Curriculum Vitae


šŸš€ Mission

My mission is to change the current educational paradigms using digital technologies, data and artiļ¬cial intelligence and make learning more accessible and enjoyable.

Research interests: Artiļ¬cial Intelligence in Education, Human-AI interaction, Multimodal Learning Analytics, Human Activity Recognition, Machine Learning, Educational Data Mining, Wearable Sensor Support, and Technology-Enhanced Learning.


šŸ’¼ Work Experience

Junior research group leader (PI) in ā€œAI in Educationā€ 11/2020 ā€“ present

DIPF ā€“ Leibniz Institute for Research and Information in Education, in Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Since September 2022, I have been PI and independent group leader of a BMBF-funded project (www.hytea.de). I am both the main and co-supervisor of several PhD candidates, a habilitation candidate and an external lecturer in Responsible Artificial Intelligence in Computer Science at the Goethe University of Frankfurt.

Post-doctoral researcher in ā€œArtiļ¬cial Intelligenceā€ 11/2019 ā€“ 10/2020

Centre of Actionable Research of the Open Universiteit (CAROU) ā€“ Brightlands Smart Services Campus in Heerlen, The Netherlands. Supervisor: Dr. Stefano Bromuri (OU). Projects: MOBIUS modelling smart and safe Mobility for Urban Sustainability, NEXUS Virtual Assistant.

Ph.D. in ā€œWearable Support and Learning Analyticsā€ 09/2016 ā€“ 09/2020

Faculty of Education (Welten Institute) Open Universiteit ā€“ The Netherlands. The PhD dissertation title was ā€œMultimodal Tutor ā€“ Adaptive Feedback from Multimodal Experiences.ā€ Advisors: Prof. Hendrik Drachsler (OU/DIPF), Prof. Marcus Specht (TUD), Dr. Jan Schneider (DIPF).

Start-up founder / CTO 09/2018 ā€“ 08/2020 MyHealthData ā€“ Bari, Italy. MyHealthData is a platform that allows curating your medical records.

Web developer (part-time, freelance) 09/2010 ā€“ 12/2018

Dimstudio ā€“ Bari, Italy. Developed web solutions for clients in retailing, healthcare, medicine, tourism and social activism.

Research intern 09/2015 ā€“ 06/2016

Welten Insitute, Open Universiteit ā€“ Heerlen, The Netherlands. Led the project Learning Pulse, a research initiative of the Technology Enhanced Learning Innovation (TELI) group of the Open Universiteit. Advisors: Prof. H. Drachsler, Dr. M. Scheļ¬€el, Dr. D. Bƶrner, Dr. S. Ternier.

IBM Extreme Blue intern 06/2015 ā€“ 09/2015 Centre for Advanced Studies IBM ā€“ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Designed and prototyped a concept of an autonomous wi-ļ¬ drone for a telecommunication company. Advisors: Dr. Z. Slavic, Prof. N. Roos (UM).

Web developer and IT expert 09/2012 ā€“ 09/2014 Sinesi Gioielli srl ā€“ Bari, Italy.


šŸŽ“ Education

M.Sc. Artiļ¬cial Intelligence 09/2014 ā€“ 07/2016 Data Science and Knowledge Engineering, Maastricht University ā€“ The Netherlands. Dissertation Title: ā€œVisual Learning Pulseā€ ā€“ in cooperation with the Welten Institute of the Open University of the Netherlands. Final grade: 9/10. Advisors: Dr. K. Driessens (UM), Dr. P. Bonizzi (UM).

B.Sc. Informatics and Digital Communication 10/2010 ā€“ 03/2014 UniversitĆ  degli Studi di Bari ā€œAldo Moroā€ ā€“ Italy.

Dissertation Title: ā€œLearning Analytics for formative assessment in distance learning environmentsā€ - Final grade: 106/110. Advisors: Prof. T. Roselli (UniBA), Dr. V. Rossano (UniBA).

High School Diploma Special. Computer Science 09/2005 ā€“ 07/2010

Scientiļ¬c Lyceum ā€œA. Scacchiā€, Bari, Italy.Dissertation Title: ā€œCognitive-cultural Capitalism and Knowledge Privatisationā€ - Final grade: 94/100.


šŸ¤ Elected in Committees / NGOs

yOUng (board member) 12/2017 ā€“ 10/2020

yOUng is the network of young employees of the Open Universiteit. OU ambassador of the Brightlandsā€™ Young Professionals.

Lifelong Learning Platform (vice-president) 06/2014 ā€“ 06/2017

The platform of European civil society organisations in the ļ¬eld of Education and Lifelong Learning. Portfolio: Erasmus+, digital learning. http://www.lllplatform.eu/

OBESSU (board member) 05/2012 ā€“ 09/2014

The Organising Bureau of European School Student Unions advocates for the rights of secondary students in Europe and represents their voices. http://www.obessu.org/

Unione degli Studenti (international oļ¬ƒcer) 05/2012 ā€“ 09/2014

Italian school student union, member of Rete della Conoscenza and Forum Nazionale Giovani (Italian Youth Council).