Ernesto D'Avanzo

• Ph.D. in Information and Communication Technology 
  • Institution: ICT International Doctoral School in Information & Communication Technologies - Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Italy.
    • Date: December 15th, 2005.
    • Title: Using Keyphrases for Text Mining: Applications and Evaluation

• Laurea Degree in Philosophy (cum laude)
  • Institution:  Faculty of Literature and Philosophy, University of Salerno. Thesis carried out at the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Casaccia, Rome, Italy.
    • Date: March 30th, 2001
    • Title: A User Model for an Information Retrieval Agent: Relevant Cognitive Aspects 

Academic career

• May 2021 - onwards: Associate professor at the University of Trento, Department of Economic and Management (academic recruitment field: 13/B2 - Management
   - academic discipline SECS-P/08).
• January 2022 - onwards: Associate researcher at High Performance Computing and Networking Institute (ICAR) - CNR - «Cognitive Systems for Robotics» research group.
• October 2018: Italian habilitation for Associate professor in Organization Studies (academic recruitment field 13/B3 – academic discipline SECS-P/10).
• Associate researcher at the Economic Development and Social Sustainability (EDASS) research group, University of A Coruna, Spain.
• March 2010 - onwards: Assistant professor at the University of Salerno, Department of Political and Communication Sciences (academic recruitment field 11/C2 - academic discipline M-Fil/02).

Teaching Activity (a selection of)

• Academic year 2020/2021: Bachelor degree in Communication Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Digital innovation and logic of decision making processes (60 hours).
• Academic year 2020/2021: Master degree in Corporate Communication and Media, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Artificial intelligence and decision making (40 hours).
• Academic year 2019/2020: Bachelor degree in Communication Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Digital innovation and logic of decision making processes (60 hours).
• Academic year 2019/2020: Master degree in Corporate Communication and Media, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Data, web and analytics for decision making (40 hours).
• Academic year 2018/2019: Bachelor degree in Communication Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Philosophy of science and decision making (60 hours).
• Academic year 2018/2019: Master degree in Corporate Communication and Media, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Data, web and analytics for decision making (40 hours).
• Academic year 2017/2018: Bachelor degree in Communication Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Philosophy of science and decision making (60 hours).
• Academic year 2017/2018: Master degree in Corporate Communication and Media, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Data mining and semantic web (40 hours).
• Academic year 2016/2017: Bachelor degree in Communication Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Logic and philosophy of science (60 hours).
• Academic year 2016/2017: Master degree in Theory of Languages and Audiovisual Communication, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Text, Web and knowledge mining (40 hours).
• Academic year 2015/2016: Bachelor degree in Communication Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Logic and philosophy of science (60 hours).
• Academic year 2015/2016: Master degree in Theory of Languages and Audiovisual Communication, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Text, web and knowledge mining (40 hours).
• Academic year 2014/2015: Bachelor degree in Communication Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Logic and theory of languages (60 hours).
• Academic year 2014/2015: Master degree in Theory of Languages and Audiovisual Communication, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Laboratory of Text, web and knowledge mining (40 hours).
• Academic year 2013/2014: Master degree in Theory of Languages and Audiovisual Communication, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Computational linguistics and web mining (60 hours).
• Academic year 2012/2013: Master degree in Theory of Languages and Audiovisual Communication, University of Salerno, Italy. Course. Course: Text and Social Analytics (40 hours).
• Academic year 2011/2012: Bachelor degree in Communication Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Philosophy of science and language (60 hours).
• Academic year 2011/2012: Master degree in Theory of Languages and Audiovisual Communication, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Text, web and knowledge mining (40 hours).
• Academic year 2010/2011: Bachelor degree in Communication Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Philosophy of science and language (60 hours).
• Academic year 2010/2011: Master degree in Theory of Languages and Audiovisual Communication, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Text and web mining (40 hours)
• Academic year 2009/2010: Bachelor degree in Communication Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Theory and techniques of new media (60 hours).
• Academic year 2009/2010: Master degree in Theory of Languages and Audiovisual Communication, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Text and web mining (40 hours).
• Academic year 2008/2009: Master degree in Theory of Languages and Audiovisual Communication, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Text mining (40 hours).
• Academic year 2007/2008: Lecturer, Bachelor degree in Communication Sciences, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Philosophy of science.
• Academic Year 2007/2008: Master degree in Corporate and Public Communication, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Informatics for E-Commerce (48 hours).
• Academic Year 2006/2007: Master degree in Corporate and Public Communication, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Informatics for E-Commerce (48 hours).
• Academic Year 2005/2006: Master degree in Corporate and Public Communication, University of Salerno, Italy. Course: Informatics for E-Commerce (48 hours).

