2025 Christmas Meeting | LEAP activities annual review

15th December 2025– When research takes shape in dialogue, questions open up new perspectives and the community becomes the protagonist of the debate

LEAP Christmas Meeting was held at Fondazione Invernizzi in Milan, on 15th December 2025. It was a moment of encounter and exchange dedicated to the research community of LEAP – Laboratory for Effective Anti-Poverty Policies. Established with the support of Fondazione Invernizzi, LEAP is a research centre at Milan Bocconi University that uses rigorous methods to study how to make anti-poverty policies more effective. The Christmas Meeting was an opportunity to take stock of activities carried out during the year and to deal with new research evidence on issues that are central to development and public policies.

The meeting opened with institutional greetings by Michela Carlana, Director of LEAP, followed by a presentation by Luca Privinzano, Associate Director of Research, who reviewed the main results and projects of 2025.

The second part was devoted to the presentation of recent research. Andrea Guariso (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and LEAP Faculty Affiliate) presented a study on the effectiveness of humanitarian aid in Lebanon, including new experimental evidence on what happens when such programmes are reduced or discontinued.

Next, Angelica Bozzi, PhD student and LEAP Student Affiliate, presented research on the use of artificial intelligence in personnel selection, analysing its implications in terms of efficiency, trust and fairness. Eventually, Beatrice Montano, also a PhD student and LEAP Student Affiliate, dealt with a study on gender norms and their political perception in rural contexts in Tanzania.

The meeting ended with closing remarks by Gianantonio Bissaro, Managing Director of Fondazione Invernizzi. The Christmas Meeting was attended by a particularly high number of PhD students and young researchers, which confirmed LEAP’s role as a space for dialogue and growth within the academic community.

LEAP Christmas Meeting thus confirms its status as an important event to share results, foster interdisciplinary exchange and strengthen a research community committed to studying effective policies against poverty.