Alessandra Romano is an Associate Professor in the Department of Social, Political and Cognitive Sciences at the University of Siena. She is Delegate of the Rector for Inclusion and Equity Policy. She is the Scientific Director of the D.N.A. project.
In both teaching and research, her focus is in generating conditions for adults, groups and teams to learn, grow and develop the skillful means for collaborative inquiry and organizational change. Prof. Romano is the Co-director of the Certification Program for special education teachers and is the
Delegate for the Inclusion and Equity Policy of the University of Siena. She has a particular strand of research on:
- intersectional approaches to transformative learning,
- inclusive research methods in special education
- disability management and inclusive leadership approach.
Claudio Melacarne, Ph.D., is a Full Professor of General and Social Pedagogy at the University of Siena. He focuses on professional development in organizations through participatory research methodologies. He was a member of the research team of the F.O.R.W.A.R.D. project (Training, research, and development of community-based strategies to prevent radicalization and support integration). He is Principal Investigator of the ELCRA project (Environmental Literacy in Higher Education Context for Preventing Radicalization in Climate Activism).
Within the project I-Civic contributes with a study on the barriers faced by students with multicultural backgrounds.
Carlo Orefice, PhD, is Associate Professor of General and Social Pedagogy at the University of Siena. His research focuses on adult education, with a particular emphasis on learning processes and knowledge creation within cultural contexts. He has extensive experience in teaching, research and intervention at both national and international levels, collaborating with various institutions (universities, agencies, foundations, and NGOs). He is currently involved in inter-university projects in Italy and abroad (Chile, Colombia).
From 2017 to 2021, he served as an Adjunct Professor for a UNESCO Chair, and since 2020, he has been the General Coordinator of the inter-university network Red latinoamericana para el cambio social y el aprendizaje emancipatorio.
Within the I-CIVIC Project, he is responsible for the literature review for Task T.1.3. This work supports the investigation into student’s social representations of disengagement/metacognition conducted by the University of the Basque Country, and includes the administration of the relevant questionnaire and data analysis at UNISI.
Alessandra Viviani is full professor of International Law, International Economic Law and Gender Discrimination at the Department of Political and International Sciences at the University of Siena, where she is also the Director. Her field of research focuses on international human rights protection, with specific regard to women’s and chilldrens’ rights.
As an expert on human rights based approach to education and on human rights education she has coordinated various Erasmus + KA2 Cooperation Partnership projects on human rights education and social inclusion. Among these, the Off Book project was selected by EACEA in 2021 as a “best practice” on inclusion and the Together project, which focuses on welcoming refugee students to the university, was awarded as the best project on inclusion in 2020 by the Portuguese National Agency. She has authored several papers on international human rights law and human rights education.
Maria Rita Mancaniello is Associate Professor of General and Social Pedagogy (PAED/01-A), with a scientific production primarily focused on educational processes in complex contexts, contemporary cultural transformations, and educational dynamics across the lifespan.
Her research activity lies at the intersection of general and social pedagogy, with particular attention to issues of vulnerability, life transitions, and emerging forms of youth and adult distress. Within this framework, she has contributed to the development of interpretative models that connect education, identity, and social change, adopting a critical and transdisciplinary approach.
She has coordinated numerous European projects on inclusion. Within the I-Civic project, she
works on intersections with the Horizon REVERSED and Erasmus IHES projects, as well as analysing institutional barriers related to gender and refugee students (Task T.2.1., in collaboration with Prof. Tiziana Chiappelli) and contributing to research activities (Task T.1.3.).
Nicolina Bosco is an Associate Professor at the Department of Social, Political, and Cognitive
Sciences, University of Siena, Italy. Her scientific interests are:
- multiculturalism and radicalization in life and educational contexts
- culturally responsive teaching and learning in Higher Education
- study and application of mixed methods research using a cross-cultural perspective.
Professor Bosco will particularly involve in the investigations of cultural aspects which may have a role in the implementation of a democratic education in Higher Education.
