41th Cycle: Abdullah Ahmadi, Margherita Busson, Marta Lusiardi, Moro Christian, Oleksandr Osinskyy, Giuliana Renda.

Abdullah Ahmadi 

Geospatial and Multi‑Criteria Decision Analysis of Green Infrastructure for Urban Equity and Resilience: A Case Study of Padua, Italy

Curriculum: Human Rights, Society and Multilevel Governance 
Supervisor: Massimo De Marchi
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7135-6342 
Funded by: Università degli Studi di Padova
Research question: How can geospatial analysis  with multi‑criteria decision analysis (MCDA) be used to identify and prioritize green infrastructure interventions that maximize both urban resilience and social equity in Padua, Italy?

Summary
This research aims to investigate how rooftop green infrastructure and urban agroecology can contribute to a fairer, healthier, and more climate‑resilient city. With a main focus on Padova, the primary objective is to develop a participatory spatial decision‑making framework that brings together geospatial analysis and community perspectives, in order to guide (where and how) rooftop greening should be prioritised. The project combines high‑resolution environmental data, such as satellite‑derived vegetation and heat indicators, LiDAR‑based roof characteristics, and detailed land‑use and socio‑demographic information, to analyse both the technical feasibility of rooftop interventions, and the social and climatic vulnerabilities across the city, with the goal of equitable and resilient city environment. 
A central part of the work involves engaging residents, local organisations, and municipal actors to co‑define the criteria that matter most for equitable green‑infrastructure planning, putting people in the center of the project, from cooling potential and biodiversity to food production, greenery accessibility, and socio-environmental justice. These insights feed into a multi‑criteria decision analysis that identifies rooftops with the greatest potential to deliver environmental and social benefits, especially in neighbourhoods that have historically been underserved. 
The project aims to produce practical, justice‑oriented planning tools and policy guidance aligned with European and international commitments on climate action, biodiversity, and the human right to a healthy environment. Ultimately, the research seeks to support cities in designing greener futures that are not only sustainable, but also inclusive and socially just. Part of this project is also planned to be done in Kenya! 

Keywords: Urban Green Infrastructure, Environmental Governance, Spatial Multi‑Criteria Decision Analysis, Climate Adaptation and Resilience, Environmental Justice and Human Rights, Geographic Information System.

Margherita Busson

Healthcare Access and Structural Inequality: Autistic Adults’ Experiences, Discrimination, and Self-Determination in Italy

Curriculum: Inclusion and psychological growth 
Supervisor: Ines Testoni
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-4627-3867   
Funded by: Università degli Studi di Padova
Research question:  How do autistic adults in Italy (and, where relevant, their primary caregivers in cases of high support needs/autism level 3) experience access to the healthcare system, including perceived barriers, discrimination/ableism, and opportunities for self-determination in healthcare decision-making?

Summary
This participatory qualitative research project examines how autistic adults in Italy experience access to the healthcare system, with a specific focus on structural barriers, discrimination and ableism, and the exercise of self-determination in healthcare decision-making. Although autism is increasingly recognised as a lifelong condition, the transition to adulthood remains marked by a substantial gap in services and support. International research shows that autistic adults face significant obstacles in mainstream healthcare, including communication mismatches with professionals, sensory overload in clinical environments, inflexible and bureaucratic procedures, and limited clinician training on autism in adulthood. These barriers often lead to delayed or avoided care and contribute to poorer health outcomes. Drawing on the neurodiversity paradigm, critical disability studies, minority stress theory, and a rights-based framework informed by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the project addresses a major gap in the Italian literature: the lack of systematic, first-person research on autistic adults’ healthcare experiences and on how autonomy and informed consent are negotiated in clinical contexts, including situations involving high support needs. Particular attention is paid to practices of supported versus substituted decision-making and to the role of caregivers. The study adopts a participatory qualitative design. Data will be collected through an anonymous online questionnaire and in-depth semi-structured interviews with autistic adults and, where appropriate, caregivers of adults with autism level 3. An autistic advisory panel will be involved in the co-design of research instruments and in the interpretation of findings, in line with participatory and inclusive research principles. Qualitative data will be analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, supported by descriptive statistics from survey data. The project aims to generate empirically grounded knowledge to inform policy, professional training, and service design, contributing to the development of a more accessible, equitable, and rights-based healthcare system that respects the dignity and agency of autistic adults across the lifespan.

Keywords: Autistic adults, healthcare access, ableism, neurodiversity, disability studies, participatory research, Italy. 

