Laura has been involved in the evaluation field for over 20 years. She has studied and worked at both the national (Italy) and at the international level. Her work focuses on the responsibility of the public sector in evaluation of regional development. She is currently working for Italy’s Evaluation Unit at the Department for Cohesion, which coordinates Italy’s National Evaluation System. Her main research interest is evaluation of central and supra-national public policies from local actors’ points of view. She served as a board member at the Italian Evaluation Association (AIV) and at the International Development Evaluation Association (IDEAS). She co-founded the LVD (Laboratorio di Valutazione Democratica), where she engages in exploring the issues involved in democratic evaluation practices.