Sergio Portelli obtained his PhD in Italian at the University of Malta. A former teacher of Italian and paper-setter of national examinations at all levels, he also worked as a translator at the European Parliament in Luxembourg. He has been a full-time member of the Department since 2010 and Head of Department since 2018. He is also the coordinator of the Department’s Termbase Digitization Project. Currently a member of the Executive Committee of AIPI (Associazione Internazionale Professori d’Italiano), he published four books as author or co-editor and numerous peer-reviewed articles in international journals.