Meet the team

Cristiano Codagnone

Cristiano Codagnone is partner and CEO at Open Evidence SL, which he founded in 2013. He is involved in client development and supervises projects.

Since 2005 he has designed and managed more that 70 -European applied policy studies for various DGs and agencies of the European Commission and for the European Parliament. He holds a Master of Science in economics from Bocconi University of Milan and a PhD from New York University.

He is a leading expert in behavioural economics as applied to policy. Since 2012 he has designed and directed or contributed to 19 behavioural consumers studies for various DGs and Agencies of the European Commission that have involved behavioural experiments, surveys, focus groups, in depth interviews, systematic reviews, econometric analysis and recommendations. He also worked in various other policy domains such as such as digital transformation, socio-economic and ethical implications of Artificial Intelligence, digital government and digital health, social inclusion, labour market policies, R&D and innovation policy. Recently he has written for the ITRE Committee of the European Parliament a report assessing the European Commission policies for the digital decade and digital autonomy.

Cristiano holds also an academic position at Milan State University. He has been Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Media and Communication Department of LSE, and he has served as Scientific Officer at the United Nations (2003-2004) and at the European Commission (at JRC-IPTS Seville, 2009-2011 and 2015-2016).He has more than 50 scientific publications between articles in peer reviewed journals, books, short monographies, and book chapters.

Diego Polo-Friz

Diego Polo-Friz is a Partner at Open Evidence, where he is active on client development and management.

Before joining Open Evidence, Diego was General Manager of Finint, a financial intermediary (a so-called Payment Institution, according to the EU Payment Service Directive) active as a Western Union agent in Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. From 1993 to 2005, he was first a Consultant and then a Partner with McKinsey & Co. He has also been the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tucano Urbano (a motorbike equipment company). Diego holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Bocconi University in Milan.

Diego is also a Professor of Management at the State University of Milan, and a Board Member of MBE Worldwide (of the brand Mail Boxes Etc., globally).

Besides being an Italian native speaker, Diego is fluent in English.

Lucie Lechardoy

Lucie Lechardoy is a manager at Open Evidence with a background in political sciences and EU policy. She manages projects for the European institutions including evaluations, impact assessments and exploratory studies in the fields of digital policies, employment and consumer issues. She masters a range of qualitative research techniques, analysis and reporting.

Before joining Open Evidence in 2019, Lucie was a Senior Research Manager at VVA, a public policy consultancy. Previously, Lucie worked at the Executive Agency for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (EASME) as project officer where she participated in the launch and the management of calls for proposals under the COSME programme. Prior to this, Lucie was a junior project manager in the consultancy Business & Strategies Europe, where she managed European framework contracts and tenders for DG DEVCO in the field of economic development. Lucie holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Sciences and a Master’s degree in European Affairs from Sciences Po Bordeaux (France).

In her free time, Lucie enjoys cultural activities such as going to the cinema, museums and music festivals.

A native French speaker, Lucie is fluent in English, with intermediate Spanish and Dutch.

Giovanni Liva

Giovanni Liva is a Manager at Open Evidence, where he works mainly on digital policy, innovation and behavioural studies. Giovanni has 7 years of experience working on EU policies and he has been involved in the management and delivery of several projects for European Institutions. He masters a range of qualitative research techniques, analysis and reporting.

Before joining Open Evidence, Giovanni was a consultant at Edelman, a leading public affairs consultancy, where he conducted EU regulatory and political analysis for private companies. He also worked for the European Parliament Research Service, providing policy research and in-depth analysis to support the work of the Members of the European Parliament. Giovanni holds a Master Degree in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor Degree in Philosophy from the University of Milan.

Giovanni is passionate about outdoor sports and football, and he loves spending time with his young daughter.

Besides being an Italian native speaker, Giovanni is fluent in English.

Luca Bisaschi

Luca Bisaschi is a Manager at Open Evidence with a background in European integration and public policy evaluation. He manages projects for European institutions dealing with different policy fields, such as health policy (particularly on tobacco control), innovation, and digitalization.  He is familiar with a wide set of methodologies, including evaluation, impact assessment, costs benefits analysis, stakeholders’ consultation and literature reviews.

