Martina Grinello

Martina Grinello is a PhD candidate in Semiotics at the University of Bologna, within the national research programme PNRR – PE CHANGES (Spoke 4), focused on innovation in cultural heritage and digital transformation.

Her research explores processes of museum decolonisation in Europe, with particular attention to how institutional narratives address colonial trauma, memory politics and practices of inclusion. She conducts fieldwork and semiotic analysis in major museums, including the Museo delle Civiltà (Rome), Museo della Guerra (Rovereto), Museo delle Culture (Milan), Musée du Quai Branly and Musée de l’Homme (Paris), Tropenmuseum (Amsterdam) and AfricaMuseum (Tervuren).

She is a member of TRAME – Centre for Semiotic Studies on Memory and collaborates as a researcher with LAMC – Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains at the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Combining semiotics, participatory pedagogies, intersectional feminism, and applied research with a decolonial approach, she designs interdisciplinary tools to rethink how museums communicate, educate, and engage with diverse publics.