Marta Lusiardi

Universal Empathy and Human Rights: Psychosocial Perspectives on Inclusion and Global Responsibility

Curriculum: Inclusion and psychological growth 
Supervisor: Roberto De Vogli
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2711-8196  
Funded by: Università degli Studi di Padova
Research question:  How is universal empathy understood and experienced in relation to human rights, inclusion and global responsibility in contemporary societies? How does universal empathy differ from selective or group-based forms of empathy in human rights-related contexts? How is universal empathy associated with psychosocial factors and attitudes supporting inclusion and human rights?

Summary
This project investigates universal empathy as a psychosocial dimension relevant to human rights protection, inclusion and global responsibility. In the context of contemporary global challenges such as climate change, forced displacement, wars, pandemics and widening social inequalities, human rights frameworks often struggle to mobilize consistent solidarity and global governance. While human rights are formally universal, responses to suffering and injustice remain uneven and selective, shaped by social proximity, cultural boundaries and power relations. This gap between universal norms and selective emotional responses represents a critical challenge for inclusive governance and the effective protection of human rights.
This proposal aims to conceptually define universal empathy understood as the capacity to extend concern, care and moral consideration beyond one’s immediate social, national or cultural group. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature from psychology, human rights studies, peace research and global health, the research explores how universal empathy differs from selective or group-based forms of empathy and how it relates to attitudes that support inclusion, solidarity and shared human responsibility. Particular attention is paid to the psychosocial and contextual factors that may foster or hinder the development of universal empathy in contemporary societies.
Methodologically, the project adopts a mixed-methods approach. Qualitative methods are used to explore how individuals understand and experience empathy toward distant others and global issues particularly in human rights-related contexts. These qualitative insights inform the quantitative phase of the research, which employs survey-based methods and selected existing psychometric instruments to examine patterns and associations between universal empathy, inclusion and human rights-oriented attitudes.
By integrating qualitative and quantitative approaches, the project seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of the psychological foundations of inclusion and to provide empirically informed insights for human rights education, advocacy and policy-making, supporting more inclusive and emotionally grounded approaches to governance.

Keywords: Universal empathy, Human rights, Inclusion, Shared humanity.

Christian Moro 

Innovating people analytics’ analysis and usage: introducing a textual data analysis and NLP approach for exploiting the potential of the human capital

Curriculum: Inclusion and Psychological Growth
Supervisor: Gian Piero Turchi
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7019-8898  
Funded by: Smart PhD 2025 - Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo, Intesa Sanpaolo S.p.A., UniSMART cofinanziata con Pragmata-Arkyreyma Srl
Research question: How do companies consider, collect and use people analytics for human resource management? Which are their potential risks and benefits? What implies, for workers and businesses, shifting from human resources to human capital? How can people? How can people analytics be used to promote the value of the human capital and increase welfare and inclusion within companies?

Summary
This project investigates the transformative potential and critical implications of people analytics in contemporary human resource (HR) management, with a specific focus on its capacity to promote inclusion, fairness, and human capital development. While people analytics – defined as the data-driven application of analytical techniques (e.g., data mining, predictive analytics, and artificial intelligence) to HR practices – has demonstrated substantial benefits in terms of efficiency and strategic workforce management, it raises significant ethical, epistemological, and operational concerns. These include the reduction of individuals to data objects, intrusive data practices, and the risk of algorithmic bias and discrimination. Such issues highlight a paradox: although people analytics is implemented to increase objectivity and reduce human bias, it often replicates or amplifies existing inequalities if not critically designed and monitored.
The project pursues three main objectives:

• to define a theoretical-methodological framework for HR data collection and analysis that values subjectivity and complexity while enabling comparability, supported by text analysis technologies and co-designed with stakeholders;
• to empirically apply this framework across multiple Italian organizations – especially SMEs – to assess how they leverage human capital for inclusion, growth, and welfare;
• to refine and generalize the framework into a scalable asset for broader organizational implementation.

Central to the methodological design is the adoption of the MADIT approach, which enables the analysis of natural language as a vehicle for sense-making within organizational contexts, offering a quantitative measure of discursive impacts on factors such as welfare, inclusion, and human development. Through the integration of supervised machine learning models (e.g., BERT, RoBERTa, GPT, LLaMA), statistical clustering techniques (e.g., Descending Hierarchical Analysis, Correspondence Factor Analysis), and software tools (e.g., NVivo, IRaMuTeQ, TALL), the project enables both processual and thematic analysis of organizational discourse.
The final outcome will be a validated and scalable methodology for inclusive, ethically responsible people analytics.

Keywords: People analytics, Human capital, Welfare, Inclusion, Human development, Text analysis.