Licia graduated with a MSc in Chemistry from Pisa University Italy in 1992, Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry with a thesis on Chiral Smectic Side-Chain Liquid Crystalline Polymers: Synthesis and Mesomorphic Properties. She received her PhD in 1996 in Biomaterials from Brescia University, Department of Mechanical Engineering (Italy) with a thesis on ""Formulation of New Polymeric Materials for Biomedical Applications as Adjiuvants to Dialysis in the Treatment of Chronic Uremia"". Licia had a research contract with Pisa University and a brief experience in a pharmaceutical industry (Ivoclar-Vivadent, Liechtenstein) before gaining her PhD. Afterwards she accepted two post-doctoral positions in Genoa with the Italian National Research Council and then with Genoa University, before moving to UK in 1998. Licia spent three years at Bristol University as research assistant at the Department of Organic Chemistry and then had a seven years career break raising her young family. Licia joined Cranfield University in 2008 as a Research Fellow working in the Department of Engineering and Applied Science.

Licia's research focuses on Defence Sensors, Explosives and Munitions, Smart Materials, Structures and Materials.