William Grandi

Curriculum Vitae: William Grandi

The principal professional and scientific aspects of the training, areas of research, and career of the undersigned are described below:

Academic Position

02.11.2023-present: Full Professor at the Giovanni Maria Bertin Department of Education Studies of the University of Bologna. Academic field: M-PED/02 – History of Pedagogy and Children's Literature.

11.01.2016-01.11.2023: Associate Professor at the Giovanni Maria Bertin Department of Education Studies of the University of Bologna. Academic field: M-PED/02 – History of Pedagogy and Children's Literature.

Qualifications

• National Academic Qualification: qualification conferred on 13/11/2020 for the First Level (Full Professor) of Sector 11/D1 – Pedagogy and History of Pedagogy.
• National Academic Qualification: qualification conferred on 06/02/2015 for the Second Level (Associate Professor) of Sector 11/D1 – Pedagogy and History of Pedagogy.
• Italian Pedagogy Prize 2014: awarded by SIPED (Italian Pedagogical Society) in Rome on 28 March 2014 for a monograph entitled La musa bambina. La letteratura mitologica italiana per ragazzi tra storia, narrazione e pedagogia (Unicopli, Milano 2011).
• PhD in Pedagogy: qualification conferred at the University of Bologna (23^rd Cycle, three-year period 2008-2010). Thesis entitled "La musa bambina. 1911-2011: un secolo di letteratura mitologica per ragazzi in Italia tra storia, educazione e narrazione". Supervisor: Prof. Emma Beseghi.
• Degree in Pedagogy: qualification conferred at the Department of Education, University of Bologna in the 1994/95 academic year with a score of 110/110 (with Honours) following defence of a degree dissertation on History of Children's Literature. Supervisor: Prof. Antonio Faeti

Research experience

• Registered in the Reprise register - Evaluation on Italian academic research (MUR - Ministry of University and Research).

• Member of the biennial research project “Alma Idea 2022” - University of Bologna (Period 2022-2023). The project is titled "Tra passato e futuro: l'educazione cosmica di Maria Montessori come ponte tra scienze sociali e scienze naturali". Principal Investigator: prof.ssa Rossella Raimondo.

• Member of a triennial national research project “PRIN” at the Research Unity in University of Bologna (Period 2019-2022: a period of 36 months which was later extended). The project is titled "Maria Montessori from the past to the present. Reception and implementation of her educational method in Italy on the 150th anniversary of her birth" and analyzes the presence of the "Montessori concept" in Italian and in international twentieth century educational culture. The undersigned will take care of conducting research on the relationship between the pedagogical theories of Maria Montessori and Children’s Literature. Principal Investigator prof. Tiziana Pironi (University of Bologna).

•  Member of the biennial research project “Alma Idea Grant” - University of Bologna (Period 2018-2020). The project is titled "From Orbis Pictus to next-generation non-fiction picture books for children. Teaching the world through wonder and beauty" and analyzes the real explosion shown in the sector of children's publishing belonging to the category of the so-called “non-fiction”: books of incredible graphic-illustrative quality, often characterized by a large format, with remarkable compositional taste and the predominance of images, realized in different styles. Principal Investigator prof. Emma Beseghi.

• 2018-present: Member of the Scientific Board of CRLI (Research Centre on Children's Literature) established at the G. M. Bertin Department of Education Studies of the University of Bologna.
  
  
• 2020-present: Member of the IBBY-Italia Board representing the University of Bologna.
  
  
• 2013-present: Member of the Ellen Key International Research Network (EKIR), a part of the Ellen Key Institute, Ödeshög, Sweden. This network involves researchers, teachers and experts from various European universities, who make up a select team of scholars whose task is to analyse the Swedish pedagogist Ellen Key, her relations with other cultural and pedagogical exponents in the period between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the influence of this network on the current European educational and social situation.
  
