PhD students

XXXXI cycle – a.y. 2025/2026

Name and Surname	e-mail	Research topics	PhD project title	Supervisor	SSD
Beatrice Gentile	beatrice.gentile@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Analysing social roles in an incel network: A sociological study on expressions of violence, misogyny and racism in toxic online communities	Andrea Salvini Roberta Bracciale	GSPS-05/A
Diego Zorli	diego.zorli@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Between victimhood and denial: The Italian Social Movement’s discourse on violence in the 1970s	Fabrizio Amore Bianco Andrea Mammone	HIST-03/A
Alessia Fantini	alessia.fantini1@phd.unipi.it	Geopolitics and History of International Relations	Architecture of Power: The infrastructural geopolitics of the Russian Federation between internal sovereignty and external projection	Elena Dundovich Andrea Giannotti	GSPS-04/B

XXXX cycle – a.y. 2024/2025

Name and Surname	e-mail	Research topics	PhD project title	Supervisor	SSD
Guglielmo Accardo	guglielmo.accardo@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture PNRR scholarship	The role of public Welfare in the ecological transition: The challenge of sustainable Welfare and multilevel governance	Matteo Villa Yuri Kazepov	GSPS-08/A
Camilla Galaverni	camilla.galaverni@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture PNRR scholarship	The Phenomenon of Monitoring Communities in Italy: Seeds of Hope or Utopia?	Alberto Vannucci Massimiliano Andretta	GSPS-02/A
Giulia Mazzanti	giulia.mazzanti@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture PNRR scholarship	The Massa Carrara 2030 Project	Alessandro Volpi Matteo Villa	GSPS-08/A
Tommaso Latini	tommaso.latini@phd.unipi.it	Geopolitics	The European Union as a security actor in Africa: The cases of civilian and military missions in the Sahel	Simone Paoli Arrigo Pallotti	GSPS-04/C
Alice Levy	alice.levy@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	The intersectionality between theory and practice: The potential of the intersectional perspective in the reception and integration system of refugees and asylum seekers	Irene Psaroudakis Andrea Salvini	GSPS-05/A
Francesco Bertucci	francesco.bertucci1@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	The horseshoe: The ideological metamorphosis of the subversive extreme right in Italy (1977-1982)	Fabrizio Amore Bianco Mauro Lenci	HIST-03/A
Matilde Zambon	matilde.zambon@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Parenting in prison contexts: An ethnographic study on the role of fatherhood and parenting practices in the experiences of detention in the Houses of Detention in Tuscany	Gerardo Pastore Fabio Mugnaini	GSPS-05/A

XXXIX Cycle – a.y. 2023/2024

Name and Surname	e-mail	Research topics	PhD project title	Supervisor	SSD
Enrico Barsotti	enrico.barsotti@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Media and Politics: The digital public sphere between information disorders and polarization dynamics	Roberta Bracciale Massimiliano Andretta	GSPS-06/A
Jacopo Bernardini	jacopo.bernardini@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	The peripheral administration of RSI in Lunigiana. A comparison between local and European realities during the two years 1943-45	Fabrizio Amore Bianco Alessandro Breccia	HIST-03/A
Fulvio Bontempo	fulvio.bontempo@phd.unipi.it	Geopolitics	The kingdoms of Jordan and Morocco: Monarchies between the process of democratic transition and the holding of power	Francesco Tamburini Arturo Marzano	GSPS-04/C
Erika Carlucci	erika.carlucci@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture PNRR scholarship	Penitentiary and Public Administration: Innovative strategies and networks for inclusion and social research	Irene Psaroudakis Andrea Borghini	GSPS-05/A
Cecilia Castellani	cecilia.castellani@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture PNRR scholarship	The Public Administration of the future: New advanced training courses for public officials	Eugenio Pizzimenti Enrico Calossi	GSPS-02/A
Tommaso Cerutti	tommaso.cerutti@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture PNRR scholarship	From the Marshall Plan to NextGenEU. Emergency paradigm and mechanism of corruption in the management of special funds between the First and Second Republic	Alberto Vannucci Salvatore Sberna	GSPS-02/A
Concetta Giusto	concetta.giusto@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture PNRR scholarship	Public Administration and social innovation: Theory-based models and tools for sustainable and inclusive management of resilient people	Silvia Cervia Simona Gozzo	GSPS-06/A
Damiano Kerma	damiano.kerma@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Music and collective memory in grassroots populist mobilization: A transnational perspective	Manuela Caiani Massimiliano Andretta	GSPS-02/A
Giovanni Michelagnoli	giovanni.michelagnoli@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture Supernumerary	The economic culture of trade unions in Italy (1972-2008)	Luca Michelini Bruno Chiarini	SECS-P/04
Martina Tomeo	martina.tomeo@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture PNRR scholarship	Uses of the “COM. B ToC” in the planning and evaluation of the potential impact of policies to combat educational poverty at the level of the Social Territorial Area	Gabriele Tomei Bruno Lebri	GSPS-05/A

