Previous research

The research project "Religiosità e formazione religiosa. Una ricerca esplorativa nazionale" [Religiosity and religious formation. A national exploratory research] was born from the collaboration between the University of Bologna and the ISSR (Bologna, Forlì, and Rimini) linked to the Theological Faculty of Emilia Romagna. Between 2013 and 2014, 3047 questionnaires were administered throughout the whole country. In 2015 the first provisional report was sent to a group of multidisciplinary referees and discussed during a National Seminar. The referees' observations and other contributes were published in 2017; the critical confrontation with referees and experts represented a new and original approach within the Italian empirical and pedagogical research.
In 2017 this multidisciplinary collaboration was further developed through several conferences and the Seminar "Religiosity and human sciences: beyond the Paradigms of suspicion?"

Our research and studies include the category of "artistic expression" as a holistic and integral activity. We investigated the relationship between the subject’s emotional/motivational dimensions and the specific technical and artistic skills, during both the period of growth and adulthood. A specific research field is the intersections between art, religiosity, and education, with particular attention to music, dance, dramatization, and visual arts.
In 2018 we promoted a conference dedicated to the Pedagogy of artistic expression which brought together numerous contributions from scholars as well as experts of the various Arts.

Pre-service and in-service teachers' training represent the fundamental research interest of the RES group, not only for its didactic and training implications but above all due to the numerous transformations of the institutional and pedagogical reference framework. These recurrent changes make it necessary to constantly observe the school field and its components.
Our research investigated the development of the SSIS [Specialization courses for lower and upper secondary school teaching] and crossed the seasons of the TFA/PAS courses. We focused on the initial teacher training and on active teaching methodologies such as case studies or teaching simulations.

Our research and studies related to Intercultural Education focused on various issues: the role of the migratory phenomenon in the family dynamics, in the school environment, and in the broad socio-cultural and religious transformations. Numerous empirical research activities investigated migrant families/pupils, the methodological principles of the "intercultural" school, and some meta-analysis of Italian and French research on interculturalism.