Massimiliano Tarozzi is Full Professor of Theoretical and Social Education at the Department of Philosophy, University of Bologna, where he holds the UNESCO Chair in Global Citizenship Education in Higher Education. He is also Founding Director of the International Research Centre on Global Citizenship Education, Co-Chair of the Academic Network on Global Education and Learning (ANGEL), and Visiting (Honorary) Professor at the UCL Institute of Education, University College London.
His research lies at the intersection of educational research, civic engagement, and international cooperation. His work focuses on Global Citizenship Education (GCE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) from a global social justice perspective, with particular attention to the relationship between formal and non-formal education and between schools and civil society organisations. He coordinates and participates in national and international research projects in collaboration with universities, international organisations, and public institutions.
His research is primarily concerned with international education policies promoting global citizenship. In this field, he acts as scientific advisor and consultant to international organisations including UNESCO, the European Commission (DEAR Programme), the OECD, the Global Education Network Europe (GENE), and national agencies working in international cooperation, educational policy evaluation, and Global Citizenship Education. He also collaborates with ministries, local authorities, and civil society organisations in the design, implementation, and evaluation of educational policies and programmes.
Academic Career
After completing MA degrees in Philosophy and then in Education, he obtained his PhD in Education from the University of Bologna in 1997.
He was first Assistant Professor and subsequently Associate Professor at the University of Trento for over ten years. At the Department of Cognitive Sciences he founded and directed the Master's Programme in Research Methodology in Education and established the International Summer School of Qualitative Research Methods in Education, which he directed for five editions.
In 2013 he joined the University of Bologna as Associate Professor in the Department of Quality of Life Sciences. He has been Full Professor since October 2019.
Between 2017 and 2020 he held a joint appointment between Bologna and London. Following an international competitive selection process, he was appointed Co-Director of the Development Education Research Centre at the UCL Institute of Education, consistently ranked first worldwide for Education in the QS World University Rankings by Subject.
In 2021 he was appointed UNESCO Chair in Global Citizenship Education in Higher Education and joined the Department of Philosophy in 2022.
Teaching
Since 2002, he has continuously taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Philosophy of Education, Intercultural Education, Qualitative Research Methods, and currently Global Citizenship Education and Global Citizenship Competences.
He has held visiting appointments at numerous international universities, including University College London, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Beijing Normal University, the University of São Paulo, and Taiwan Normal University. At UCL he designed and taught the course Global Citizenship Education within the MA programme in Development Education and Global Learning.
For more than two decades he has designed and delivered online and blended learning courses using the Moodle virtual learning environment.
He has delivered invited lectures, keynote speeches, seminars, and workshops at numerous universities and research centres worldwide, including Harvard University, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), University College London (UCL), the University of São Paulo, Beijing Normal University, the University of Oulu, National Sun Yat-sen University, National Dong Hwa University (Taiwan), Khon Kaen University (Thailand), the Federal University of Paraíba (Brazil), the Instituto Patagónico de las Artes (Argentina), the University of Teacher Education in Locarno, and the Università della Svizzera italiana (Lugano).
Research
He has served as Principal Investigator or research unit leader in numerous national and international research projects. These include the Italian PRIN 2022 project on Global Civic Education, an international project on Global Citizenship Education in Europe and North America (with Lynn Shultz), four projects funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, two European projects (including a DEAR project coordinated by him), and several research initiatives funded by international organisations and foundations, including APCEIU and GENE.
In 2009 he was awarded a Fulbright Research Scholarship to spend six months as Visiting Scholar at the Department of Education, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).
He is Co-Chair of the Academic Network on Global Education and Learning (ANGEL), an international research network that he helped establish and which today brings together more than 1,000 scholars from over 80 countries.
He has also coordinated research groups within the Italian Society of Pedagogy (SIPED) and the Italian Society of General and Social Education (SIPeGeS).
Academic Leadership and Institutional Responsibilities
He served as Co-Director of the Development Education Research Centre at the UCL Institute of Education. In 2016 he founded the International Research Centre on Global Citizenship Education at the University of Bologna, which he continues to direct. Since 2023 he has been Co-Chair of the Academic Network on Global Education and Learning (ANGEL), the leading international academic network devoted to Global Education and Global Citizenship Education.
He is a permanent member of the European Commission's Multi-Stakeholder Group for the DEAR (Development Education and Awareness Raising) Programme. He also provides scientific advice to international organisations, including UNESCO, APCEIU (UNESCO Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding), the OECD, and the Global Education Network Europe (GENE), contributing to policy development, international research networks, and strategic documents on Global Citizenship Education through expert consultancy and participation in international working groups.
He has served on several doctoral programme boards and is currently a member of the doctoral board of the PhD programme in Philosophy, Science, Cognition and Semiotics (PSCS) at the University of Bologna.
He was also a member of the Scientific Committee of the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna and served as an elected member of the Board of Governors of the University of Trento between 2007 and 2008.
Editorial Responsibilities
From 2006 to 2018 he served as Editor-in-Chief of Encyclopaideia. Journal of Phenomenology and Education, of which he is currently Associate Editor. He serves on the editorial boards of several international journals and regularly acts as reviewer for leading journals, including the International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, Qualitative Sociology Review, Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, and, until 2025, Qualitative Health Research.
He is Co-Editor, together with Clare Bentall and Nicole Blum, of the international book series Advances in Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (Bloomsbury Academic, London-New York). He is also Co-Editor of the series Koiné. Studies and Research in Social and Human Sciences (University of Bologna) and serves on the editorial boards of numerous national and international book series, including Freire in Focus (Bloomsbury), Themes and Methods in Educational Research (Carocci), and the SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Design and SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research Quality.
Awards and Honours
His major awards include the National SIPED Award for the best scholarly book in Education, awarded in 2016 for From Intercultural Education to Social Justice, and the 2025 Riccardo Massa Award for the best senior article, awarded for Reinventing Freire in the Italian Context.
In 2012 he received the International Leadership in Qualitative Health Research award. In 2009 he was awarded a Fulbright Research Fellowship to undertake a six-month research project at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). During his fellowship, he also received the prestigious Fulbright Occasional Lecturer Program Award, which enabled him to deliver an invited lecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Among other honours are his appointment as Visiting (now Honorary) Professor at the UCL Institute of Education and numerous competitive national and international research grants.
Professional and Public Engagement
In cooperation with the Municipality of Bologna, he launched in 2026 the Resource Centre for Global Citizenship Education, funded by Fondazione del Monte, which provides training, consultancy, and research services for educators and practitioners across the Bologna area.
In 2014 he was appointed by the Mayor of Bologna as President of the Institution for Education and Schools, the municipal body responsible for educational services and education policy, which he led during its first three years.
He served as scientific consultant to IPRASE Trentino (Provincial Institute for Educational Research) on projects concerning intercultural education, school inclusion, and teacher education.
Before entering academia, he gained extensive professional experience as an educator working with vulnerable adolescents, as an educational consultant for local authorities, and as Head of the Education Division of Telefono Azzurro, Italy's leading child protection organisation, where he worked on children's rights, educational programme development, and professional training.
