Sienna’s research interests are broadly at the intersection of international political economy (IPE) and comparative politics with a focus on both positive (aid) and negative (sanctions) economic statecraft. Her research specialization includes economic security, public opinion on foreign policy, global governance, sanctions, anti-human trafficking policy, and archival research. For anyone following the “IPE” vs “geoeconomics” branding debate, Sienna identifies with both disciplines but believes IPE is a more appropriate fit for economic security studies because geoeconomics (which is a smaller subset of IPE) otherwise misses important and necessary traditional IR/IPE scholarship. The title of her PhD thesis is Essays on Political Behavior and Economic Statecraft: Sanctions, Reconstruction Financing, and Humanitarian Aid. 

Sienna has had a myriad of teaching experiences in her three years at Bocconi University. She has served as a TA on eight courses at the BA/MA levels, led lab seminars on HEC Paris and Bocconi’s dual degree “Data Analytics” course, served as a policy brief advisor to Master’s students at CIVICA universities around Europe, and judged student policy reports for the futurEU initiative. As part of her teaching assistantships, Sienna has given guest lectures on the following topics in Bocconi’s Master’s level IR course: the domestic politics of sanctions and international monetary policy, the domestic politics of trade and foreign policy, and two lectures on the international politics of coercion in international financial organizations. Sienna has also guest lectured on using geospatial API for data collection in Bocconi’s computational social science PhD course, and guest lectured on “International Sanctions, USAID and the Economic Policies of the Trump II Administration” at Universidad de la Sabana (Colombia, virtually). 

Outside of her academic lectures, Sienna has spoken about her research findings at the Vatican (Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences) and at the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank (Marrakech, Morocco, 2023). Her first ever public policy speech was delivered at age seventeen in the United Nations headquarters in New York City during the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) Week.

Finally, Sienna has given back to the political science and public policy student community by publishing an e-book in 2022 called The Ultimate Career Guide for Political Science Students. The e-book is the culmination of years-worth of Sienna’s personal career searching and networking experiences after working in international affairs and NGOs alongside her political science and economics studies on two continents. The career guide is meant to provide ambitious students of various social sciences with the confidence, information, and guidance they need to kick-start their career journey after a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree. 

You can connect with Sienna through the form below, or preferably, via email/LinkedIn.