UNIFI - University of Florence, Department of Education and Psychology project team has 5 high qualified staff members with competence in Community Psychology, Qualitative and Quantitative Research methods and utilization of 2.0 tools.
Patrizia Meringolo
Project Coordinator (PC) and Principal Investigator of PROVA project
Full Professor in Social and Community Psychology at Department of Education and Psychology of University of Florence, where is part of Research Units (as Research and Action for Psychosocial well-being; Gender Pedagogy and Psychology). She is in charge for International Agreements between University of Florence and other University in European and extra-European countries. She has carried out research and action-research for Local Authorities, Health Public Services and NGO, and EU Projects in the field of health promotion, gender differences, and psychosocial problems related to migration, risky behavior, social marginalization, deviance, and substance use.
Andrea Guazzini
Researcher of PROVA project
Ph.D., Postdoc at the Institute of Informatics and Telematics (IIT), and the National Research Council of Italy (CNR). Researcher at the department of Education and Psychology (University of Florence) and responsible for the laboratory for the study of the human virtual dynamics (VirtHuLab) at the Centre for the Study of Complex Dynamics (University of Florence). Research interests are in the field of the social, experimental and cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, social cognition and virtual social dynamics. He has also worked on different EU projects as researcher.
Maria Rita Mancaniello
Researcher of PROVA project
Ph.D., Researcher and Aggregate professor of Psycho-pedagogy and Social-Pedagogy (Department of Education and Psychology, University of Florence). For several years she has been a member of UNESCO Transdisciplinary Chair on Human Development and Culture of Peace. Her research domains are related to adolescence and contexts of life and development; the situations of social marginalization and deviance, the problems that arise in contexts of social disadvantage and the local human development; evaluation of skills of Professional Operators, Trainers and Pedagogical professionals and on their recognition at the regulatory level. She has also proven experience on EC funded project.
Chiara Babetto
Project Manager (PM) of PROVA project
She has a Master Degree in Management of social services and expertise in the design, management and implementation of European projects, in particular in researches and interventions on prisons, social marginalization and juvenile delinquency.
She deals to support the Project Coordinator and Partners in the general implementation of the activities, monitoring the actions development, checking the timing and ensuring the flow of the communication.
Elisa Guidi
Temporary Research Fellow of PROVA project
Psychologist, Ph.D. in Complex system and Non-linear Dynamics (University of Florence). Member of Scientific Associations in Community Psychology (SIPCO, ECPA, SCRA). She is expert in the field of “Empowerment of Community and Quality Methods of Research”, and she is also a member of Research Units (Department of Education and Psychology, University of Florence). She has international collaborations with extra-European Universities such as Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). Her research interests are gender, family violence, dating violence and virtual community dynamics modeling by means of qualitative, quantitative and agent-based model approaches.
Cristina Cecchini
Temporary Research Fellow of PROVA project
Psychologist, Ph.D. in Complex system and Non-linear Dynamics (University of Florence). She is expert on the field of “Group Psychology and Community Psychology”, and she is a member of Research Units of the Department of Education and Psychology, University of Florence. She is member of the Italian Society of Community Psychology, and she developed international collaborations (as the University of Palo Alto - USA). Her research interests concern risky behaviors in adolescence, and particularly she focused on Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI). She is also interested in social dynamics in online social networks and web communities.
Nicolina Bosco
Temporary Research Fellow of PROVA project
Nicolina Bosco, Psychologist and Ph.D. in Education Sciences (curriculum in Social Psychology) at the University of Florence. Her research interest focus on inter-group relations, which are investigated from a psychosocial perspective, employing both quantitative and qualitative methods. Another line of research is on young people’s mental health, with emphasis on the role of stigma and self-stigma in the process of seeking help. She gained experience on this topics also as visiting student at the Georgetown University (Washington, D.C., USA) and the Université Diderot Paris 7 (Paris, France). Currently, she is member of Research Units “Research and Action for psychosocial well-being” at the Department of Education and Psychology (University of Florence). She is member of the Society for Community Research and Action (Division 27 of the American Psychological Association), the European Community Psychology Association, and the Italian Society of Community Psychology.