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photo of Piera Morlacchi

Dr Piera Morlacchi

Location:JUBILEE BUILDING JUB-308
Email:P.Morlacchi@sussex.ac.uk

Biography

I study the multiple interactions of work, technology, organization, and policy to solve societal challenges, mostly in health contexts.

Current position and affiliations. I am a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Organization Studies. I joined the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Sussex in May 2003 and now based in the School of Business Management and Economics (BMEc) where I have joint affiliation to the department of Business and Management (B&M) and the Science and Technology Policy Research Unit (SPRU). I am also a member of the Centre for Global Health Policy.

Background and previous academic positions. My initial training was in engineering science. I hold Bachelor and Master degrees from Politecnico di Milano in Management and Industrial Engineering, with a specialization in complex systems modelling and artificial intelligence (dissertation title "Design of neural networks for modelling and managing of production systems").

After working as a research assistant during my master studies at graduation I was hired at the same institution as a research fellow and lecturer, with a joint affiliation to the Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering (DIG) and the School of Management (MIP), where I stayed for three years.

In 1998 I moved to the UK to do my PhD in the School of Management at the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Bath (UK), completing a thesis in 2003 on innovation in the medical device field (title "How new technologies become legitimated: the co-evolution of technologies and networks in the cardiac implantable device field") and working as a research fellow on a number of projects.

Other visiting positions. In addition to my full time positions now at Sussex and before in Milano and Bath, I have held a number of fellowships and visiting professorships at other institutions in Europe and in the US:

-2006: Summer Fellow, Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS), Stanford Â鶹´«Ã½, California; Visiting Scholar at the Santa Fe Institute, New Mexico, USA.

-2007-2008: Senior Research Fellow, International Center for Health Outcomes and Innovation Research (InCHOIR) and Adjunct Associate Research Scientist, Department of Surgery, Columbia Â鶹´«Ã½, New York, USA.

-2011: Visiting Professor, Department of Enviromental Economics, Â鶹´«Ã½ of Southern Denmark, Denmark.

-2012-2013: Visiting Professor, Department of Economics and Management, Universita' degli Studi di Trento, Italy.

-2014-2015: Visiting Professor, Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, Universita' degli Studi di Trento, Italy.

 

Role

Senior Lecturer / Associate Professor in Entrepreneurship and Organization Studies.

B&M Assessment and Exam Board Convenor.

 

Community and Business

- Advisor and mentor to med-tech and digital health startups and ventures.

- Advisor to Trentino Sviluppo, local development agency for the Trentino region (Italy), evaluating their early stage financing programme of innovative startups (2014-2015). Previously external evaluator of specialised incubator proposals, Bando Seed Money, Trentino Sviluppo (2013).

- Advisory board member and mentor of Enactus (an international student society about Entrepreneurial Action in Society) at the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Sussex (www.enactusuk.org) (2010-2014).

- Scientific advisor to the 'Culture and Innovation Dynamics (CID): Explaining the Uneven Evolution of Human Knowledge' project. European Commission (FP6). NEST Programme on New and Emerging Science and Technology (2007 - 2009).

- Co-chair and co-organiser of the SPRU 40th Anniversary Conference 'The Future of the Science Technology and Innovation Agenda: Linking Research and Practice', Â鶹´«Ã½ of Sussex, September 2006.

- Scientific advisor to the taskforce on 'Socio-economic Value of Medical Research'. European Science Foundation / European Medical Research Council (ESF / EMRC) (2004 - 2005).