Ilenia Picardi (PhD in Physics, PhD in Gender Mind Language) is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Naples Federico II (UNINA), where she teaches Social Research Methodology and Science,
Technology and Society. Her research focuses on the Social Studies of Science and Technology, particularly on the social dimension of technoscientific knowledge, ecological transition, and intersectionality in scientific research and academia. She currently leads the Gender Studies in Science and Technology area at the UNINA Gender Observatory on University and Research. She has taken part in several European research projects in the field of Science in Society. For UNINA, she served as project manager of the FP7 project GENOVATE (Transforming Organizational Culture for Gender Equality in Research and Innovation, January 2013 – June 2017). Within GENOVATE, she designed and implemented the Gender Equality Action Plan for UNINA and coordinated the first mentoring programme for women in science in Italian universities. The mentoring programme, developed on the basis of her research on gender asymmetries in academia, was recognised by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) as one of the most relevant initiatives for gender equality in Italian scientific institutions. She is currently the scientific coordinator for UNINA of the PRIN PNRR 2022 project PROSOCIAL-CLIMA (Prosocial motivations for climate mitigation behaviours) and coordinator of the UNINA Athena Mentoring Programme, a transformative initiative for gender equity in universities and research. In August 2024, she was elected to the Executive Committee of the European Sociological Association (ESA), and since January 2025, she has been a member of the Executive Board of the Italian Association of Science and Technology Studies (STS Italia).