Marco Cinelli is an Assistant Professor at Leiden University College (LUC) in the Hague and a guest researcher at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) of Leiden University. His research focuses on the development of tools to support decision-making for complex problems with multiple stakeholders and conflicting interests. The key drivers of his work are the frameworks and methodologies that can be used to guarantee a sustainable and resilient future for the generations to come. He leads the interdisciplinary laboratory Decision Engineering for Sustainability and Resilience (DESIRE).

More information about Marco Cinelli

Marco Cinelli is an Assistant Professor at Leiden University College, where he leads the interdisciplinary laboratory Decision Engineering for SustaInability and REsilience (DESIRE). The DESIRE laboratory aims at:

1. Providing state-of-the-art, adaptable and transparent strategies to formulate, model and support better decision-making;
2. Developing and applying decision support tools to tackle sustainability and resilience-related challenges;
3. Training future decision engineers to tackle complex decision-making.

His research is focused on the development of Decision Support Systems (DSS) with Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA). The main frameworks he uses include sustainability, resilience and risk assessment, while the main application areas are energy systems and technologies assessment, materials and processes development, and chemical safety. Marco shapes these DSS also in collaboration with colleagues at the Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML) of Leiden University, where he holds a guest researcher position.  

He is the primary developer of the MCDA Methods Selection Software (MCDA-MSS) which is the most comprehensive software for supporting complex decision-making and for recommending MCDA methods. In addition, he (co-)leads the development of other MCDA-based software, including the MCDA Index Tool, the Composite Indicator Analysis and Optimization tool, and the Weighting Methods Selection Software.

He is also Co-Chair of the Weighting Subtask of the Global Life Cycle Impact Assessment project of the Life Cycle Initiative (United Nations Environment Programme), aiming at establishing a comprehensive, consistent and global methodology to support life cycle-based environmental evaluations.

Before joining LUC, between September 2018 and September 2021, Marco was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow at (i) the Laboratory for Energy Systems Analysis, Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen PSI, Switzerland, (ii) the Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response (CESER) (formerly National Risk Management Research Laboratory (NRMRL)) of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Cincinnati, USA and (iii) the Institute of Computing Science at Poznan University of Technology, Poland. Between April 2017 and August 2018, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Future Resilient Systems (FRS) Programme of Singapore-ETH Centre in Singapore.  Prior to this, he was an early career fellow at the Intstitute of Advanced Study and research assistant in the Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Group of WMG Department, University of Warwick (UK). He also held, between May 2016 and February 2017, a visiting scientist position at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission in Ispra (VA), Italy. Marco received his Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Warwick (UK) in 2016.

Academic expertise

• Decision support systems
• Sustainability, resilience, risk assessment
• Energy systems analysis
• Evaluation metrics
• Sustainable nanotechnology
• Remediation of contaminated land

Courses

• Decision Analysis in Energy Systems
• Qualitative Research Methods
• Research Design in Earth, Energy and Sustainability
• Global Challenges: Sustainability
• Energy and Resource Management

Publications