Giulia Celentano, photo by Claudia Cossu
Dr. Giulia Celentano brings with her a highly qualified and interdisciplinary profile, shaped by experience in emergency contexts that combines hands-on operational work in the construction sector with research and academic coordination activities.
Throughout her career, she has developed and led applied research projects in collaboration with Swiss partners, as well as local and international organizations active in the humanitarian and development sectors.
Her work is distinguished by a strongly participatory approach, aimed at fostering dialogue with stakeholders, strengthening the capacities of local partners, and ensuring high scientific quality of outcomes, translated into academic publications, operational guidelines, and training programs and tools.
Thanks to an established network within the Global Shelter Cluster, the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and various United Nations agencies, Giulia Celentano has in-depth knowledge of sector mechanisms, enabling her to actively contribute to strengthening research and advancing the activities of the Centre for Development and Cooperation.
“I take on this role with great enthusiasm, with the aim of strengthening the Centre’s transdisciplinary dimension by opening it up to strategic topics such as integrated planning of settlements and emergency shelters, and the interfaces between health, the built environment, climate, and essential services in fragile contexts,” says Giulia Celentano. “Within this framework, the Centre serves both the sector and an increasingly emergency-driven global context, generating concrete and meaningful results in the field of cooperation and humanitarian action”.
The Direction of the Department of Environment Constructions and Design SUPSI, together with the SUPSI Direction, congratulate Giulia Celentano and wish her and the entire team every success. They also thank and express sincere gratitude to Professor Claudio Valsangiacomo, who will support the transition, for his invaluable and decisive contribution over many years to the growth and consolidation of the Centre for Development and Cooperation.
“Looking back at the Centre’s journey since its founding in 2008, I feel deep satisfaction in having contributed to its growth within SUPSI, promoting research and education in our field,” said Claudio Valsangiacomo. He continues: “It has been a privilege to support initiatives that have strengthened SUPSI’s role within the Swiss academic landscape, such as the SUDAC network (swissuniversities Development and Cooperation Network) dedicated to international cooperation. With great confidence, I hand over the role to Giulia Celentano, certain that her vision and our collaboration will guide the Centre toward new paths of innovation and impact.”
Centre for Development and Cooperation SUPSI
Founded in 2008, the Centre promotes applied research and education, knowledge production, and innovation in the fields of development, international cooperation, and humanitarian aid. It addresses the public, non-governmental organizations, public and academic institutions, social enterprises, and the private sector.
Among the key activities developed under the Centre’s umbrella over nearly twenty years are:
- two CAS (Certificate of Advanced Studies) programs: Cooperation and Development, in collaboration with ETH Zurich, the Graduate Institute in Geneva, and FOSIT (currently in its 12th edition); WASH-Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Humanitarian and Developing Contexts, in collaboration with Eawag and the University of Neuchâtel (currently in its 7th edition)
- a quadripartite water partnership between the Lugano utilities (AIL-Aziende Industriali Lugano) and Hawassa Water Facility, together with SUPSI and Hawassa University in Ethiopia
- management of the Cluster of Cooperation East Africa on behalf of the SUDAC network: an academic cluster active in research across various sectors in the East African region
- projects in Ethiopia, including the “Green it!” initiative promoting appropriate technologies
The current team includes the new Head, Claudio Valsangiacomo, Anna Jaquinta, Claudia Howald, Huda Shabta, and Lorenzo Fontana, who is based in Ethiopia to closely follow ongoing projects in the region. In addition, more than twenty SUPSI researchers are involved in international cooperation through both research and educational activities.
The Centre’s research areas are fourfold: Migration and society; One Health – Water, Sanitation and Hygiene; Appropriate technologies and social Innovation; Art and society: creative paths to peace and social transformation.
The Centre is affiliated with ISAAC-Institute of Applied Sustainability to the Built Environment SUPSI, also based within the Department of Environment Constructions and Design in Mendrisio.