Roberta Piazza

Roberta Piazza is a Visiting Professor at the University of Glasgow's School of Education and a Full Professor in Adult Education at the University of Catania, Italy. She directs the University Research Centre on Community Engagement (CURE) and previously served as Vice-Rector for Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning (2017–2019). Her work focuses on widening educational participation, lifelong guidance, higher education pedagogy, and university roles in regional development. She coordinates EU-funded projects addressing refugee integration, special needs education, and work-based learning.

Education: PhD in Education from the University of Catania. Professional roles include external examiner for the Education University of Hong Kong’s Postgraduate Diploma in Education (2018–2022) and member of the ASEM LLL Hub’s Research Network 4 on National Strategies for Lifelong Learning.

Research emphasizes learning cities, adaptive education in smart cities, and social inclusion. Notable projects include the VINCE initiative on validating migrants’ skills and the AIM project for accessible educational materials. Awards include recognition for her Leonardo Da Vinci project on lifelong guidance.

Grants coordinated: Includes €375,000 J. Monnet network for sustainable development goals (2020–2023) and the EU’s Work-based Learning project ApprEnt (2018–2020).

Teaching includes courses on adult education, general pedagogy, and special pedagogy for school teachers. Visiting roles at East China Normal University and Philippines Normal University (2018).

Labs/Teams: CURE leads initiatives like mentorship programs for refugees and organic agri-food sector education. Her work bridges university-community partnerships and policy innovation.