Lorenzo Trombetta is qualified as an Associate Professor in two academic fields (14/B2–SPS/06; 10/N1–L-OR10) and has over 25 years of experience in research, journalism, and policy consultancy focused on the contemporary Middle East. His work is grounded in long-term field research in the Levant and the Eastern Mediterranean and supported by professional fluency in Arabic, English, French, and Italian.

He is the author of five monographs on the modern and contemporary history of the Middle East, with particular reference to Syria, as well as numerous scholarly articles and book chapters. Alongside his academic activity, he is an established journalist and media analyst, collaborating with universities, think tanks, policymakers, and international organizations to provide clear, evidence-based analysis of complex political and social dynamics.

An Arabist and historian of the modern and contemporary Levant, his research focuses on governance, migration, power structures, and conflict and post-conflict dynamics. His approach is interdisciplinary and multi-scalar, combining historiography, archival research, and qualitative fieldwork, with particular attention to state–local relations and political intermediaries.

His academic training took place in Italy, Syria, Jordan, and France. He holds an M.A. in Islamic Studies from Sapienza University of Rome and a Ph.D. in Arab Studies jointly supervised by Sapienza University and Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris 3), with a dissertation on the Syrian political and security system between 1970 and 2007.

Parallel to his academic career, Trombetta has worked extensively as a journalist in the Middle East. Based in Beirut since 2005, he covered major regional events and served as Middle East correspondent for the Italian news agency ANSA. He has also carried out long-term consultancy work for United Nations agencies and international organizations, focusing on Syria, Lebanon, and the wider Eastern Mediterranean.