Marcello Mortillaro is Head of Applied Research at the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences (University of Geneva), where he leads interdisciplinary research projects in collaboration with public institutions and private-sector organizations. His work focuses on emotions, emotional intelligence, and the development of evidence-based approaches to professional practice and organizational development. Dr. Mortillaro is the author of more than 50 publications in international scientific journals and regularly contributes to public and media discussions on emotions and emotional intelligence in the workplace. He developed the Geneva Emotional Competence Test, one of the first performance-based instruments specifically designed to assess emotional intelligence in professional contexts. The tool is currently used internationally in recruitment, leadership development, and staff training initiatives. His recent work explores how emotional competencies can support work performance, professional relationships, and human-centered organizational cultures. In collaboration with IFOTES, he is contributing to the development of scientifically grounded methodologies for data collection, evaluation, and practice-based research in the helping professions.

Michele Costola is Associate Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy). He is also a visiting fellow at the ICMA Centre, Henley Business School, University of Reading (UK), and an external affiliate at the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE in Frankfurt. His research focuses on financial economics and empirical finance, exploring financial, geopolitical, and energy markets, contagion dynamics, sentiment analysis, and the intersection of sustainability and ESG risks. He is engaged in international projects and policy initiatives on sustainable finance, contributing to the development of frameworks for de-risking energy efficiency investments and integrating environmental performance into financial risk assessment.