TEAM

Principal Investigator

Rosalba Belmonte is a researcher in Sociology of Political Phenomena at the University of Tuscia, where she teaches Sociology of Social Security and Deviance and Sociology of Political Phenomena. She is also a lecturer in Social Analysis of Gender Equality in the Master’s degree program in Gender Studies, Cultures, and Policies for Media and Communication at Sapienza University of Rome. Her main research interests include male violence against women, understood as a product of gender power asymmetry, and its social representation.

Unitus Team Member

Luca Massidda is a RTDb (Researcher) in Sociology of Political Phenomena at the University of Tuscia, where he teaches Sociology of Political Phenomena and Changing Political Cultures. He is a member of the doctoral program board “Society in Change: Politics, Rights, Security” (University of Tuscia) and of the board of the ISA RC26 Sociotechnics – Sociological Practice (of which he was Secretary from 2018 to 2023). His main research interests include political communication, leadership styles, and the relationships between power and gender.

Unitus Team Member

Fabrizia Pasciuto earned her Ph.D. in Cognitive Science with a focus on Social, Territorial, Media, and Performing Arts Theories and Technologies at the University of Messina. She is currently a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Tuscia in the project “STEPSISTER – Stereotypes and Prejudices in Press Representation of Gender Violence.” Her primary research focuses on Social Studies of Technology, with particular emphasis on gender-related aspects.

Associate Investigator

Flaminia Saccà is a Full Professor of Sociology of Political Phenomena. She teaches Sociology of Gender-Based Violence and Political Cultures, Gender, and Power Asymmetries at Sapienza University of Rome. She is the president of the STEP-ROMA Observatory Le parole giuste and the scientific coordinator of the project that led to the creation of the Observatory.

She serves as vice president of the Research Committee Sociotechniques – Sociological Practices of the International Sociological Association and is a board member of the European Sociological Association’s Political Sociology Research Network. She has lived and worked in Italy, England, and the United States. Her numerous publications cover topics ranging from the social representation of gender-based violence to political cultures in mature democracies, leadership styles, and women in politics.

Sapienza Team Member

Fabrizia Giuliani teaches Philosophy of Language and Gender Studies at Sapienza Università di Roma. Her research interests focus on semantics, and on the ways in which our symbolic systems account for sex differences and the construction of gender—topics to which she has devoted several essays. Her most recent monograph is Includere o esprimere. Come (e perché) le donne hanno cambiato lingua, Il Calamo, 2024. She coordinates the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Osservatorio Nazionale sulla Violenza, and edited the Libro Bianco contro la violenza maschile sulle donne (2025, Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri).

Sapienza Team Member

Maddalena Carbonari earned a PhD in Communication, Social Research, and Marketing (Communication track) from the Department of Communication and Social Research (CoRiS) at Sapienza University of Rome. She is currently a research fellow at the Department of Psychology of Developmental and Socialization Processes at Sapienza University of Rome, working on the project STEPSISTER – Stereotypes and Prejudices in Press Representation of Gender Violence, under the scientific supervision of Professor Flaminia Saccà.

Associate Investigator

Valentina Raffa is associated professor in Political Sociology at the University of Messina. Her research topics focus on power, social movement, gender issues, political participation, minorities.

Unime Team Member

Milena Meo is a Full Professor of Sociology of Political Phenomena at the University of Messina. Her research focuses on alterity, multiculturalism, politics, power asymmetries and gender issues. On these subjects, she has authored essays and edited collective volumes.

Unime Team Member

Fabio Mostaccio is an Associate Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Messina. His main research topics focused on power, LGBTQ+ movements, and gender issues.

Unime Team Member

Antonio Tramontana is currently a Post-doc in Political Sociology at the University of Messina. His research topics focus on power, ideologies and gender issues.

Unimol Team Member

Fedele Cuculo, Former Full Professor of Sociology of Law, Deviance, and Social Change and Deputy Rector for Teaching at the University G. d’Annunzio of Chieti-Pescara, he is currently Full Professor of Sociology of Law and Deviance at the University of Molise. Among his most recent publications: “Democrazia impossibile e sociologia del conflitto”, in Sociologia, 2/2024; “Pericolosità sociale e violenza di genere. Efficacia e paradossi della tutela giuridica”, in Sociologia, 3/2022; “Il diritto allo specchio. Riflessi e paradossi dell’esperienza giuridica”, in Sociologia, 2/2022; Entry “Massa”, in Dizionario di Sociologia per la Persona, 2021; “Magritte e lo stato di eccezione. Il formalismo giuridico come esercizio del potere”, in Sociologia, Gangemi Editore, 3/2020.

Unimol Team Member

Manuela Garofalo, Journalist and consultant in institutional communication for national entities and institutions. Adjunct Professor of Public and Political Communication and Research Fellow at the University of Molise. Former press officer and head of communication for the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Agriculture.