I'M AN ACADEMIC

I am a post-doctoral research fellow in Digital Sociology at the University Complutense of Madrid (Faculty of Computer Science). I obtained a joint PhD degree in Digital Sociology at the University of Milan and the University of Turin(NASP). Previously, I worked as a postdoc at P2P Models (UCM) and as a Lecturer at the University of Amsterdam. 
My passion lies at the intersection of emerging technologies and humanity. I am an expert in technological-mediated social discrimination, with particular attention to online gender-based violence and image-based sexual abuse. I have also conducted research on sociotechnical imaginaries, digital rights and data justice.
At the end of 2018, I became the promoter of the Italian campaign #intimitàviolata, which succeeded in approving a law reform, i.e. art.612-ter in the law 'Codice Rosso' of 17/07/19, that now criminalizes in Italy the non-consensual sharing of intimate images.
I have collaborated with several governmental institutions and NGOs as an external expert, such as: the European Commission, European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), the Council of Europe, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Save The Children, Amnesty International. 

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I'M AN ACADEMIC

I am a Post-Doctoral Researcher in Digital Sociology at the University Complutense of Madrid (P2P Models) and Lecturer at the University of Amsterdam (New Media & Digital Culture). I hold a PhD degree in Digital Sociology at the University of Milan (NASP). 
My areas of expertise are digital platforms affordances, socio-technical imaginaries, gender and data justice.
At the end of 2018, I became the promoter of the Italian campaign #intimitàviolata, which succeeded in approving a law reform, i.e. art.612-ter in the law 'Codice Rosso' of 17/07/19, that now criminalizes in Italy the non-consensual sharing of intimate images (i.e. revenge porn).
My political engagement goes together with the research on harassment and inequalities in the digital space. I published a book with Lucia Bainotti in which we analyse the problem of cyberviolence against women and girls in male-populated digital environments, such as Telegram groups and channels. 
I also work as a teenager educator to teach positive and inclusive information regarding 'sexuality+' and the digital society, together with my association Virgin & Martyr.
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RESEARCH

EVENTS & COLLABORATIONS

RESEARCH

My work focuses on the intersection between technical and social aspects of technology, especially in the context of algorithmic imaginaries and the reproduction of discriminations through the use of digital tools. Particularly, I am an expert in understanding and researching digital intimacies, online misogyny and platform-mediated process of gender construction.
During my PhD, I conducted qualitative research on the social applications of blockchain to understand how blockchain developers and experts conceive of sociality, social relations and social change. I investigated the political imaginaries that underlie the development of decentralized technologies, to understand how they contribute to the construction and reproduction of neoliberal discourses around blockchain implementations. In parallel, I started researching gender-based online violence and how the use of digital platforms intertwines with pre-existing forms of social discrimination. In 2020, together with Lucia Bainotti, I published a digital ethnography in which we studied the role of Telegram in the amplification and automation of digital sexual violence and argued that platforms may reinforce gender performativity. The research was presented to several governments and institutions, such as Italy, Spain, France, the UK, the United States, Mexico, Ecuador, and the EU. I also researched the role of Pornhub's algorithms in the promotion of heteronormative imaginaries and the reproduction of gender stereotypes through the sociotechnical architecture of the platform, which recently took to strategic litigation against Pornhub.
Read more about #StopDataPorn and The Digital Intimacy Coalition here. 

CLICK HERE FOR MY PUBLICATIONS 

My work focuses on the intersection between technical and social aspects of technology, especially in the context of algorithmic imaginaries and the reproduction of discriminations through the use of digital tools.
During my PhD, I conducted qualitative research on the social applications of blockchain to understand how blockchain developers and experts conceive of sociality, social relations and social change. I investigated the political imaginaries that underlie the development of decentralized technologies, in order to understand how they contribute to the construction and reproduction of neoliberal discourses around the blockchains implementations. 
In parallel, I started researching gender-based online violence and how the use of digital platforms intertwines with pre-existing forms of social discrimination. In 2020, together with Lucia Bainotti, I published a digital ethnography in which we studied the role of Telegram in the amplification and automation of digital sexual violence and argued that platforms may reinforce gender performativity.
In addition, together with the collective Tracking Exposed, we investigated the role of Pornhub's algorithms in the promotion of heteronormative imaginaries and the reproduction of gender stereotypes through the socio-technical architecture of the platform.