XXXVIII cycle – a.y. 2022/2023

Name and Surname	e-mail	Research topics	PhD project title	Supervisor	SSD
Francesco Bertuccelli	francesco.bertuccelli@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	The City Inside the Construction Site: Investigation of the economy of a territory through the collaboration of its inhabitants and their objects	Andrea Borghini Gerardo Pastore	GSPS-05/A
Brenda Fedi	brenda.fedi@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Making music and engaging in politics in Italy in the 1990s. The relationship between movements and institutions through musical language	Alessandro Volpi Alessandro Breccia	HIST-03/A
Cecilia Frego	cecilia.frego@phd.unipi.it	Geopolitics	Integration, segregation, or disintegration? Analysis of the management policies of Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltic countries	Lara Piccardo Elena Dundovich	GSPS-04/B
Aurora Maria Lai	aurora.lai@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Identity and trust of Gen Z. The role of educational institutions in the construction of the life project	Silvia Cervia Lorenzo Viviani	GSPS-06/A
Renata Leardi	renata.leardi@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture PNRR scholarship	Inside and outside: paths of substantial inclusion between prison and Public Administrations. The Case Study of the University Penitentiary Poles	Gerardo Pastore Andrea Borghini	GSPS-05/A
Nicola Mariotti	nicola.mariotti@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture PNRR scholarship	The prefects in the “Long Sixty-Eight”. Political-administrative management between conflict and modernization (1968-1973)	Alessandro Breccia Giovanni Focardi	GSPS-03/B

XXXVII cycle – a.y. 2021/2022

Name and Surname	e-mail	Research topics	PhD project title	Supervisor	SSD
Federica Alfano	alfano.federica@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture PON scholarship	The impact of climate change on agricultural and forest ecosystems	Luigi Pellizzoni	GSPS-08/B
Lorenzo Bernardini	lorenzo.bernardini@phd.unipi.it	Geopolitics	«Italy has a role to play»? Italian defense policy and the Anglo-American reassessment of Mediterranean security (1980-1985)	Simone Paoli	GSPS-04/B
Andrea Cellai	andrea.cellai@phd.unipi.it	Geopolitics	Ethiopia as a case study of modernization in a global sense: development, state-building and their nexus	Francesco Tamburini	GSPS-04/C
Francesca Columbano	francesca.columbano@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Atoning one’s sentence and volunteering: Legal-legislative dialectics and a new approach in the social science. A comparison between Italy and Spain.	Andrea Borghini	GSPS-08/B
Denise Contessa	denise.contessa@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	The intra-pandemic tourist city: Between Airbnb and future scenarios	Sonia Paone	GSPS-08/B
Lavinia De Santis	lavinia.desantis@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Giovanni Sartori’s democratic theory and the political challenges of the 21st Century	Eugenio Pizzimenti	GSPS-02/A
Damiano Lembo	damiano.lembo@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Gaetano Salvemini’s democracy in European political culture	Mauro Lenci	GSPS-03/A
Gabriele Pascuzzi	gabriele.Pascuzzi@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Edward P. Thompson and Northern Socialism, between history and politics (1948–1965)	Emanuela Minuto	HIST-03/A
Cesare Rossi	cesare.rossi@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Innovation and complex social policies: Understanding change through the evaluation of initiatives to fight child poverty supported by the “Cambio Rotta” programme	Gabriele Tomei	GSPS-05/A
Martina Semboloni	martina.semboloni@phd.unipi.it	Sociology, History, and Political Culture	Healthcare institutions in colonial Eritrea	Alessandro Breccia	GSPS-03/B
Karolina Sikirinskaya	karolina.sikirinskaia@phd.unipi.it	Geopolitics	The development of Italian-Russian diplomatic relations: History, modernity and perspectives	Andrea Giannotti	GSPS-04/B