Giacometti, Alessio | Italy

Alessio Giacometti is a PhD candidate in Social Sciences: Communications, Interaction and Cultural Constructions at the University of Padova (Italy), working on a project about the representations of nuclear fusion. Member of the research unit Pa.S.T.I.S (Padova Science, Technology, and Innovation Studies), he obtained a Master’s degree in Sociology and Social Research from the University of Padova, as well as a Bachelor’s degree in Sociological Sciences and in Communications Studies from the same university. He is interested in Science & Technology Studies (STS) and environmental sociology, with a particular propension for the Anthropocene studies, environmental humanities, political ecology, and social studies of energy transitions. Being editor of the Italian cultural magazine Il Tascabile, he is also keen on science journalism and nature writing.

Project at IAS-STS

As a Research Fellow at the Institute for advanced studies on science, technology and society (IAS-STS), Alessio Giacometti is completing his research project on the representations of nuclear fusion, a research field that is trying to obtain energy from fusion reactions by replicating in laboratory the process that powers the Sun and other stars. Following the approaches of Science & Technology Studies and Expectation Studies, the PhD project addresses three levels of analysis: how fusion is framed in the media arena, how it is told by fusion scientists themselves and how it is practiced in a dedicated facility. Such research is being carried out by means of a mixed-methods approach that combines qualitative and quantitative discourse analysis with ethnography in a nuclear fusion research centre.

Publications

Bustreo, C., Ben Ayed, N., Biberacher, M., Börcsök, E., Čadenović, R., Cardozo, N. J., Cok, V., Colucci, G., De Marchi, E., Dongiovanni, D. N., Ferencz, Z., Geysmans, R., Giacometti, A. et alii (under review). Socio-economic perspectives on fusion power for a sustainable future energy system. Nuclear Fusion.

Jones, C. R., Oltra, C., Giacometti, A., et alii. (under review). Understanding ‘mixed feelings’ towards fusion energy in Europe: A World Cafe study. Energy Research & Social Science.

Giacometti, A. & Giardullo, P. (2024). Trajectories of the Anthropocene as a Boundary Concept Bridging Debates about Climate Change and Ecological Collapse (Years 2000-2019). Science as Culture. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2024.2321366.

Giacometti, A. (2023). Immaginari dell’Antropocene. Usi scientifici e diffusione culturale del concetto di epoca umana. Novi Ligure: Edizioni Epoké.

Giacometti, A. (2022). Raccontare la crisi climatica. Limiti e prospettive del giornalismo ambientale. In: Ciarleglio C. & Bronzi, M. (Eds.). Contro-nature. Teorie e pratiche di ecologia politica. Roma: DeriveApprodi.