Michele is Pro-Vice Chancellor (Global Engagement) of the University of Bristol, where he is also Professor of Urban Resilience in the School of Geographical Sciences. Michele is also a managing editor of Urban Studies, and a Trustee of Fondation Botnar

A keen researcher and practitioner of urban governance, Michele is a regular commentator on urban issues in the media. He is a renowned voice on the international dimensions of city leadership, and currently leads several research programs centred on urban politics and how cities tackle ‘global’ challenges. These have centred on the climate crisis, urban health and pandemic response, urban inequality, and resilience to major hazards and disasters.

Michele’s work has also focused on urban science and the challenges of linking urban research with tangible policy practice, co-convening the first-ever Nature Sustainability international expert panel on ‘science and the future of cities’.

Michele has worked with numerous city networks, UN agencies, and mayors around the world supporting city diplomacy across climate, health, resilience and migration. Outside of academia, Michele has worked in the multilateral sector for the European Commission, the World Health Organisation and the World Bank.

Before joining Bristol, Michele was Professor and Director of the Melbourne Centre for Cities at the University of Melbourne. He was also Professor of Urban Theory at University College London, having previously taught at the Australian National University, University of Canberra and the University of Oxford. Michele recently authored Leading Cities (UCL Press, 2019), Managing Cities at Night (Bristol University Press, 2021) and How to Build a Global City (Cornell University Press, 2022).

He is currently chief investigator of the Australian Research Council (ARC) discovery program Night Shift focused on better planning and designing cities for night workers, and co-convenor of the City Diplomacy Masterclass, which was funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to enhance cities’ collaborative ambition to connect across borders to drive climate action.

Michele holds a PhD (Regulation, Justice and Diplomacy) from the Australian National University, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS)