My main interests lie at the intersection of three areas: (1) education and child development, (2) numerical cognition, and (3) research methods and open science practices.

These three areas are all deeply rooted in my peculiar academic background.

After earning a scientific diploma, I completed a M.A. in Primary Education (teacher training program) at the University of Udine (Italy), graduating with a thesis on numerical cognition. Alongside my studies, I also attended the School for Advanced Studies of the University of Udine, a prestigious curriculum for outstanding and highly motivated students aimed at fostering interdisciplinary thinking. This experience further enhanced my enthusiasm for research, leading me to move to Leiden University (the Netherlands) to pursue an Research MSc in Education and Child Studies, choosing the profile “Applied Neuroscience in Human Development”. During my academic training, I have gained extensive experience working with children of different ages, both as a teacher in infant and primary schools and through my involvement in several Babylabs, including the Leiden University Babylab and the CIMeC Babylab in Rovereto (Italy). More recently, I obtained a permanent position as a primary school teacher at a public school in Italy.

Since 2023, I have been a PhD student at the University of Padova (Italy), where I investigate the extent to which the symbolic and non-symbolic representations of the number zero resemble those of other natural numbers. In addition to my doctoral project, I actively participate in the meetings of Psicostat, an interdisciplinary group dedicated to integrating psychology and statistics to advance scientific research. I am also collaborating in different ManyBabies studies, which are collaborative projects for replication and best practices in developmental psychology research.

With my work, I hope to contribute not only to theoretical understanding but also to educational practice, helping every child to enjoy and succeed in mathematics. Overall, I am deeply committed to bridging the gap between cognitive science and education while promoting transparent and rigorous research practices.

Supervisor: Prof. Silvia Benavides-Varela