Federica G Pedriali
Professor of Literary Metatheory and Modern Italian Studies | Research Affiliate Edinburgh Futures Institute
- Italian Section
- Department of European Languages and Cultures
- School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
Contact details
Address
- Street
-
Room 3.26
50 George Square - City
- Edinburgh
- Post code
- EH8 9LH
Availability
Drop in—Mondays 3:00-3:45pm
Background
Federica G. Pedriali is Professor of Literary Metatheory and Modern Italian Studies at the University of Edinburgh and a Research Affiliate of the Edinburgh Futures Institute. She serves as Head of Italian Studies, Director of Knowledge Exchange and Impact, and Deputy Director of Research for the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures. Since 2024, she has chaired Europe and the World, one of the six flagship initiatives of Una Futura, Una Europa, Brussels, coordinating programmes in mobility, postgraduate education, international cooperation and global-challenge research across eleven European universities.
Her work spans literary and cultural theory, continental philosophy, biopolitics, migration and diaspora studies, environmental humanities, decolonial thought, performance studies and cultural policy. At its heart lies an interest in change: how societies imagine it, resist it, negotiate it and live through it. Her research explores how ideas travel between cultures, institutions and publics, and how periods of uncertainty generate new forms of belonging, conflict, creativity and collective life. Current projects investigate biopower, dissonant heritages, cultural cooperation and the future of change.
Federica’s work is driven by the conviction that intellectual inquiry matters most when it opens new conversations, creates unexpected connections and enlarges the space of what can be thought and imagined. This commitment has led her to develop international collaborations bringing together universities, cultural organisations, policymakers, creative practitioners and wider publics around shared questions rather than disciplinary boundaries. Across Europe and beyond, she has contributed to initiatives in internationalisation, cultural diplomacy, knowledge exchange and creative-sector engagement, with particular interests in mobility, transnational cooperation and the future of higher education.
Federica is the author or editor of twenty-four books and volumes, including monographs, edited collections, journal issues and major reference works in literary theory, modern Italian studies and cultural criticism. She has held visiting professorships at Harvard University, the University of Pavia and the University of Messina; serves on the Italian Ambassador’s Scientific Council in London; sits on the UKRI Talent Panel College; and was awarded the Order of the Star of Italy in 2024 for her scholarly achievements and for strengthening cultural and intellectual relations between Italy and the United Kingdom.
Responsibilities & affiliations
Professional Roles
- Professor and Chair of Literary Metatheory and Modern Italian Studies
- Head of Italian Studies – Department of European Languages and Cultures
- Director of Knowledge Exchange and Impact – School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
- Deputy Director of Research – School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures
- Chair, Europe and the World – Una Europa, European Commission, Brussels
- Academic Promotions School Representative – College Promotions Committee
Affiliations
- Research Affiliate – Edinburgh Futures Institute
- Partner – Environmental Humanities Hub, ILCS, School of Advanced Study, University of London
Appointments
- Senior Co-Editor, Italian Studies, Taylor & Francis (2024-)
- Visiting Professor, Internationalisation Faculty Award, Messina University, 2023
- UKRI Talent Panel College, UK Research and Innovation, 2022-
- Full Professor Promotions Committee, Pisa University, 2022-2023
- Visiting Professor, Harvard University, 2014-2016
- Visiting Professor, Pavia University, 2012
- Promotion to a Personal Chair (Full Professor equivalent), Edinburgh University, 2008
- Visiting Fellow, Harvard University, 2005 (S2)
- Promotion to a Readership (Associate Professor equivalent), Edinburgh University, 2004
- Visiting Professor, Harvard University, 2000-2001
Elections
- Elected Professorial Member of the Senate, 2026-2029
- Election to the Scientific Council of the Italian Embassy, London, 2022-
Title of Honour
- Knighthood, Order of the Star of Italy, 2024
External Roles
- Early Career Mentor, University Council for Languages UK
External Examiner Appointments
- Oxford University, 2022, Viva, PhD Programme
- Oxford University, 2021, Viva, PhD Programme
- Siena, 2020, Viva, Masters Programme
- IULM, 2019, Viva, PhD Programme
- Oxford University, 2018-, UG Programme
- Trieste University, 2018, Viva, PhD Programme
- Harvard University, 2017, Viva, PhD Programme
- Florence University, 2017, Viva, PhD Programme
- Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa, 2016, Viva, PhD Programme
- National University Ireland Galway, 2014-2017, UG & PG Programmes
- Ghent University, 2014, Viva, PhD Programme
- St Andrews University, 2014, Viva, PhD Programme
- Scuola Normale Superiore Pisa, 2012, Viva, PhD Programme
- Durham University, 2009-2013, UG & PG Programmes
Undergraduate teaching
Edinburgh University
- Biopower: Troubling Power from Foucault to Agamben – DELC Common Course, Honours and Masters Levels, Full Semester Option
- Cleaning up the “Mess” (Gadda: A Test for Theory) – Italian 4 Honours, Full Semester Option
- Decolonisation Impossible: Europe, Italy, Rome – Italian 2 Module
- (Dys)topian Posthuman City – DELC Common, Y4 Module
- Guarded Sea: Biopolitics of Immunity and Exoneration – DELC Common, Y2 Module
- Italy by Design: Materiality, Intermediality and Commodification from Leonardo to the MAXXI – DELC Common, Honours and Masters Levels, Full Semester Option
- Migration Diaspora Exile: The Politics of Representation – DELC Common, Y2 Full Semester Course
- The World’s Laboratory: Italian Biopolitics from Giordano Bruno to Roberto Esposito – Italian 4 Honours, Full Semester Option
UNA Europa Alliance – European Commission, Brussels
- BA European Studies – Decolonial Studies, Core Course Module (Core Course: European Culture and Society)
Postgraduate teaching
Edinburgh University
- MSc Comparative Literature, Theory and Methods – Agamben, Biopolitics, and the Holocaust, Core Course Module
- MSc Comparative Literature – Situated Mind Theory, Core Course Module
- MSc European Studies – From Freud to Foucault. Scientific Knowledge and Social Constraint, Core Course Module
- MSc Intermediality – Designing for Dissonant Heritage (What to Do with Fascist Architecture), Core Course Module
- MSc Narrative Futures – Planetary Narratives, Core Course Module, Edinburgh Futures Institute
- MSc Autonomy of Performance – Gadda Goes to War. Politics of Performance, Core Course Module
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
Federica welcomes research proposals intersecting Biopolitics, Cognitive Narratology, Continental Philosophy, Decoloniality and Decolonial Studies, Migration and Diaspora Studies, the Environmental Humanities, Modern and Contemporary Italian Culture, Performance Studies and Political Theory.
