Agenda

Interview

1. Please provide a brief outline of your training and scientific activity.
My academic and research journey lies at the intersection of linguistics and translation studies on the one hand, and argumentation and rhetoric on the other. In September 2024, I obtained my PhD in Italian Linguistics from the University of Basel (Institut für Italianistik). Following this, I had the opportunity to be teaching assistant for the courses of General Linguistics and Discourse and Rhetoric at the Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies in Venice. Since February 2025, I have been conducting a two-year research project titled The Awareness-Raising Discourse about the Climate Crisis: An Analysis of Written Texts in Italian at the Interplay between Rhetoric, Argumentation Theory, and Text Linguistics. Carried out at the Universities of Copenhagen and Amsterdam within the framework of a two-year Postdoc.Mobility grant awarded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, the project explores how the climate crisis is communicated to the general public in Italian-language media and institutional discourse. Through an integrated approach that draws on rhetoric, argumentation theory, and text linguistics, my research aims to deepen our understanding of the strategies used to foster awareness and engagement
around this urgent global issue.
2. Please state your reasons for choosing Venice and the Department for your research and teaching stay.
At the heart of my project lies the goal of identifying key analytical categories at the intersection of rhetoric, argumentation theory, and text linguistics, in order to better understand how awareness-raising discourse on the climate crisis discourse is constructed and how we can communicate better about environmental issues. This interdisciplinary framework will be developed by observing the interaction of the three disciplines within persuasive communication strategies. During my stay, I will have the chance to hold the course Discourse and Rhetoric, which will tackle key concepts of discourse analysis, text linguistics, pragmatics, rhetoric and argumentation theory. The examples which will be analysed in the course are drawn from current communication about the climate crisis by the media and the institutions. This pedagogical component is closely aligned with my research and will create an active and critical dialogue between theory and practice. Together with the students, we will engage with authentic texts, exploring how language shapes public understanding and emotional
response to the climate emergency. Particular attention will be paid to discourse about Venice itself, thus linking local experience with global concerns. A particularly valuable aspect of my stay is also the opportunity to collaborate and exchange ideas with Professor Francesca Santulli, who was the main lecturer of the Discourse and Rhetoric course in the last
years and who is an expert in the fields of rhetoric and argumentation. Her expertise will provide crucial insights for refining both the theoretical framework and the methodological aspects of my project. Finally, Venice offers not only the right institutional setting for my research and teaching stay, but it also has a symbolic relevance, being itself a city profoundly affected by the consequences of the climate crisis. 
3. Have you ever had a research collaboration with the teaching staff of Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies in the past?
Unfortunately, I have not yet had the opportunity to collaborate in research with the teaching staff of the Department. I am very much looking forward to beginning such collaboration during my stay in the upcoming autumn semester.