Before joining Open Evidence, Luca worked as a Senior Research Manager at VVA – a Brussels-based consultancy and as a Researcher at Centre for Industrial Studies. Over the course of his university and professional career, Luca has lived in 5 different countries (Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, and Saudi Arabia). Luca holds a Master Degree in Political Science and a Bachelor Degree in History from the University of Milan.  

In his free time, Luca enjoys music festivals, history, literature and Inter Milan.

Besides being Italian native speaker, Luca is fluent in English, French and Spanish.

Paolo Calderoni

Paolo Calderoni is a research consultant with experience in public administration and consulting. At Open Evidence he works on research projects for different DGs of the European Commission and his tasks include carrying out literature reviews, applying qualitative research techniques, conducting case studies and focus groups, writing reports and policy recommendations, with a focus on digital technologies in the public sector, platform economy, healthcare, education, and food policy.

Before joining Open Evidence, Paolo worked as business analyst at Deloitte Consulting and as student intern at the Embassy of Italy in Santiago (Chile). Paolo holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Sciences and a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the University of Pavia (Italy).

In his free time, Paolo enjoys travelling, riding his Vespa, and hiking with his boxer dog. A native Italian speaker, Paolo is fluent in English and Spanish, with intermediate French and German.

Inazio Garces

Inazio Garces is an economist specialising in European public policy implementation and evaluation. His work involves conducting research for European institutions, including impact assessments, and leading case studies on the topics of digitalisation, labour economics, healthcare and behavioural science. He succeeds in combining qualitative and quantitative research techniques to employ data for better analysis and reporting of social topics used in policy recommendations.

Before joining Open Evidence, Inazio worked as a trainee assistant at the European Parliament. Inazio holds an MSc in Economics of Public Policy from the Barcelona School of Economics, and a BA with honours in Politics and International Relations from the University of Manchester. His thesis focused on the role of regional segregation on geographic mobility. Inazio has also received economics training from the LSE and Erasmus School of Economics.

In his free time, Inazio enjoys reading, going to museums and exploring the countryside by going on runs and hikes. Inazio is a native English and Spanish speaker, is fluent in French and understands Italian.

Sara Nardoni

Sara Nardoni is a research consultant with experience in public administration and consulting. At Open Evidence her work consists in conducting research projects for European Institutions and her tasks include carrying out literature reviews, applying qualitative research techniques, conducting evaluations and impact assessments, writing reports and policy recommendations.

Before joining Open Evidence, Sara worked as a consultant at Business Integration Partners and Deloitte Consulting in Milan. Sara holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Economics and Management and a Master’s Degree (cum laude) in Economics and Management of the Government and International Organizations, both from Bocconi University (Milan).

In her free time, Sara enjoys travelling, reading, visiting art exhibitions and painting in watercolours. 

Sara is a native Italian speaker, fluent in English, with intermediate French and Spanish.

Marcello Negrini

Marcello Negrini is a behavioural researcher with a background in psychology and economics.

His passion is to conduct experiments to generate behavioural insights relevant to policy and organizations. He investigates human decisions, biases, and beliefs using an interdisciplinary perspective that integrates insights and methods from psychology, economics, and neuroscience.

Prior to joining Open Evidence as a consultant, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Paris School of Economics, CNRS (France). He received a PhD in economics from the School of Business and Economics at Maastricht University (The Netherlands) and a Research Master’s (cum laude) and Bachelor’s degrees in psychology from Pavia University (Italy). He published his research in peer-reviewed scientific journals and he presented his findings at several international scientific conferences and workshops. He was a visiting scholar at leading research institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University (USA), University of Pennsylvania (USA), New York University Shanghai (China), and University of East London (UK).

Marcello loves hiking in the Italian Alps and riding his mountain bike. He is a native Italian speaker, fluent in English and learning Spanish.

