in Social and Political Sciences from the European University Institute (2018). Previously, he was the Scientific Coordinator of the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research for Migration and Mobility Studies (2019–2021) and as a Research Associate at the Global Citizenship Observatory (2018–2021).

Research projects, clusters and working groups

Completed

• Citizenship, migration and mobility in a pandemic: a global study of COVID-19 restrictions on human movement

Executive Education Involvement

• Migration Summer School
• Migration Communication Strategies: Effective Approaches to Depolarise the Debate
• Effective Migration Governance: Policy Impacts and Trade-Offs
• Migration Winter Academy: Fair work and safe opportunities for people on the move

Fields of expertise

Recent research output

• DZANKIC, Jelena; PICCOLI, Lorenzo; MANTHA-HOLLANDS, Ashley (2026), Configurations of citizenship governance : membership asymmetries in times of crisis, Article
• PICCOLI, Lorenzo (2026), Migration representation in movies from 1940 to 2024 : the spectacle of human mobility and the North-bound bias, Article
• PICCOLI, Lorenzo (2026), Migration movies database, Dataset
• DENNISON, James; PICCOLI, Lorenzo; DA SILVA CARMO DUARTE, Mariana (2025), Migration communication campaigns : towards a research agenda and open database, Article
• WANNER, Philippe; PICCOLI, Lorenzo (2025), The migrant mortality penalty in a pandemic : disparities in COVID-19 mortality among foreign residents in Switzerland, 2020, Article
• PICCOLI, Lorenzo; LEON SALVADOR, Erendira; MEIXNER-YUN, Tae Kyeong; MOVILEANU, Daniela Roxana; WALI AHMAD YAR, Ahmed (2025), Refugees as humanitarian actors : explaining the creation of organisations led by displaced and stateless persons in Europe, Working Paper