AREA OF SPECIALIZATION

AREA OF SPECIALIZATION

Online gender-based violence, online sexualities, blockchain, data justice, digital rights, algorithmic culture, digital activism, digital methods

Online gender-based violence, blockchain, data justice, digital rights, algorithmic culture, crypto-culture, digital methods

ACADEMIC CURRICULUM VITAE

EVENTS & COLLABORATIONS

ACADEMIC CURRICULUM VITAE

CURRENT POSITION
🇪🇸 Post-doctoral researcher at University Complutense of Madrid (Faculty of Computer Science) | Juan de la Cierva Award Winner

FORMER
🇳🇱 Lecturer at the University of Amsterdam (New Media and Digital Cultures) | 2020-2022
🇪🇸 Post-doctoral researcher at University Complutense of Madrid (Faculty of Computer Science) | 2020-2022 | P2P MODELS


DEGREES

CURRENT POSITION
🇪🇸 Post-doctoral researcher at University Complutense of Madrid (Faculty of Computer Science) | P2P MODELS

FORMER
🇳🇱 Lecturer at the University of Amsterdam (New Media and Digital Cultures) | 2020-2022

DEGREES

🇮🇹 PhD | Sociology and Methodology of Social Research | University of Milan | 2017-2021

🇪🇸 Master Degree
| Comunicación Social | Universidad Complutense de Madrid | 2014 - 2016

🇮🇹 Bachelor Degree | Scienze Politiche, Relazioni Internazionali e Diritti Umani | Università di Padova | 2010 - 2013

🇮🇹 PhD | Sociology and Methodology of Social Research | University of Milan | 2017-2021

🇪🇸 Master Degree
| Comunicación Social | Universidad Complutense de Madrid | 2014 - 2016

🇮🇹 Bachelor Degree | Scienze Politiche, Relazioni Internazionali e Diritti Umani | Università di Padova | 2010 - 2013

PhD VISITING UNIVERSITIES

PhD VISITING UNIVERSITIES

🇪🇸 Universidad de Zaragoza | Zaragoza | Sociology | 2020

🇪🇪 TalTech
| Tallinn University of Technology | Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance | 2019

🇬🇧 King’s College | London | Digital Humanities | 2018

🇪🇸 Universidad de Zaragoza | Zaragoza | Sociology | 2020

🇪🇪 TalTech
| Tallinn University of Technology | Ragnar Nurkse Department of Innovation and Governance | 2019

🇬🇧 King’s College | London | Digital Humanities | 2018

SUMMER SCHOOLS

SUMMER SCHOOLS

🇳🇱 University of Amsterdam | Digital Methods | Trolls, bots and dictators - On the current state of social media research | 2019

🇳🇱 University of Amsterdam | Digital Methods | Retraining the machine: Addressing algorithmic bias | 2018

🇺🇸 Harvard University | Sociological and Political Research, offered by CIS, at RCC Harvard University | 2017

🇫🇷 Université Paris-Est Créteil | International Media, Political Action and Communication Technologies | (2016)

RESEARCH PROJECTS COLLABORATIONS

Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) | Working group: "Towards a European Policy against Online Image-Based Sexual Abuse" | PI: Silvia Semenzin | 2024 | LINK 

DIMMONS, Open University of Catalonia | 2023 | LINK

DIVISAR UCM (Violencia sexual digital entre jóvenes universitarios) | 2022

Tracking Exposed https://tracking.exposed/ | 2022 

Deplatforming project, University of Amsterdam | 2020 | 
LINK

DATACTIVE, University of Amsterdam | 2018 | LINK  

🇳🇱 University of Amsterdam | Digital Methods | Trolls, bots and dictators - On the current state of social media research | 2019

🇳🇱 University of Amsterdam | Digital Methods | Retraining the machine: Addressing algorithmic bias | 2018

🇺🇸 Harvard University | Sociological and Political Research, offered by CIS, at RCC Harvard University | 2017

🇫🇷 Université Paris-Est Créteil | International Media, Political Action and Communication Technologies | (2016)

RESEARCH PROJECTS COLLABORATIONS

Tracking Exposed https://tracking.exposed/

Deplatforming project, University of Amsterdam | 2020 | 
LINK to Richard Rogers' article

DATACTIVE, University of Amsterdam | 2018 | LINK to blogpost 

PARTICIPATION IN CONFERENCES 

EVENTS & COLLABORATIONS

SEMINARS AND CONFERENCES 

PAST SELECTED CONFERENCES


🇳🇱 University of Amsterdam | Global Digital Intimacies | 2024

🇪🇸 University of Deusto | I International Congress "Women, technology & power" | Panel Chair | 2024

🇪🇸 Universidad Complutense de Madrid |I Jornadas sobre Violencia Sexual Digital | Invited talk | 2024

🇪🇺 European CommissionEU-US Government TTC Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence Data Workshop |Invited talk| 4/04/2024

🇪🇸 Universitat Obierta de CatalunyaVIII Congreso Economia Feminista | 2023

🇮🇹 Università Milano-Bicocca11th European Feminism Research Conference | Panel Chair | 2022 

🇬🇧 Restorative Justice for All International InstituteRJ4ALL International Annual conference | 2022

