Professor Poli is a journalist and author writing on political, social and environmental issues. He has chaired and managed several public administration bodies and acts as an advisor to national political parties in Italy. He has served as President of the International Urban Fellows Association at Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies, Baltimore, Maryland. He has held previous positions, taught or lectured at a number of universities including the University of Bergamo, Johns Hopkins University, U.C. Berkeley, University of Colorado in Boulder, University of Trieste, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane. He is the sole author of nine books including Environmental Politics (Springer) and co-author or editor of a further thirteen books including Democrazia Virtuosa (Virtuous Democracy) (CEDAM).