Elena Vai

Elena Vai (Ph.D.) is Associate professor at the Department of Architecture, and a member of the Advanced Design Unit. Since 2024, she is the Scientific Director of the Research Center for Cultural and Creative Industries at the University of Bologna, where she has been coordinating the designing activities since 2019. Since 2023, she has been a member of the Strategic Thematic Group Design for Societal Transformation led by the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), within the EIT on Culture and Creativity, and she is part of the Oslo International Culture and Creativity Industries Network. Her research interests are in creative practices (embodied creativity) and advanced design, with reference to the development of innovative cultural and creative ecosystems. She works on anticipation and commoning design in processes of urban, cultural and human reactivation in the contemporary city.
Since 2021, she is Associate Editor of the scientific journal diid - industrial industrial design.