Andrea Asioli
Andrea Asioli graduated in Modern Literature and Art History from the University of Bologna, before going on to obtain an MA from the Warburg Institute in London. He has translated around thirty books for various Italian publishers. He is about to publish a book entitled Operazioni senza anestesia with Quodlibet.
PhD Research title: Rethinking Antonio Scarpa (1752-1832): A Digital Atlas of Anatomical Knowledge between Modena, Pavia, and Europe
Tutor: Prof. Vallori Rasini (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Federico Ferrari
Federico Ferrari holds a bachelor’s degree in Communication Sciences and a master’s degree with honours in Historical Sciences. A journalist registered with the Italian Order of Journalists since 2012, he focuses his research on image education and media literacy, institutional and political communication, the sociology of communication and the history of consumption. He was a Research Fellow in Sociology of Cultural and Communicative Processes at the Department of Communication and Economics of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, where he investigated the evolution of institutional communication and political leadership in Emilia-Romagna through a computational analysis of the press releases issued by the Region’s Information and Communication Agency. He has held teaching appointments at the University of Parma and the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. He is currently Councillor for Culture of the Municipality of Sassuolo and Scientific Director of Ennesimo Academy.
PhD Research title: From the Labour Question to the Algorithmic Question: The Digital Corpus of Ermanno Gorrieri (1944-2004) for the History of Italian Political Movements and Thought in the Twentieth Century
Tutor: Prof. Maria Chiara Rioli (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Anita Lugli
Anita Lugli obtained her Master’s Degree in Mathematics from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia with a thesis entitled Un percorso laboratoriale sulla trisezione con le macchine matematiche. She has conducted research at the Department of Education and Human Sciences of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia and collaborates with the Laboratorio delle Macchine Matematiche, a research centre within the same department. Her interests lie in mathematics education and history of mathematics, with particular attention to the role of artefacts, both material and digital, in mathematics teaching and learning processes. A particular focus is placed on mathematical machines, namely reconstructions of mathematical instruments built from historical sources, and on the potential of emerging technologies in education and the dissemination of mathematics in museums and educational contexts.
PhD Research title: Interplay between Material and Digital Tools in Mathematics Education: The Case of Mathematical Machines
Tutor: Prof. Claudia Canali (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Riccardo Necci
Riccardo Necci studied at the University of Bologna. His bachelor’s thesis in Philosophy, entitled Populismo, Relativismo e Subartico: un’analisi filosofica del “Popolo” di Ernesto Laclau, was developed in 2023 in collaboration with the School of Social Sciences of the University of Iceland. In 2025 he was a visiting student at the Institute Vienna Circle (IVC) of the University of Vienna, where he carried out the research that informed his master’s thesis in Philosophical Sciences, The Politics of Knowledge: Authority and Pluralism after Feyerabend (2026). He is currently studying the asymmetric relationship between experts and political communities under conditions of techno-scientific uncertainty. His main areas of specialisation are political epistemology, democratic theory and Science and Technology Studies (STS); his interests also include applied ethics, philosophy of science and studies on relativism.
PhD Research title: Translated Authorities: Scientific Expertise and Institutional Asymmetries under Conditions of Uncertainty
Tutor: Prof. Thomas Casadei (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
Giuseppe Rossello
Giuseppe Rossello earned his Master’s Degree in Law at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia with a thesis in Private Law entitled Identità digitale e autonomia negoziale. His research interests lie in the fields of digital technologies and individual rights, with a particular focus on issues such as the risks associated with cyber security, as well as the circulation and transmission of digital assets. His PhD project aims to investigate, from a legal and ethical perspective, what scope for choice actually remains for the individual in a context where consumer decisions are increasingly subject to forms of manipulation.
PhD Research title: Dark Patterns and Consumer Self-Determination: The Impact of Digital Technologies on European Markets
Tutor: Prof. Thomas Casadei (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)