🇪🇸 Global Forum on Democratizing Work | Governing the algorithms | 2021

🇸🇪 TOKEN Policy Observatory | Future scenarios for blockchain technology | P2P Models | 2021

🇮🇹 Il Mulino + Scuola Democratica Conference | Reinventing Education | 2021

🇳🇱 Tech for Society | Rights to the Blockchain Cities | Values in the blockchain city | 2021

🇬🇧 Goldsmiths University | Figurations Conference | Persons In/Out of Data | 2019

🇮🇹 University of Milan| COMPOL Conference| Political Communication in the digital media ecosystem | Secretary | 2019

🇩🇪 University of Bremen | Data Power | Global In/securities | 2019 

🇮🇹 Università degli Studi di Urbino | AOIR Symposia | Below the Radar | 2019

🇮🇹 Università Federico II | Digital Hackathon | 2019

🇮🇹 Università degli Studi di Milano | Centro Genders | La violenza di genere dentro e fuori i luoghi di lavoro | Keynote | 2019   

🇮🇹 Università Federico II | Post start-up cultures | 2018

🇬🇧 University of Leicester | New Directions in Media and Sociology Research Conference | 2018

🇬🇧 University of Cardiff | Data justice conference | 2018 

🇮🇹 University of Milan | Centro Genders | “La rete che umilia” | Main organizer | 2018 

🇪🇸 University of Gijón | FES: XII Congreso Espanol de Sociologia | 2016 

🇪🇸 UNED MadridIII Jornadas de Ciberpolitica | 2016 

ACADEMIC SEMINARS

🇮🇹 Università di Palermo |Palermo | Generi, Sessualità e Regolazione Sociale | Invited by Cirus Rinaldi | 2021

🇮🇹 Università degli Studi di Padova | Padova | Digital Culture & Society | Invited by Cosimo Marco Scarcelli | 2021

🇮🇹 Università di Roma Tre | Roma | Master Studi e Politiche di Genere | Invited by Francesca Lopez | 2021

🇮🇹 Università degli Studi di Milano | Milano | Book presentation "Donne Tutte Puttane" | Invited by Cinzia Meraviglia | 2021

🇮🇹 Università degli Studi di Pavia | Pavia | Methodology of social research on Telegram | Invited by Alessandro Caliandro | 2020/21

🇮🇹 Università Federico II | Napoli | Methodology of social research on Telegram | Invited by Cristiano Felaco | 2021

🇪🇸 Univerdad de Zaragoza | Zaragoza | Porno vengativo: violencia, sexualidad y tecnología | Invited by Santiago Boira | 2019

🇮🇹 Università Federico II | Napoli | Revenge porn: violenza, sessualità e tecnologia | Invited by Adam Arvidsson | 2019

🇮🇹 Università degli Studi di Milano | Milano | Revenge porn: violenza, sessualità e tecnologia | Invited by Annalisa Murgia | 2019

🇮🇹 Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore | Milano | Does privacy still exist? | Invited by Ivana Pais | 2019 

PARTICIPATION IN CONFERENCES

🇪🇸 Global Forum on Democratizing Work | Governing the algorithms | 2021

🇸🇪 TOKEN Policy Observatory | Future scenarios for blockchain technology | P2P Models | 2021

🇮🇹 Scuola Democratica Conference | Reiventing Education | Virgin & Martyr | 2021

🇳🇱 Tech for Society | Rights to the Blockchain Cities | Values in the blockchain city | 2021

🇬🇧 Goldsmiths University | Figurations Conference | Persons In/Out of Data | 2019

🇮🇹 University of Milan| COMPOL Conference| Political Communication in the digital media ecosystem | Secretary | 2019

🇩🇪 University of Bremen | Data Power | Global In/securities | 2019 

🇮🇹 Università degli Studi di Urbino | AOIR Symposia | Below the Radar | 2019

🇮🇹 Università Federico II | Digital Hackathon | 2019

🇮🇹 Università degli Studi di Milano | Centro Genders | La violenza di genere dentro e fuori i luoghi di lavoro | 2019   

🇮🇹 Università Federico II | Post start-up cultures | 2018

🇬🇧 University of Leicester | New Directions in Media and Sociology Research Conference | 2018

🇬🇧 University of Cardiff | Data justice conference | 2018 

🇮🇹 University of Milan | Centro Genders | “La rete che umilia” | Main organizer | 2018 

🇪🇸 University of Gijón | FES: XII Congreso Espanol de Sociologia | 2016 

🇪🇸 UNED MadridIII Jornadas de Ciberpolitica | 2016 

FOR CLASSES AT MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOLS: email me using the form or visit the website https://virginandmartyr.com
FOR CLASSES AT MIDDLE & HIGH SCHOOLS: email me using the form or visit https://virginandmartyr.com