  
• Research Assistant for two consecutive years (from 1 September 2013 to 31 August 2015) at Giovanni Maria Bertin Department of Education Studies in the M-PED/02 (History of Pedagogy and Children's Literature) academic sector. Research project entitled Gli ingranaggi sognati. Tecnica, invenzione e scienza nella letteratura per ragazzi tra educazione e immaginario, which analysed the relationship between science, technology and literature children.
  
  
• Member of the 2009-2010 phase of the Research Project by the Giovanni Maria Bertin Department of Education Studies (University of Bologna) coordinated by Prof. Mariagrazia Contini entitled Childhood and the family as critical intersections and socio-educational resources.
  
  
• Member of the 2009-2010 phase of the Research Project by the Giovanni Maria Bertin Department of Education Studies (University of Bologna) coordinated by Prof. Emma Beseghi entitled The invisible literature and devoted to study of the relationships between childhood and children's books.
  
  
• 2005-2006: Member of the Regional Research Group on School Reform in the Italian Language topic area at the Emilia-Romagna IRRE (Regional Institute for Educational Research).

Membership of editorial committees

• 19th February 2020 - 16th December 2021: Editor with prof. Fulvio De Giorgi (Unimore) and prof. Paola Trabalzini (Lumsa) for a Special Issue  "Maria Montessori, her times and our years. History, vitality and perspectives of an innovative pedagogy" (RSE Rivista di Storia dell'Educazione: Vol. 8, No. 2, 2021)
• February 2021-present: Member of the Academic Committee of “Emblemi. Teoria e storia dell’educazione”, academic books series directed by S. Polenghi, P. Malavasi and R. Sani, Edizioni Pensa Multimedia.
• November 2020-present: Member of the Editorial Board of "RPD-Ricerche di Pedagogia e Didattica" (Scientific Journal - Scopus Indexing).
• January 2020 -present: Co-director with Emma Beseghi and Milena Bernardi of "Bagheera. Collana di letteratura per l'infanzia", Edizioni ETS, Pisa.
  
• May 2018-present: Member of the Scientific Committee of the Italian academic publisher Marcianum Press - Gruppo Editoriale Studium in order to collaborate to the section Literature for Children and Young People.
  
• May 2016- March 2022: Member of the Editorial Committee of the RSE – Rivista di Storia dell’Educazione periodical, the official academic journal of CIRSE (Italian Centre for Historical-Educational Research).
• April 2015-present: Member of the Editorial Committee of the Educazione Interculturale journal.
  
• November 2013-January 2020: Member of the Academic Committee of "Bagheera. Collana di letteratura per l'infanzia" directed by Emma Beseghi and Milena Bernardi, Edizioni ETS, Pisa.

Membership of foreign and domestic associations and research centres

• 2022-present: Member of CRISMESE Interdisciplinary Research Centre for the History and Memory of School and Education at the Giovanni Maria Bertin Department of Education Studies, University of Bologna.
• 2013-present: Member of the Ellen Key International Research Network (EKIR), Ellen Key Institute, Ödeshög, Sweden.
• 2013-present: Member of the Academic Council of the Research Centre in Children's Literature established at the Giovanni Maria Bertin Department of Education Studies, University of Bologna.
• 2013-present: Member of SIPED (Italian Society of Pedagogy).
• 2009-present: Member of CIRSE (Italian Centre for Historical-Educational Research).

Research interests

• Educational Professionalism and Pedagogy of Storytelling.
• The narrative genre for children (mystery, fantasy, horror, adventure, science fiction, etc.).
• The relationship among narratives for children, science, technology, and ecology.
• Myth and childhood.
• Publishing, graphics, and illustrations for children.
• Fairies, sprites and elves as an opportunity for narrative, historical traces, signs of imagination, and pedagogical metaphors.
• Educational theories, teaching ideas and publications for children arising between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and their relations with the reflections of certain thinkers (Ellen Key, Rudolf Steiner,and Maria Montessori).Analysis of the influence exerted by these complex networks on the contemporary cultural context, with particular regard to pedagogy and children's literature.