Minister of Defence

Dr. Elisabetta TRENTA

Elisabetta TRENTA was born in Velletri, Rome, on 4 June 1967.

She is Senior Programme Manager for Development, Economics, and International Cooperation and has a 20-year expertise in the management of programmes and projects.

A large part of her expertise comes from her work within SudgestAid, a small and dynamic company operating in post-conflict scenarios, such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yemen, and Lebanon.

Her interest for national security and defence originated from these commitments, especially after her first deployment to Iraq on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On that occasion, she served as a political advisor to the Italian forces’ commanding officer in Al-Nasiriyah, Iraq, and was responsible of the governance issues within the local Provincial Reconstruction Team.

On 30 July 2008 she received her commission as Captain of the Reserve.

Mrs. Trenta has been a researcher on defence and security issues with the Military Centre for Strategic Studies (CEMISS) in 2016-2017. She has also deployed within UNIFIL in Lebanon as Country Advisor to the Italian Commanding Officer in Tibnin (2009) and has attended several national and international military exercises.

Between 2010 and 2011, she deployed to Lebanon within SudgestAid to support the decentralisation efforts of the local Ministry of Interior and Municipalities.

From 2013 to 2014, she was project manager in Libya for the reintegration of former combatants into the Archaeological Sites Task Force.

Mrs. Trenta has a wide-ranging knowledge and expertise of EU projects and procedures, especially those related to the EU Framework Contract – Lots 7 (Governance) and 12 (Standards), that she dealt with between 2004 and 2009.

She graduated in Political and Economic Sciences at ‘La Sapienza’ University, Rome (1994). Later, she obtained:

a Master’s Degree in International Development at STOA – School of Management (1996);
a Master’s Degree in Intelligence and Security from the University of Malta – Link Campus (2008);
an online Master’s Degree in Geopolitics under the title ‘Chaos and Power: the Equation of Change’ from SIOI, Limes, and Oltreillimes (2013);

Among the many courses she attended are:

the pre-deployment course for Libya at Scuola Superiore S.Anna (2014);
the Stabilization and Reconstruction Management Senior Course, Army Centre of Studies on Post-Conflict Operations, Turin, Italy (2014);
the ‘Hostile Environment Awareness Training Course’ (HEAT), delivered by the Italian Army in cooperation with the University of Malta – Link Campus (2015);
the ‘Intelligence Analysis Course’ delivered by the Italian Army in cooperation with the University of Malta – Link Campus (2016);
the course on ‘New Peacekeeping Operations as a Stabilising Factor for the EU’ delivered by the European Security and Defence College at the Centre for High Defence Studies (CASD) in Rome (2017).

Since 2015, she has been in charge of special projects at the University of Malta – Link Campus; the Coordinator and Deputy Director of the Master’s Degree in Intelligence and Security; and the Scientific Director for the planning and management of Structural and Investments Funds for public administration officials.

Mrs. Trenta has an excellent command of English, a good knowledge of French and Russian, a lower intermediate knowledge of Arabic, and understands Spanish as well.

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