Mattia Della Rocca, PhD

Resume

Mattia Della Rocca, PhD

Personal Profile

Researcher, educator, and communicator, born in Rome in 1984 and raised as a 21st-century European citizen.

My academic interests lead me to explore the dynamic intersections between diverse minds and complex environments, through the lens of history and philosophy.

Equally passionate about teaching and research, I view them as complementary facets of the same pursuit.

I am committed to enhancing these roles with effective communication that is ethical, critical, and inclusive.

Education

PhD in Philosophy and History of Science (XXIX Cycle, 2016)
University of Pisa and University of Florence

B.A. in History, Sciences and Technologies of Music and Arts (2010) and M.A. in Musicology (2013)
University of Rome Tor Vergata

Professional Experiences

University of Rome Tor Vergata (2017 to date)

  • Adjunct Faculty member (Med School, M.Sc. in “Information, Communication and Publishing”, M.Sc. in “Digital Humanities”, M.A. in “Italian Language and Welcoming Practices for Foreigners”, B.Sc. in Biotechnology), post-doc research fellow (Department of Biology).

PAD International Research Group (2019 to date)

  • Founder and Principal Investigator.

Graduate School of Psychotherapy Bios Psyché (2017 to date)

  • Faculty member and chair of General Psychology and History of Psychology, lecturer of Scientific Communication workshop.

Council on International Educational Exchange (2019 to date)

  • Adjunct Faculty member (Open Campus study abroad program), internship coordinator (Global Internship Program, Summer ’22).

Tulane University (February 2025)

  • Invited guest lecturer on Psychology of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Environments.

Academic Interests

(with a selection of related classes I teach or I’ve taught)

Minds and Brains

General Psychology: History, Theory, Models (2018 to date) — Graduate School of Psychotherapy Bios Psyché

  • More than a simple introduction to psychology and its history, this class aims to provide future psychotherapists and psychiatrists with the state of the art of theoretical psychology, hand in hand with a critical knowledge of the past of the discipline.

The Environment(s)

Food, Nutrition and Culture (2021 to date) — Council on International Educational Exchange

  • Food is all about life, science – and of course, it’s all about relationships and culture. In this course for American students, we explore the entanglement between all these aspects of nutrition and cuisine (and as you can guess, we have lots of tasting on-site activities).

Social Psychology (2020 to date) — Council on International Educational Exchange

  • There’s nothing better than psychology to scientifically understand the human being, but nothing compares to social psychology, when it comes to navigate the complex facets of culture and society.

Psychology of Digital Environments (2019 to date) — University of Rome Tor Vergata

  • The first course in an Italian public university offering classes, lectures and research activities on all psychological aspects of digital life and human-AI interaction.

Environmental Psychology / Global Change and the Environment / Global Environmental Policy (2023 to date) — Council on International Educational Exchange

  • The environment is way more than a scientific issue: it is literally everything that matters for any organism – and this is even more true for one species, humankind. So, if we want to protect it, we have to study all scientific and cultural facets of the environmental discourse, including how politics and society see it. And that’s exactly what we do in these classes!

Dynamics and Instruments of Scientific Communication (2022 to date) — University of Rome Tor Vergata

  • Both a course and a workshop for Biology and Biotechnology students, meant to provide the concepts and the tools for properly communicating science and technology in the 21st century world.

Family Schools and Child Development (2021 to date) / Special Pedagogy and Didactics (2020 to date) — Council on International Educational Exchange / University of Rome Tor Vergata

  • Two courses for two different institutions, each one different in the focus adopted, but sharing the same goal: understanding and handling the richness of diversity in educational environments, so to contribute to a better society inside and outside the classroom.

Science, Tech & Society — Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice

Research Topics

  • Technoscience and society in the 20th and the 21st century
  • The concept of environment
  • Humans, technologies, knowledge
  • Tiqqun ‘olam (fix the world)
  • History, philosophy, science — and don’t forget: a (kind, honest and fair) communication is paramount!

Some questions I often ask myself:

  • What is the environment?
  • We change the environment through technology, so how does technology change us?
  • What is the human mind, and how is it different from other minds?
  • How can we use what we know to make the world a better place?

Lectures and Public Speaking

(a selection)

2025

  • Digital Citizenship and Inclusion, talk for the launch day of Helpinet, Rome, October 15.
  • On the Epistemology of Human-AI Relationship, Bios Psyché School Open Day, June 12.
  • Human and artificial language, talk for Eutopie, Sapienza University of Rome, May 9.
  • Towards a Psychology of AI, talk at the national conference “Macchine e Viventi, Macchine Viventi”, Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy, February 28.
  • This Brave New World of Ours, The Importance of Being Pygmalion and The Catcher in the AI, lecture series as guest lecturer for Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA, Feb 10-13.

2024

  • Digital Environments and the Passages of Paris, a dialogue (with Enrico Campo, University of Milan) on the digital age and Artificial Intelligence in the light of Walter Benjamin’s legacy, Rome, Italy, December 6.
  • Digital Thinking in Neurology: Simplification or Complexity?, invited lecture to the 2024 meeting of the Italian Society of Neurology and Dementia, Rome, Italy, December 6.
  • Environment as Information: On Some Entailments of Ecological Psychology on the Environment, talk at the International Conference “Environment(s). Trajectories of a concept”, Naples, Italy, October 24-25.
  • The Science of Inside Out, public talk (with Carmela Morabito) for the European Researchers’ Night, hosted by FrascatiScienza, Frascati (RM), Italy, September 28.
  • Cross-cultural Approaches to Mental Health: the case of ADHD, guest lecture for the Tulane University study abroad program, Rome, Italy, June 11.
  • Psychology and Mental Health Resources in Italy, guest lecture for the Texas Christian University Pre-Health study abroad program, Rome, Italy, June 11.
  • Faces and Biases in the Light of AI Revolution, talk for Tor Vergata’s GSDI Lectures, Rome, Italy, April 19.
  • Understanding Charcot and His Times Through Images, seminar for the Graduate School of Psychotherapy “Bios Psyché”, Rome, Italy, February 23.

2023

  • Communicating Solidarity, keynote lecture for the Annual Conference of the National Think Tank on Solidarity, Rome, Italy, Nov. 21.
  • Artificial Intelligence and Psychotherapy, lecture for the Graduate School of Psychotherapy “Bios Psyché”, Rome, Italy, June 2.
  • Meme for Future. Climate Change and the Psychology of Digital Environments, seminar for the GSDI Interdipartimental Lectures, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Rome, Italy, April 5.
  • Environment and Information or “What is Dead and What is Alive in J.J. Gibson’s Ecological Theory of Perception”, invited guest lecture for the European University Institute, Florence, Italy, February 9.

2022

  • Memetics and 2022 US Midterm Elections as a Case Study, lecture for the Psychology of Digital Environments seminars, Rome, Italy, Nov. 22.
  • Brain, Minds, Gender Stereotypes, keynote lecture for the Crossing Gender Boundaries program, YUFE Consortium, Rome, Italy, May 5.

2021

  • The Reasons of Distance. Critical Notes on the History of Proxemics, paper at the conference of the Italian Society for the History of Science, October 15.
  • Psychopathology and Cultural Experience, guest lecture for Tulane University (New Orleans, USA), delivered online, Oct. 7.
  • The Montessori Method and the Reggio Emilia Approach in the light of 21st century cognitive science, guest lecture for Tulane University study abroad program, Rome, Italy, June 14.
  • The Multidisciplinary Approach to Learning Disorders, lecture for the medical training course organized by ANUPI TNPEE and GiuntiPsychometrics, Rome, Italy, March 6-7 and 20-21.
  • Bodies, Spaces, Power. Notes on the Psychology of Living Bodies, seminar for the General Sociology course of the University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy, January 13.

2020

  • Can You Feel Me? A brief journey of our brain into culture and social cognition, invited lecture for the CIEE Global Lecture Series, Rome, Italy, November 19.

Research Projects and Consultancies

2025

  • Consultant for Europe Consulting ONLUS on the psychological perception and the usability of the Helpinet app.
  • P.I. for PAD’s research on the manifestation phenomenon on TikTok: thematic analysis of users’ psychological exploitation of Artificial Intelligence.
  • P.I. for PAD’s national survey on humans-chatbot interactions in Italy.

Papers

(a selection)

  • Campo, E., Della Rocca, M. (2025), “Spazzolare il digitale contropelo: ambienti digitali e i Passages di Walter Benjamin”, in Latini, G. (ed.) Quel che rimane dell’umano al tempo dell’Intelligenza Artificiale, Roma: Bordeaux.
  • Sardi, G., Della Rocca, M. (2025), “L’Intelligenza Artificiale in Psicoterapia: Tra Alleato e Simulacro”, Controversie.
  • Morabito, C., Della Rocca, M. (2020), “Prima e dopo Basaglia: riflessioni sulla dimensione storica e sociale della scienza”, in Rufo F. (ed.) La salute è un diritto. Giovanni Berlinguer e le riforme del 1978, Roma: Ediesse, pp. 73-90.
  • Bertolaso, M., Della Rocca, M. (2017), “On the Processes of Growth of the Living Being and the Relevance of Relational Categories to Understand It”, in Rivista di Filosofia Neo-Scolastica, CIX(2): 255-268.
  • Della Rocca, M. (2017), “Of the Artistic Nude and Technological Behaviorism. Leon Harmon and the First Steps towards Neuromorphic Hardware”, in Nuncius. Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science, 37(2): 376-411.
  • Della Rocca, M., Pogliano, C. (2017), “Different Histories from 20th Century Neuroscience”, in Nuncius. Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science, 37(2): 253-260.
  • Della Rocca, M. (2017), “From Brains as Machines to Machines as Brains. A Short Historical and Epistemological Reflection on the Simulation and ‘Reverse Engineering’ of the Central Nervous System”, in Cilia, N.D., Tonetti, L. (eds.), Wired Bodies. New Perspectives on the Machine-Organism Analogy, Roma: CNR Edizioni, pp. 53-58.
  • Della Rocca, M. (2017), “Histories of the Brain. Towards a critical interaction of the humanities and the neurosciences”, in Leer an, J., Hildt, E. (eds.), The Human Sciences after the Decade of the Brain, Amsterdam: Elsevier, pp. 61-77.
  • Della Rocca, M. (2016), “Sulla questione ideologica nelle neuroscienze”, in Gagliasso, E., Morganti, F., Passariello, A. (eds.), Percorsi Evolutivi. Lezioni di filosofia della biologia, Milano: Franco Angeli, pp. 175-189.
  • Della Rocca, M., Morabito, C. (2015), “Dalla riforma della psichiatria alla neuroetica, tra scienza, medicina e società. Attualità di alcuni aspetti del pensiero di Giovanni Berlinguer”, in Bioetica. Rivista Interdisciplinare, 23(4): 563-580.
  • Della Rocca, M. (2015), “In the Flesh? Appunti critici sul neuroessenzialismo”, in Scienza e Società, 21/22, pp. 35-42.
  • Della Rocca, M. (2015), “Ideologia delle/nelle neuroscienze contemporanee”, in Gagliasso, E., Della Rocca, M., Memoli, R. (eds.) Marcello Cini e il presente. Epistemologia, storia e politiche della ricerca, Pisa: ETS, pp. 189-199.

Grants and Scholarships

  • Post-doc research grant “Natural and Digital Environments”, Department of Biology, University of Rome Tor Vergata, 2022-2023.
  • “Percorsi di Scienza: orientamento sostenibile e cittadinanza scientifica tra Università, scuola e lavoro”, Torno Subito 2016 — European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) — European Social Fund 2014-2020 (grant awarded: €11,041.60).
  • Visiting research grant “History and philosophy of contemporary neuroscience and neurotechnology in contemporary Europe”, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece, 2015.

Other Activities

  • Internship coordinator and DEI manager for the M.Sc. in “Information, Communication and Publishing Sciences”, University of Rome Tor Vergata.
  • Principal Investigator for the “Psychology of Digital Environments” research group, University of Rome Tor Vergata.
  • Instructor for the executive masters “Valore P.A.” for Italian Public Administrations, and for the Inclusive and Active Communication courses for the Civic Protection Department (Italian Prime Minister’s Office).
  • Scientific consultant of the National Association of Neurodevelopmental and Motor Therapists.
  • Healthcare and education operator (2010-2020), working with adults and children affected by several kinds of disabilities, special needs or other disadvantages.

Skills and Competences

  • Public speaking
  • Qualitative and quantitative research
  • Scientific writing and editing
  • Networking
  • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion management

Languages

Italian native speaker. Fluent English and French, spoken and written.

Interests and Hobbies

Passionate about the arts, music, nature, and hiking. Love my cats and my dog – and I’ve got lots of memes to share. Committed foodie (I am Italian, so you know what that means) and a proud fan of AS Roma.

Social Media and Content Production

  • Instagram: @mattia.della.rocca / @pad.torvergata
  • LinkedIn: Mattia Della Rocca
  • Bluesky: mattiadellarocca.bsky.social
  • YouTube: youtube.com/@MattiaDellaRocca