Matteo Colombo is an ISPI Associate Research Fellow in the MENA Centre and junior researcher at Clingendael's Conflict Research Unit. He obtained a PhD in Political Studies at the University of Milan (NASP Consortium), with a thesis on the Twitter discourse about IS in Arabic. He holds a bachelor degree in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Milan, a Master in International Relations from Oxford Brookes and a Master in Middle East Politics from SOAS, University of London. He also holds a Master Degree in journalism at IULM University in Milan.

He is a researcher, professional journalist and infographic designer. His articles have appeared in Corriere della Sera, Panorama.it and Rivista Studio. Before joining ISPI he worked as correspondent from Cairo for TgCom24 during the post-revolutionary transition in Egypt. During this period, he studied modern standard Arabic.

His main interests are in social dynamics, social media, jihadism, Arab politics, Sectarianism and the Italian Foreign Policy.