Full Professor of Sociology of Culture and Communication from 2002-03, at
the University of Bologna she was unitil April 2024 vice-director of the Department of
Political and Social Sciences. She has been until 2015 Director of the two years
Master (Second Degree Program) in Public and Social Communication
Studies / Public and Corporate Communication, and in 2014-15 of the PhD in Global and International Studies. In 2016-2018 she has been vice-dean of the multicampus School of Political Sciences, dean for the Bologna campus.
She is teaching in the University of Bologna since 1997. From 1992
to 1996 she has been associate professor at the University of Palermo
and in 1996-97 at the University of Genova.
She has been visiting scholar and visting professor at the Corvinus University of
Budapest, at the National University for Public Service in Budapest, at the University Paul Valéry of Montpellier and in 2020 she had been invited by te UQAM in Montréal.
In the first half of 80s she has been CNR fellow
visiting scholar at the Ceaq, UER en Sciences Sociales University
of Paris V, René Descartes-Sorbonne.
Education degree: PhD in Sociology and social research
(1987). Graduate/Master program in Political Sciences (1977).
Her international and national researches concern the social
representations and social issues in the everyday life, in the
public sphere and in media and new media communication, especially
about illness, health, environment, social exclusion and social
problems as immigration or information about new wars and social
inequalities. The most recent international scientific groups to
which she is participating are : the Réseau de recherche Euro
Méditerranéen Développement durable et lien social 2DLis; the international group LEMEL (L'Europe dans les médias en ligne) organized by the University Cercy-Pontoise, and the research team of the Horizon 2020 Catch-EyoU (Constructing Active Citizenship with European Youth) at the University of Bologna.
In 2017-2020 she is the national coordinator of five research teams working on the social representations of femicide in the public sphere (media, public policies, judicial processes): Research Observatory on Femicide
In 2018-2020 she has directed a research project for INAIL, in collaboration with 3 local health authorities and 7 Italian high schools, aiming at co-creating the serious videogame Sicuri si diventa (Becoming safe) as a tool to support education to health and occupational safety.
At present she is engaged in the following research projects: Horizon-IA-HLTH 2023, PAIR « Pandemic Information to Support Rapid Response », coordinated by Kobenhavns Universitet, Denmark; PRIN2022 «Legal, ethical and social challenges of the Forensic DNA Phenotyping in Italy (LetFor)», coordinated by Susi Pelotti, University of Bologna;STiNGS, for the Health Ministry, about a communication strategy on AIDS, via social media, in collaboration with national associations; REACT-IN, EU project ERASMUS-YOUTH-2021-CB, directed by a national NGO, concerning young Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, aiming at promoting their communication capacities for integration; the French project « Discours médiatiques et discours des autorités publiques: une analyse infocommunicationnelle croisée de la crise sanitaire COVID-19 » directed by A. Staii, University of Lyon; a regional project on migrant Emilia-Romagna women in Canada.
In 2019 she founded, together with other colleagues of her department, CoMediaS, a Research Center On Media and Public Sphere.
In 2021 she has been appointed as a member of the Bureau du Réseau international francophone de recherche qualitative (RIFReQ).
Awards: Prix Scanno Sociology 2015.
For an overview of some publications, see also the author's account on Research Gate