Andrea Pivotto

Andrea Pivotto is a Data Scientist and Machine Learning engineer with a strong background in physical modelling and analytical reasoning. His work consists of developing Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems to discover hidden patterns from data and utilize them to gain a more comprehensive grasp of complex scenarios. He is focused on creating value from pre-existing information and increasing knowledge of phenomena with interesting insights. He believes that every good decision comes from a very deep understanding of the situation at hand, and he considers AI an exceptional tool to gain this awareness.

Prior to joining Open Evidence in 2021, he worked as a Machine Learning Specialist developing pipelines and implementing AI software solutions for a series of projects in various domains of knowledge (e.g., marketing, biomedical, business etc.). His main expertise fields are decisional algorithms, advanced Natural Language Processing, non-conventional neural networks application and complex networks analysis. He completed a Master in “Data Science & AI”, with a fully sponsored scholarship. He is currently finishing a degree in Physics at the Bicocca University of Milan, with a thesis focused on the application of Machine Learning methodologies for particles discovery.

In his free time Andrea loves reading, listening to music, and playing chess. He is a black belt in Judo, a certified whisky taster, and a big Star Wars fan.

Andrea is a native Italian speaker, is fluent in English and intermediate in French.

Emanuele Rebesco

Emanuele Rebesco is the Open Evidence Chief Data Scientist and Machine Learning Engineer. In addition to having a solid background in numerical analysis and physical modeling, he also has experience as a software developer. His work consists in designing and developing the technological architectures for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Science. Emanuele’s main strength resides in his knowledge ranging over different fields, from advanced NLP to spatial-temporal analysis, combined with remarkable programming skills in different languages and frameworks. He believes that every successful transition both in life and career occurs one step at a time, by trial and error, experimentation, and incremental experience.

WIth a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Turin Polytechnic University and a postgraduate master course in Data Science & AI in 2019, he is currently completing a Master degree in Data Science from Bicocca University of Milan.  After graduating, he acquired work experience as a researcher engineer in multinational companies, laboratory research institutions, and system integrators. In addition, he acquired experience as industrial process specialists, both in Italy and abroad.

In his free time Emanuele loves cooking, playing the drum, reading, and practice Krav Maga. In addition, he holds an airplane pilot license! He is always in doubt between Star Wars and Star Trek but will watch both sagas.

Besides being an Italian native speaker, Emanuele is fluent in English and intermediate in French.

Giacomo Stazi

Giacomo Stazi is a microeconomist with a strong background in statistics and econometrics. His work involves applying econometric and data science methods to analyse social topics, ranging from consumers’ behaviour to policy evaluation. Using data to find innovative links between social phenomena and inform evidence-based policy is what captivates him.

Prior to joining Open Evidence in 2021, Giacomo worked as a data scientist in the Global Pricing Team of HP Inc., building complex models to study the effect of pricing and sales decisions on business performance. Giacomo holds a MSc in Economics from the Barcelona School of Economics and a summa cum laude MSc in Economics from Bocconi University. In addition, he has worked for one year as a Research Assistant at the University of Chicago, studying the impact of social norms on human behaviour in a variety of settings. 

Giacomo is a true outdoor enthusiast, practicing rock climbing, cycling and trail running on a daily basis. But he also enjoys photography, and his pictures have been among the finalists of the 2021 World Sports Photography Awards.

Giacomo speaks Italian, English and Spanish.

Carlos Torrado

Carlos Torrado is a consultant with a background in EU public policy, political science, and economics. His work involves conducting studies for European institutions, including evaluations, impact assessments, and conducting data collection activities. His work focuses primarily on health policy but extends to digitalisation and behavioural science. He uses a combination of primary and secondary research to provide accurate and impactful analyses and insights.

Before joining Open Evidence, Carlos worked as an intern at Cancer Research UK. He holds an MSc in European and International Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a BA with honours in Politics and Economics from the University of Nottingham. His MSc final project was a policy study on the creation of a European Policy for Preventable Cancers.

Carlos enjoys spending his free time exploring cultural activities in Milan, and playing sports, such as paddle and tennis. Carlos is fluent in Spanish, English, and Italian.