Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Opening of the 2024/25 academic year of the Reggio Childhood Studies PhD programme in Sala Tricolore

The Sala Tricolore (Tricolour Hall) in Reggio Emilia was the backdrop this morning to the inauguration ceremony of the 2024/25 academic year of the international and industrial PhD course ‘Reggio Childhood Studies - from Early Childhood to Lifelong Learning’ of the Department of Education and Humanities of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia with the Reggio Children Foundation - Loris Malaguzzi Centre ETS as industrial partner of the Phd programme.

The leading figures of the event were the new Phd students, who presented a research programme on various topics, including: the meeting space in prisons for detained parents and children, the autonomous mobility of children in the streets, inclusive languages in museums. The highlight of the morning was the lectio magistralis by Professor Edward Harcourt, Oxford University, entitled ‘Keeping Morality in its Place: The Truth in Immoralism?

After the institutional greetings, the day was opened by Professor Annamaria Contini, Director of the Department of Education and Humanities, who stated: ‘The celebration of this important anniversary in the Tricolour Room of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia has a high symbolic value: it is intended to make the precious heritage of ideas, innovations and knowledge linked to the PhD in “Reggio Childhood Studies” even more visible to the city. For a long time, the city of Reggio Emilia has been famous all over the world for its great avant-garde experiences in the field of education. This PhD, the result of a collaboration between the Reggio Children Foundation and the Department of Education and Humanities, selected as Department of Excellence 2023-27, strengthens both partners, consolidating the educational vocation of the territory and the Reggio Emilia University City project."

Carla Rinaldi, President of the Reggio Children Foundation, industrial partner of the PhD programme, added: ‘The values expressed by Sala del Tricolore are deeply rooted in the educational experience of Reggio Emilia and consequently in the PhD programme Reggio Childhood Studies. Here vibrates the awareness of being citizens, a living part of the city, sharing the rights and duties of civil coexistence. We expect from you, PhD students and doctors, the courage of research that can transform and improve reality'.

Representatives of Farmacie Comunali Riunite and Fondazione Palazzo Magnani spoke on behalf of the partners and doctoral collaborations.

The morning was also a kind of celebration, with the presentation of the seven new PhD students selected this year (40th cycle) and the celebration of the new doctors who completed their studies on Tuesday 5 November with a discussion at the Loris Malaguzzi International Centre.

The jury members are Carla Bagnoli, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, programme coordinator, Luisa Zecca, University of Milan Bicocca, Federica Malfatti, Universität Innsbruck (Austria). It also includes Carla Rinaldi, President of the Reggio Children Foundation, as an expert member. Part of the committee and the speakers and co-rapporteurs were connected online.

The new PhDs in Reggio Childhood Studies:

Pierina Bertoglio presented a research paper entitled ‘Tools and Opportunities for the Development of Imaginative Thinking, Disciplinary Knowledge and Active Citizenship Skills’, supervisor Annamaria Contini (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia), co-rapporteur Franca Zuccoli (University of Milano-Bicocca).
Valeria Farinacci, with supervisor James Bradburne (Brera Academy of Fine Arts) and co-rapporteur Elisa Perego (University of Trieste), dealt with the research on ‘The impact of retranslation on museum interaction: results from the Pinacoteca di Brera’.
Carmela Gesmundo carried out research on ‘How to design, within the prison, suitable environments to support the quality of encounters between incarcerated parents and children’, which was based at the Penitentiary of Reggio Emilia. Supervisor Susanna Pietralunga (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) and co-rapporteur Antonio Gariboldi (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia).
Agathe Gillet dealt with ‘The influence of parenting practices in France and Italy on children's independent mobility (IMC) and its effects on spatial knowledge’ with Lia Karsten (University of Amsterdam) as supervisor.
Giulia Tucci with Luca Aversano (University of Roma Tre) as rapporteur and Mauro Casadei Turroni Monti (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia) as co-rapporteur presented the research: ‘The music high school in the educational pathway: historical identity, challenges and perspectives’.

From Italy, Argentina, South Africa, Brazil and Iraq the eight new PhD students

Eight new PhD students, from Italy and other countries around the world, were presented to the public in Sala Tricolore and admitted to the selection process last July for the XL phd cycle, with degrees or masters ranging from law, psychology, philology, philosophy and primary education. They are: Camilla Maria Aviles San Martin, Argentina, Basira Hussen, Kirkuk, Iraq, Heather Barclay, Johannesburg, South Africa, Ludovica Brandi, Milan, Giulia Fusco, Formia (LT), Chiara Magurno, Paola (CS), Vittoria Martignago Soave (VR) and Karla Raquel Lima, from Sao Carlos, Brazil.

The PhD programme Reggio Childhood Studies - from Early Childhood to Lifelong Learning currently has 34 PhD students and 16 PhDs from 2019 to date. It is highly interdisciplinary and deliberately open to different fields of knowledge. The programme has given rise to a residential community of researchers based in Reggio Emilia and active in the spaces of the Reggio Children Foundation, including the former Caffarri, and the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

Categorie: International - english, Notizie_eng