Making Sense of a Changing World with Corrado Scognamillo ('02)

For Corrado Scognamillo, studying literature had taught him how to interpret texts. What it hadn't taught him, he felt, was how to interpret the world. At the end of the 1990s, he was on track for an academic career after studying Italian literature at the École Normale Supérieure. But as the rise of new international trends reshaped global politics, he found himself increasingly drawn toward international affairs. "I felt like I was missing a direct connection with current events as they were unfolding," he says. That realization led him to Sciences Po in 2000.

Born in Italy but raised largely in France, Scognamillo arrived at Sciences Po after completing an internship at UNESCO, where he caught his first glimpse of the United Nations system. The experience confirmed both his interest in international organizations and the opportunity to broaden his knowledge.

"I realized I was missing the foundations of international affairs and international relations," he recalls. “Sciences Po felt like the place that could give me that foundation while opening doors to the kind of career I wanted.”

He enrolled in the master's program, taking courses in international affairs and development. What he remembers most, however, is the balance between broad perspectives and practical experience. Courses such as Espace mondial helped him understand the major political and economic trends shaping the world, while seminars on development projects and international organizations offered a much more concrete view of what working in the field actually looked like. "That combination stayed with me," he says. “You had the big picture, but you also had practitioners explaining how international cooperation works in reality.”

The diversity of the curriculum also stood out. Alongside courses in political science, Scognamillo remembers taking a seminar on underground and countercultural movements taught by an American professor- a reminder, he says, that Sciences Po encouraged intellectual curiosity beyond any single discipline.

He also appreciated the international character of the classroom. Some courses were taught in English, others in Italian, including one on international organizations and development led by Silvia da Rin Pagnetto, whose teaching left a lasting impression and later evolved into a mentorship.

Outside the classroom, Scognamillo immersed himself in student life. As an active member of the Italian-French student association, he helped organize cultural events and a panel discussion around the Italian elections. "It was a highlight of my time there," he says. “The friends I made during those years are still among my closest friends today.”

An internship in New York during his studies ultimately confirmed the direction he wanted to take: "that experience really convinced me that I wanted to pursue international development and work with the United Nations." The road there, however, was anything but straightforward. "Many of my classmates seemed to have a very clear career path," he says. “Mine wasn't like that.”

After graduating, he remained in academia, earning a research fellowship that allowed him to pivot from literature to political science, focusing on the relationship between development, conflict, and peacebuilding. He taught at Sciences Po Lyon and later at Sciences Po Paris and the Sorbonne, collaborated with CERI, and worked as a consultant for organizations including the French Ministry of Defense and the United Nations in Kosovo.

Those experiences gradually led him beyond academia and into international policymaking. He joined the OECD, then the European Commission in Brussels, where he served as the focal point for conflict and peacebuilding within the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation.

In 2012, another work opportunity- as well as a personal one- brought him across the Atlantic. "I came to New York for love," he says with a smile. “My future wife was here, and we had been in a long-distance relationship. Fortunately, it also happened to be where I wanted to build the next chapter of my career.”

He has now spent more than a decade at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where he supports UN offices across the globe by monitoring political, socio-economic and environmental risks and using complex predictive analytics to recommend measures aimed at preventing crises. Rather than focusing on the crisis itself, his work centers on understanding what makes societies more vulnerable in order to help governments prevent future shocks and prepare before emergencies unfold.

"It's about giving analysts reliable evidence, effective tools, and solid methodologies" he explains. “Ultimately, we want better data to lead to better decisions.”

That work recently culminated in the development of the Risk Anticipation Data Hub, an AI-enabled platform, developed with Google, that organizes thousands of publicly available indicators into an accessible resource for governments, researchers, and development practitioners around the world.

Looking back, Scognamillo sees Sciences Po as the place that gave him both the intellectual foundation and the practical perspective to make the transition from academia to international affairs. 

"I already had years of academic training before arriving," he says. "What Sciences Po taught me was how to engage with a different audience." Learning from professionals working in international organizations made that shift possible. It showed him how ideas move from research into policymaking and real-world action.

Today, after building a career across academia, European institutions, and the United Nations, he encourages current students to embrace opportunities that extend beyond the classroom. Having lived in Europe, Africa, and the United States, he believes one of Sciences Po's greatest untapped strengths is its alumni community. "Use the network," he says. "It's a window into the world."