Leonida has a PhD in the sociology of communication and has been a McLuhan fellow since February 2003. Leonida has worked in web publishing, specifically supporting the development of various websites for the Free Lance International Press and the Laboratory for the Informatics and Education of History at the “Sapienza” University of Rome. He has taught publishing and the web and e-learning modules at the Faculty of Science at the University of Urbino.
Leonida has been a project manager for Consorzio NETTUNO and a coordinator for the Master in e-learning management and investigative journalism organised by the University of Urbino.
Since 2007 he has been President of the Association of Investigative Journalism and carries out research and education activities about methods relating to investigative journalism. In 2009 he attended the London Centre for Investigative Journalism Summer School, gaining a diploma as an expert in Computer Assisted Reporting (CAR), open source intelligence (OSINT) and computer safety for journalists. In 2011 he attended the Web Investigator course at the London Centre for Investigative Journalism. In May 2012 he attended one of the best international courses about Open Source Intelligence – the OSINT Methods and Training course, organised by Arno Reuser (Head of the Osint unit for Dutch Intelligence) – and Jane’s International, one of the most well-known private intelligence companies in the world.
Projects of note include the Toxic Europe investigation, which won the Ilaria Alpi prize and was conducted using techniques learnt during the courses he attended.
He is currently working in investigative journalism, geopolitics and studies into new media.

His publications include:
Spy Attack: how businesses, secret services and hackers can violate our privacy, currently in production at Minerva (expected to be out December 2014).
Esplorare Internet (Exploring the Internet). A manual for digital investigation and Open Source Intelligence, currently in production at Minerva.
Scenari digitali in “L’editoria in Italia”, (Digital scenarios, in “Italian Publishing”) Liguori, Napoli 2005.
Oltre il Novecento: l’avvento della ciberpolitica, in “Mediazioni” (Beyond the 1900s: the advent of cyberpolitics, in “Mediations”)(edited by Antonio Tursi), Costa&Nolan, Milano, 2005.
Poly-spheres, a Rhizomatic Model for e-Learning Communities, in “Mobile Technology for European Integration and Growth”, (edited by P. Gawrysiak and R. Rogalski), Most Press, Warsaw (Poland) 2005.
Sobre la acceleration cultural (Beyond cultural acceleration), (a translation) in Francisco Martínez y Mª Paz Prendes (edited by), “Nuevas Tecnologías y Educación”, Prentice Hall, Madrid, 2004.
Ergonomia del Web (The Ergonomics of the Web), PhD thesis, Urbino, 2003.
Profezie del corpo cyborg, in “Mutazioni”, (Prophecies of the cyborg body, in “Mutations”) (edited by Giovanni Ragone and Fabio Tarzia), Liguori, Napoli, 2003.”