Research summary
Federica has published extensively on the contemporary Italian canon and its margins, with applications from Continental Philosophy, in particular French Theory, and more recently Biopolitics, Ecocriticism and Decoloniality. Her work, including her teaching and postgraduate supervision, intersects the following research areas:
- Biopolitics
- Cognitive Narratology
- Continental Philosophy
- Decoloniality and Decolonial Studies
- French and Italian Theory
- Migration and Diaspora Studies
- Environmental Humanities and Ecocriticism
- Modern and Contemporary Italian Culture
- Performance Studies
- Political Theory
Knowledge exchange
More video
- From Print to Pixels: On the Future of Literary Ob—Jects | Research Seminar Series, Utrecht University (video recording)
- MHRA Interview | Midway into the Grant
- Catharsis in the Age of the Metaverse | Love Machine Series, Edinburgh Futures Institute, Inspace (video recording)
- Bioclastic Living: Latour’s Final Lockdown | MET Metamorphoses Seminar, KU Leuven (video recording)
- Mobilizing Cultural Identities in the First World War | Booklaunch, IIC London (video recording)
- Mobilising Cultural Identities in the First World War | International Conference (video recording)
- Performing Scholarship (cue: I am puzzled by what I do) | Graduate School of Design, Harvard University (video recording)
- Scottish Parliament | Public Debate on Nationalism Today (video recording)
- Biopower | The Last (Wo)man) by Nadia Picon (video essay)
- Biopower | Course Promotion Video
- Italy by Design | Guest Speaker Series 3 (seminar listing)
- Italy by Design | Unsustainable Ctd (Venice Portfolio) with Love Letter to the Course (video recording)
- Italy by Design | Italy from your sofa: Try before you fly (student portfolio)
- Italy by Design | Italian Identity and Spectacle by Eleonora Soteriou (video essay)
- Italy by Design | My Changing Impressions of Italy (student portfolio)
- Learn Italian – Graduate Testimonial (Stella Brook Young – video recording)
Nomination 1
Absolutely fantastic course. I have never participated in such a well-run, well-organised, thought through course, it is absolutely genius. This is definitely the most valuable semester of learning I have had during my time at Edinburgh. Federica is so enthusiastic and clearly intelligent, we have fascinating discussions, she goes above and beyond to provide interesting materials to engage with and provoke debate. Really really amazing.
Nomination 2
Federica, on top of being the Head of Italian, has done the most amazing job creating two interesting, cross-curricular and worthwhile senior courses. They have been politically relevant, reflective, and Federica is always keen to foster a personal take on the subjects at hand. But most impressive is the amount of work Federica does behind the scenes to make sure that the course runs smoothly, that there is sufficient available material for us to investigate, and provide us with amazing experiences such as ALG week-long takeovers and amazing guest lecturers.
Nomination 3
I am submitting this nomination because it is so very clear how much thought, dedication and time has gone into the planning of our lessons. Having three lessons a week, each an hour long, and managing to keep us all engaged and entertained is no mean feat. I look forward to our classes together and feel inspired to do well and make an effort. Something which I have really enjoyed is having guest speakers once a week. It is this innovative teaching, and working with the tools we have, which is behind my nomination.
Nomination 4
The course that Professor Pedriali has built and delivered this term has been by far the most innovative course I have done at the University of Edinburgh. The resources, organisation and general working of the course are extremely thorough. Additionally of course, the content and discussions that have been provoked have been the highlight. With incredibly interesting guest lecturers speaking to us from all over world, the course is an example of thinking outside the box.
Nomination 5
Exceptional teaching and encouragement, availability and enthusiasm as well as exceptional effort to engage with students on a personal level and the organisation of innovative and stimulating courses.
Nomination 6
Exceptional classes, great capacity in creating a wonderful environment in class, full of knowledge, she is always encouraging us to push ourselves and excel. Federica is the best teacher I have ever had!