Area 1 - Web and analytics for decision making

Area 2 – Consumer’s behavior and e-commerce 

Area 3 - Digital marketing 

Area 4 - Sustainable decision-making and strategic managerial decisions

Area 5 - Corporate social responsibility and sustainable management

I investigate decision models and decision support systems that make use of artificial intelligence methods and techniques (i.e., machine learning and natural language processing) and multivariate analysis (e.g., factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and Bayesian models), in order to build prototypes to support data-based decisions, suitable in different research areas. 

The overall aim of my investigations is to inquiry innovation models in the business strategies’, management, marketing and communication area.

Research positions

• January 2022 - onwards: Associate researcher at High Performance Computing and Networking Institute (ICAR) - CNR - «Cognitive Systems for Robotics» research group.
• Associate researcher at the Economic Development and Social Sustainability (EDASS) research group, University of A Coruna, Spain.
• April 2014 - December 2017: Associate researcher - High Performance Computing and Networking Institute of the National Research Council (ICAR - CNR), Palermo, Italy.
• October 2010 - January 2012: Visiting Scholar (courtesy faculty member) - Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Italy.
• June 2008: Visiting Scholar - Management of Information Systems (MIS) Department, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Haifa, Israel.
• January 2007 - December 2007: Fellowship - Department of General Psychology ”V. Benussi”, University of Padova, Italy.
• June 2003 - May 2005: Fellowship - Fondazione Bruno Kessler (ex ITC-irst), Trento, Italy.
• November 2004: Visiting Scholar - Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
• July 2001 - December 2001: Fellowship - Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Casaccia, Rome, Italy.
• May 2001 - December 2001: Fellowship - Faculty of Engineering, University of Rome ”Tor Vergata” Italy.

Editorial Activity (a selection of)

• December 2020 - onwards -Member of Editorial Board (topic editor) of Sustainability - MDPI AG - Basel, Switzerland.
• September 2016 - onwards - Associate editor at the International Journal on Semantic Web and Information Systems (IJSWIS) - IGI Publishing - Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA.
• March 2017 – December 2020 -Member of the International Advisory Board at the International Journal of Semiotics and Visual Rhetoric (IJSVR) - IGI Publishing - Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA.
• January 2016 - onwards: Guest Editor for the International Journal of Knowledge Society Research (IJKSR) renamed to International Journal of Smart Education and Urban Society (IJSEUS) - IGI Global Publishing - Special Issue On: Dig Data Research and Internet of Things Research: A New Digital Vision for the Knowledge Society (with Leyla Zhuhadar and Miltiadis D. Lytras).

Program and Scientific Committees member or chair 

• VIth International Scientific Conference Information Society and Sustainable Development (ISSD 2019), May 10-11, 2019, Targu-Jiu, Gorj County, Romania.
• 8th International workshop on Interactive Environments and Emerging Technologies for eLearning, July 11-14, 2017, London, UK.
• International Conference of the Italian Society for Logic and Philosophy of Science (SILFS 2017), June 20-23, 2017 Bologna, Italy.
• The 6th Conference on Economic Development and Social Sustainability (EDASS 2017), May 11-12, 2017, A Coruna, Spain.
• International Conference on Information Society and Sustainable Development (ISSD 2017), April 28-29, 2017, Targu-Jiu, Gorj County, Romania.
• 26th International World Wide Web Conference, 2017, 3-7 April, 2017, Perth, Western Australia - PC member @ Cognitive Computing Alternative Research Track.
• The 5th Conference on Economic Development and Social Sustainability (EDaSS 2016), October 20- 21, 2016, A Coruna, Spain.
• 11th International Conference on Semantic Computing (IEEE - ICSC2017), Jan 30th-Feb 1st, 2017, San Diego, California, USA.
• 2nd International Symposium on Intelligent Systems Technologies and Applications (ISTA-16), September 21-24, 2016, Jaipur, India.
• 4th International Workshop on Semantic Computing for Social Networks: from user information to social knowledge (SCSN 2016), February 3-5, Laguna Hills, California, USA - Co-chair.
• 10th International Conference on Semantic Computing (IEEE - ICSC2016), February 3-5, Laguna Hills, California, USA.
• 9th IEEE International Conference on Semantic Computing (IEEE - ICSC2015), February 7-9, Anaheim, California, USA.
• 3rd International Workshop on Semantic Computing for Social Networks: from user information to social knowledge (SCSN 2015), February 7-9, Anaheim, California, USA - Co-chair.
• 8th IEEE International Conference on Semantic Computing (IEEE - ICSC2014), June 16-18, Newport Beach, California, USA.
• 2nd International Workshop on Semantic Computing for Social Networks: from user information to social knowledge (SCSN 2014), June 16-18, 2014, Newport Beach, California, USA - Co-chair.
• 7th IEEE International Conference on Semantic Computing (IEEE - ICSC2013), September 16-18, 2013, Hyatt Regency Irvine, Irvine, California, USA.
• International Workshop on Semantic Computing for Social Networks: from user information to social knowledge (SCSN 2013), September 16-18, 2013, Hyatt Regency Irvine, Irvine, California, USA - Co-chair.
• 6th World Summit on the Knowledge Society 2013 (WSKS 2013), June 19-21, 2013, Aveiro, Portugal - Co-chair for track on Social & Humanistic Computing for the Knowledge Society -Emerging Technologies for the Society and the Humanity.
• 2nd International Symposium on Intelligent Informatics (ISI’13), August 23-24, 2013, Mysore, India.
• 6th IEEE International Conference on Semantic Computing September 19-21, 2012 - Palermo, Italy.
• 1st IEEE International Conference on Internet Operating Systems and New Applications (ICIOS - 2012) - December 10-12, 2012, Irvine, California, USA.
• 6th International Conference on Complex, Intelligent, and Software Intensive Systems (CISIS - 2012) - Track on Semantic Web, Web Services and Data Integration - July 4-6, 2012, Palermo, Italy.
• 5th World Summit on the Knowledge Society 2012 (WSKS 2012), June 20-22, 2012 - Roma, Italy - Co-chair for track on Social & Humanistic Computing for the Knowledge Society - Emerging Technologies for the Society and the Humanity.
• 4th World Summit on the Knowledge Society 2011 (WSKS 2011), September 21-23, 2011 - Mikonos, Greece - Co-chairfor track on Social & Humanistic Computing for the Knowledge Society - Emerging Technologies for the Society and the Humanity.
• CogSci 2005, XXVII Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, 2005.

