Irene Bono is Associate Professor of Politics at theUniversity of Turin, Italy, and President of the Funds for the Analysis ofPolitical Society (FASOPO), a French-based not for profit association that joins together an international network of researchers who share an approach of comparative historical sociology of politics to the study of the Global South.She currently teaches comparative politics and development politics, focusing on the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) and Africa, as well as research design and methodology. PhD inPolitical Science (University of Torino, 2009), with a thesis on political participation and development policies in Morocco, she holds a European MA inMediterranean Affairs (Ca' Foscari University, Montpellier University, Universitat Autonoma of Barcelona), and a Full University Degree (MA equivalent)in International Relations (University of Torino).

Before being hired at the University of Torino in 2012, she has been Research Fellow at the Center ofInternational Studies - CERI at SciencesPO, Paris (2011-2012), Researcherat the Center of Social, Economic and Business Studies, CESEM/HEM, Rabat (2011-2013)and Research fellow at the Department of Political Studies, University ofTorino (2009-2011). She collaborates ona regular basis with Hassan II University in Casablanca, Morocco, with theCenter of International Studies - CERI at SciencesPO, Paris, where she was visiting in 2015, with the Mediterranean center of sociology, political science and history - Meshopolis at SciencesPO Aix-en-Provence, where she was visiting in 2022, and with SciencesPO Bordeaux. Between 2014 and 2019 she directed the double degree Master program in Comparative Analysis ofMediterranean Societies (COSM), jointly promoted by the University of Turin and the Mohamed VI Polytechnic University of Rabat.

Her main research interests are nationalism and State-making in post-colonial countries, unconventional forms of political participation, the changing paradigms of development policies and the government of inequalities. She approaches these subjects by problematizing the notion of “sources”, combining fieldwork methodology and archival research. Her principal area of expertise are Maghreb countries, and particularly Morocco. Her last monograph, on the discreet forms of political action which participates to the Nation-State formation is Unentrepreneur du national au Maroc. Ahmed Benkirane, traces et discretion (Karthala, Paris 2024). She also published two monographs, on injustice and State-making inMaghreb countries (2015, in French) and on participatory narratives in Morocco (2010, in Italian), as well as several contributions in national and international peer-reviewed journals (International Development Policy, Urban Studies, Revue International de Politique Comparée, Politique Africaine, Sociétés Politiques Comparées, Rivista Meridiana, Afriche Orienti, Oriente Moderno) and for international publishers (Brill, Palgrave Macmillan, La Découverte, Karthala), and edited numerous works in English, French and Italian.

Irene Bono is very committed in experiencing ways for disseminating the results of her research beyond the format of scientific articles and essays. The website fondsahmedbenkirane.archiui.com makes accessible her research archive and presents the main results of her work through different formats of storytelling, podcasts and videos. This project has been presented twice in international festivals.