Dr. Giorgio Busi Rizzi (Universiteit Gent)
Giorgio Busi Rizzi is a BOF post-doctoral fellow at Ghent University, with a project investigating experimental digital comics. He holds a PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies with joint supervision from the Universities of Bologna and Leuven; the PhD project analysed nostalgic aesthetics and practices concerning contemporary graphic novels, and is currently being submitted for publication. He has published in scientific journals and edited volumes, and presented at numerous national and international conferences. He is a founding member of the international research group on Italian comics SNIF – Studying ‘n’ Investigating Fumetti, and a member of several international research groups on comics (CSS, ComFor, La Brèche, ACME). He is interested in comics studies, narratology, digital humanities, humour theory and translation.
Dr. Simona Castellano (Università di Salerno)
Simona Castellano holds a PhD in Communication Sciences. She has been visiting PhD Student at Blanquerna – School of Communication and International Relations (Universitat Ramon Llull, Barcelona). She is research fellow at the Department of Political and Social Studies of the University of Salerno, and a member of the Center for Studies “Media Culture Society”. Her research interests include sociology of digital cultures, social media and sociology of sports cultures.
She has published in several academic journals (such as “Mediascapes Journal”, “H-ermes”, “Im@go”) and in national and international volumes. Among her most recent publications: La centralità di Instagram nelle narrazioni contemporanee tra transmedia storytelling e contenuti grassroots (“Mediascapes Journal”, 2020) and (with M. Tirino) Football Re(me)mediation: i meme e l’estetizzazione dell’emozione calcistica nelle community social (“H-ermes. Journal of Communication”, 2020). She has attended several international and national conference.
She is a member of the international research project on media literacy “Teseo – Arianna’s strands in the digital age” and of the international research project “Elephant – Prospect for humanities”.
Dr. Erwin Dejasse (Université Libre de Bruxelles)
Erwin Dejasse is an art historian, teacher and curator. He is a researcher at the Université Libre de Bruxelles and a lecturer at the Université de Liège. He co-founded the research group on comics ACME.He has written extensively on comics, including articles for art press, MEI, Art&Fact, Les Cahiers du Circav, L’Éprouvette, and 9e Art, the publication of the Comics Museum in Angoulême, France, on which he also serves as a member of the editorial board. His books and works focus on the relationship between comics and art brut, on the work of Muñoz and Sampayo, on the creations of the journal Spirou and on alternative publishing.
Dr. Lorenzo Di Paola (Università di Messina)
Lorenzo Di Paola is research fellow at the Department of Ancient and Modern Civilisations, University of Messina. He is adjunct professor of “Teorie e sociologie del fumetto dalla stampa al digitale” at the University of Salerno. He cooperates with the chairs of Sociology of Cinema and Audiovisuals, Digital Media and Sociology of the Imaginary at the University of Salerno. He works on the mediology of comics and literature and the sociology of digital cultures. He is the author of the book L’inafferrabile medium. Una cartografia delle teorie del fumetto dagli anni venti a oggi (Polidoro editore, 2019), has written numerous articles for scientific journals and collective volumes, and has participated in numerous national and international conferences. He co-edited the volume Poi piovve dentro a l’alta fantasia. Dante e i fumetti (forthcoming, with M. Tirino), and is chief editor of the scientific series “L’Eternauta, Collana di studi su fumetti e media”, together with Luigi Frezza and Mario Tirino. He is part of the international research group on Italian comics SNIF – Studying ‘n’ Investigating Fumetti, and is a member of the “Centro Studi Media Culture Società” at the University of Salerno.
Dr. Nicoletta Mandolini (Universidade do Minho)
Nicoletta Mandolini is FCT Junior Researcher at CECS (Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade) at Universidade do Minho (Portugal), where she is working on the project Sketch Her Story and Make It Popular. Using Graphic Narratives in Italian and Lusophone Feminist Activism Against Gender Violence (https://www.sketchthatstory.com/). She worked as FWO Postdoctoral Researcher at KU Leuven (Belgium) and she owns a PhD from University College Cork (Ireland). Funded by the Irish Research Council, her doctorate project focused on the representation of gender-based violence and feminicide in contemporary Italy. It resulted in the monograph Representations of Lethal Gender-Based Violence in Italy. Between Journalism and Literature: Femminicidio Narratives (Routledge 2021). Among other articles on sexist abuse in contemporary Italian literature and media, she co-edited the volume Rappresentare la violenza di genere. Sguardi femministi tra critica, attivismo e scrittura (Mimesis 2018). She is an active member of the CASiLaC (Centre for Advanced Studies in Languages and Cultures) research cluster on Violence, Conflict and Gender, which she co-convened from 2016 until 2019. She is a founding member of SnIF (Studying’n’Investigating Fumetti).
Dr. Mario Tirino (Università di Salerno)
Mario Tirino is Senior Research Fellow at the University of Salerno, Italy. His research interests include sociology of digital cultures, literature and comics, media theorysport studies. He has published 90 scientific works in several collections and academic journals. He is the author of Postspettatorialità. L’esperienza del cinema nell’era digitale [Postspectatorship. The Cinema Experience in the Digital Age] (2020). His most recent edited collections are Black Lodge. Fenomenologia di Twin Peaks (2021, with A. Fattori), Poi piovve dentro a l’alta fantasia. Dante e i fumetti (forthcoming, with L. Di Paola), Sport e scienze sociali (2019, with L. Bifulco), Flash Gordon. L’avventurosa meraviglia: mito, immaginario e media (2019), and I riflessi di Black Mirror (2018, with A. Tramontana). Manager of the international research project “Teseo – Arianna’s strands in the digital age” (2019-2021). He is chief editor of the series “L’Eternauta. Studi su fumetti e media” (with G. Frezza and L. Di Paola) and “Binge Watchers. Media, sociologia e storia della serialità” (with M. Teti).
Eva Van de Wiele (Universiteit Gent)