Dr Gianna Avellis
Gender Equality Work Group
Dr Gianna Avellis, as Chair Emeritus, will continue her role on the ICoRSA Board as both Legal Director and Ordinary Committee Member, as Dr Gianna Avellis is a founders of ICoRSA. Dr Avellis is leading researcher in ICT at InnovaPuglia SpA, Bari, Italy. About 100 publications and conferences and reviewer of several International Journals of Emerging and Interactive Mobile Technologies. Her current research interests are AI and Gender Equality, Generative AI in Education, and AI for Eradicating Online Violence against Women and Girls. Marie Curie fellow at Imperial College of Science Technology Engineering and Medicine, London, UK, research in Requirements Engineering and Software Design. Founder and Chair of MCAA WG on Gender Equality. Founder and vice-Chair of the Italian Women Innovators and Inventors Network ITWIIN www.itwiin.org promoting annual Award for the best Women Inventor and Innovator in Italy. Advisory Board member of Gender Equality.
Dr Lucia Martinelli
Gender Equality Work Group
Dr Lucia Martinelli joins ICoRSA as a new Ordinary Committee Member, bringing her distinguished career as a retired Senior Researcher and biologist with expertise in biotechnology, gene transfer, GMO traceability, and risk communication. Holding degrees from the University of Bologna (Biological Sciences), Wageningen University (PhD in Agricultural Genetics), and University of Ferrara (Master in Scientific Journalism), she earned the 2004 Rudolf Hermanns Foundation Prize for pioneering gene transfer research into grapes.Since 2011 at MUSE – Science Museum in Trento, Italy, Martinelli has advanced Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and gender equality, coordinating the Gender Equality Plan Working Group within international collaborations. Her extensive networking spans multiple COST Actions and European projects, fostering cross-border dialogue in research communities. Martinelli serves on boards including “Donne e Scienza” (since 2011), European Platform of Women Scientists – EPWS (president since 2021), ICoRSA Gender Working Group, Italian Research Staff Association, EU W20 delegation, and Navigating Knowledge Landscape Network. An active science communicator, she has authored science-theatre texts and hosted radio programmes, enhancing researcher representation and gender equity globally.
Dr Rosarii Griffin
Gender Equality Work Group
Dr Rosarii Griffin is the Company (and Legal) Secretary and Board Director of ICoRSA. She is also Secretary of the national Researcher Staff Association (IrishRSA) and Chairs her University’s Researcher Staff Association (UCCRSA) at University College Cork, Ireland. Rosarii’s expertise lies in International and Comparative Education (DPhil, Oxford University). She has undertaken research capacity-building projects in Uganda, Malawi, Lesotho, South Africa, and Rwanda, receiving research funding from Irish Aid, UNESCO/World Bank, EU, and Government of Ireland Research (formerly IRC). Rosarii has published five books in ‘International and Comparative Education’ and is currently working on a sixth. Rosarii’s books foster an interdisciplinary approach embracing different cultural perspectives. She advocates for researchers, especially safeguards protecting researcher careers, gender equality, disability, STEM, science communication, and science diplomacy. In addition to research capacity building in developing contexts, Rosarii’s current research focus is on the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in relation to pedagogical practices, including teaching, learning, assessing and research. She is specifically interested in ethical practices and AI. Rosarii is a longstanding Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London, UK.
Dr Angela Agostiano
Gender Equality Work Group
Angela Agostiano is a retired full professor of Physical Chemistry at the Department of Chemistry, University of Bari, Italy. She has authored over 300 publications in nanosized semiconductors, photochemistry, environmental applications, and biomaterials. She has led numerous national and international research projects and participated in various evaluation panels and conferences. Angela was the first woman appointed as President Elected of SCI (Italian Society of Chemistry) and is currently President of EuChemS (European Chemical Society). She chairs the EuChemS task group on Diversity and Inclusion, advocating for women scientists. She is a member of the European Academy of Sciences and the “Accademia delle Scienze” of Turin and Bologna. She received the “Anassilaos Award for Art, Culture, Economics and Sciences” in 2017 and the “Bonino Medal” in 2023.
Dr Sveva Avveduto
Gender Equality Work Group
Sveva Avveduto, is the director of the Institute for Research on Population and Social
Policies of the Italian National Research Council. Her main research interests concern science and education policy and are focused on studies on higher education and research and particularly on human resources for
science and technology, on the relationship between higher education and labour market
and on mobility issues of scientists, engineers and high skilled personnel.
Dr Carla Petrocelli
Gender Equality Work Group
Assistant professor at the Department of Ricerca e Innovazione Umanistica, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy. Education: History of the digital revolution, University of Bari Aldo Moro. Professional roles: Research coordinator at CEDITH; member of AICA’s History of Computer Science working group; ANVUR scientific evaluator. Research interests: History of Computer Science, Technology, Programming Languages, and gender studies in IT history.