Leonardo Orlando is an Affiliate Junior Researcher at the Center for International Studies of Sciences Po. He holds a PhD in political science and international relations (Sciences Po), and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy (Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne).

In his doctoral dissertation he researched the dynamics of environmental conflict and cooperation in transboundary waters. His case studies were Lake Victoria in East Africa and Uruguay River in South America, where he has conducted extensive fieldwork involving over one hundred interviews. Using an eclectic approach that embraces political science, sociology, philosophy and neuroscience, his research opens a new path for the study of international conflicts, that focuses on the interplay of the cognitive aspects of human beings with the institutional and material dimensions of geopolitical processes.

He has taught at Sciences Po (Paris School of International Affairs; School of Public Affairs; University College), in Argentina (Universidad Argentina de la Empresa; Universidad de Ciencias Empresariales y Sociales; Universidad de Belgrano), in Germany (Justus Liebig University Giessen) and in Slovakia (University of Economics in Bratislava). He was also Visiting Research Scholar at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, Visiting Fellow at the University of Oslo, Junior Research Fellow at the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA-Nairobi) and Research Fellow for the project "Environmental Diplomacy and Geopolitics" funded by the European Commission (H2020), as well as a recipient of the Eiffel Excellence Scholarship of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and co-winner of the World Peace Foundation's international scientific competition prize.