Research Studies and Activities in history of science

From 1978 to 1984 she carried out research activities, published papers and reports at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Bologna.

In 1984 she carried out research activities at the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine of London with a CNR/NATO scholarship.

From 1994 to 1996 she was a member of a research group at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Rome, La Sapienza, funded by CNR (National Research Centre) and co-ordinated by Prof. Eugenio Lecaldano, on the issues of life and death in relation to new medical technologies.

Her studies have mainly focussed on specific areas of competence: the history of philosophical thinking in Italian positivism, with a special reference to some specific subjects, such as psychology and psychiatry, studied from different angles, including their interaction with the shaping of the feminine image. The relationship between medical science and cultural ideologies is at basis of her recent interests in the developments of new medical technologies in relation to life and death from a gender perspective. On these matters she has published books and articles.

Publishing activities

In addition to research, she has also worked in the publishing field, by collaborating with the following publishers:

- Il Mulino, in her capacity as editing co-ordinator for the three following magazines:

"Rivista di filosofia": 1986-1997

"Intersezioni": 1993-1994

"L'informazione bibliografica": 1989-1992

- Casa Editrice Zanichelli, by collaborating in the school sector with contributions to history handbooks for secondary schools and by carrying out archives research for the company history writing.

Involvement in Italian and International Feminism

Since 1989 she has been a member of the Orlando Association (dealing with research on feminine identity development), of a few workgroups involved in feminist theory research, of the "National Co-ordination of Women involved in Science" ("Coordinamento nazionale donne di scienza") and of the "Italian Society of Women Historians" ("Società Italiana delle Storiche").

Since 1990 she has been a member of the managing board of the Women's Documentation, Research and Initiative Centre of Bologna.

In 1992 she organised the international meeting on "Theories of Feminism made in USA" held at the University of Bologna.

In 1993 she was appointed Director of the Library of the Women's Documentation Centre of Bologna in view of its transformation into a National Library. Her experience in the feminist movement and in the management of the Women's Centre have allowed her to establish direct relationships with all the other Women's Centres, Archives, Libraries, Bibliographical Networks, Data Bases, Magazines and Publishing Houses, both at national and international level.

She is part of the Board of Directors of the Lilith Gender Bibliographical Network, that gathers thirty Italian Women's Documentation Centres, Archives and Libraries.

In 1994 she participated in the 2nd World Meeting of Women's Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres held at the Schlesinger Library of Boston with a paper on "Women, information and the future" and a report on the Italian Women's National Library project, called "Between Memory and Invention: The Italian National Women's Library".

Furthermore, from 1994 to 1996, on behalf of DG V of the European Union, she collaborated in the International Experts' Network of "Women in the Decision Making", based in Brussels, i.e. a EU-wide network collecting data and information on women's access to top decision-making levels, whose aim is to identify affirmative actions strategies.

During the months of April and May 1996, on behalf of the National Committee for Equal Opportunities within the framework of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, she collaborated in her capacity as a consultant in the preparation of the European Conference: "Women for the renewal of politics and society" (May 16-18, 1996), dealing, in particular, with the relationships with the government delegations and women ministers from the European Union Member States for the signature of the Charter of Rome.

Still in 1996 she participated, in her capacity as expert representing Italy, in the meeting "The state of the art: women's studies information in Europe", organised by the University of Utrecht by the WISE European network (May 10-11 '96) presenting a report whose title was: "Italy at a crossroad".

Since 1997 she has been a full member of the AOIFE European Network Council - Association of Institutions for Feminist Research and Education - that gathers approximately eighty universities and research centres for the implementation of Women's studies in Europe and, as such, she takes part in the activities of the Athena thematic network and in its regular meetings, within panel 2, on the issue of ICT.

Between 1997 and 1998 she participated in the project funded by the European Union for a gender-based European Thesaurus together with a consortium gathering other libraries and documentation centres (Brussels, Amsterdam, Oslo).

Since 1997 she has been a member of the Regional Committee on Equal Opportunities of the Emilia Romagna Region.

In 1998 she participated in the Advisory Board of the 3rd World Meeting on "Know-How on the world of women" organised by IIAV- International Women's Movement Archives and Library - in Amsterdam, during which she presented a report on the building of women's documentation centres and the training of skilled staff whose title was: "Building a Women's Public Institution: Perspectives toward the New Millennium".

She participated in the meeting on "Women, Culture and Development Practice" organised by the American University in Paris (November 12-14 1998) with a report whose title was: "The global network of women's documentation centres, libraries and archives: a chance for empowerment".

Since 1998 she has been a member of the international board of Women's World, a non governmental organisation based in New York and devoted to the study of censorship against women's writing. In her capacity as board member she took part in a European workshop organised at the Rockefeller Foundation in Bellagio with a report on the experience of the Women's Documentation Centre and Library of Bologna.

Since 1998, in her capacity as teacher, she has taken part in a project initiated by Unesco/University of Bologna and she presented a paper on "Training of Mediterranean Women Print Journalists". In this framework she participated in a workshop organised at the University of Irbid (Jordan) with a report on Women and electronic networks. In 1999 she participated in a workshop organised at the University of Cairo, with a report on The world of women information: ICT and the global network of women's documentation centres .

Finally, in November 1999, she participated in a workshop organised at the University of Tunis with a report on The impact of the New Communications Technologies on Women's Information structures.

At present she is involved in the organisation of the 4th European Feminist Research Conference on "Body, gender, subjectivity. Crossing borders of disciplines and institutions" within the framework of Bologna, European Cultural Capital of 2000, in which more than 100 European universities will participate and which will be held in Bologna from September 28th to October 1st 2000.

Furthermore, she is part of a consortium of partners to the Virgel project for the creation of a virtual library on gender equality in Europe, a project now under examination at the European Commission.

She has participated in several other conferences, meetings and workshop in Italy and abroad both presenting reports and taking part in the discussion.