Michela Dianetti

Research Associate

Dr Michela Dianetti is a post-doctoral researcher in the ‘Critical Thinking in Communities of Inquiry’ project at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics at the University of Galway, a lecturer in Philosophy, and a community philosopher. Her PhD research, funded by the Irish Research Council, developed a literary ethics of attention grounded in the philosophies of Simone Weil and Iris Murdoch, applying them to the literary work of Elsa Morante. She is the Italy correspondent for the American E- Journal Attention, dedicated to the life and legacy of the French philosopher Simone Weil.

She is also part of the team of the IRC New Foundations project (AIRE), collaborating with COPE Galway to engage the local community in Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CPI) on the topic of attention to the landscape through Iris Murdoch’s philosophy and literature. She currently facilitates workshops on attention at the University level and facilitates philosophical inquiries for children in Galway primary schools, as well as for young adults and older persons in collaboration with members of the Department of Philosophy (see link) and the not-for-profit CURO-thinking for communities, where she integrates art and literature into her practice, fostering dialogue on urgent issues such as social injustice and climate change.

She is the co-organiser of the first Galway edition of The N.I.C.E Italian Film Festival funded by the Embassy of Italy in Ireland, the Italian Institute of Culture and the Italian Irish Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with the Galway Film Society and hosted at Pálás cinema. Since 2024, she has been a member-at-large on the committee of the Irish Philosophical Society.

Her fields of interest are public philosophy, philosophy 4/w children, philosophy of literature and 20th Century women’s writing (especially Italian writers such as Elsa Morante, Cristina Campo, and movie director Alice Rohrwacher).

The ‘Critical Thinking in Communities of Inquiry’ project at the Insight Centre for Data Analytics investigates data science and AI researchers’ perceptions of Arts and Humanities activities in their field and will develop, implement, and evaluate a pilot of communities of inquiry with researchers in data science and AI that offers them transferable soft skills for public engagement and teamwork while creating a space for inquiring on their perspective on their research and social impact.