Journal Reviewer 

• May 2017 - onwards: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.
• February 2017 - onwards: Program - An Emerald journal.
• December 2016 - onwards: Telematics and Informatics - An Elsevier journal.
• December 2016 - onwards: IET Software - A IET journal.
• November 2016 - onwards: Journal of Cleaner Production - An Elsevier journal.
• July 2016 - onwards: The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (IR- RODL).
• April 2016 - onwards: Behaviour & Information Technology - A Taylor & Francis journal.
• February 2016 - onwards: Mobile Information Systems - A Hindawi Publishing Corporation journal.
• September 2015 - onwards: International Journal of Distance Education Technologies - An IGI Global Publishing journal.
• August 2015 - onwards: Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems - An IEEE journal.
• August 2012 - onwards: Neural Computing and Applications - A Springer journal.
• August 2011 - onwards: Computers in Human Behavior - An Elsevier journal.
• February 2011 - onwards: Electronic Markets - A Springer journal.
• February 2011 - onwards: The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa.
• May 2009 - onwards: European Journal of Information Systems.
• May 2009 - onwards: European Journal of Information Systems on Cross-Organizational and Cross- Border IS/IT Collaboration.

• July 2018 - Co-recipient of the Emerald Literati Awards (Award-winning article as Highly Commended in the 2018).

Scholarships

• Recipient of an Erasmus Teaching Mobility for the academic year 2011/2012.
• October 2001- October 2004: Ph.D. scholarship granted by the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (ex-ITC-irst), Trento, Italy.
• January 2000 - September 2000: Master Thesis scholarship granted by the University of Salerno for Master thesis research at ENEA (Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development), Roma, Italy.
• August 1999 - September 1999: Summer scholarship granted by Malta government for a period of visit @ University of Malta College.

Grants

• May 2020 – May 2023 – Title: An empirical conceptual framework for corporate social responsibility – Factor inferential models as a toolbox for business ethics.
• March 2019 – March 2022 - Title: Ethical behaviors in corporate management: an explorative factor analysis.
• November 2017 - November 2020 - Title: Support buyers’ decisions through structural equation modeling.
• July 2016 - September 2018 – Title: Modelling bio-medical decisions through ensemble learning - From data deluge to the formulation of plausible scientific hypotheses.
• July 2015 - July 2017 – Title: Cognitive and searches behaviours as seeds to build a consumer shopping of preferences. 
• December 2013 - December 2015 – Title: E-commerce websites services versus buyers’ expectations: an empirical analysis of the online marketplace.
• August 2012 - August 2014 – Title: The extraction of procedural knowledge from the web: the role of machine learning(original Italian title: L’estrazione di conoscenza procedurale da web: il ruolo dello apprendimento automatico).
• July 2011 - July 2013 – Title: Hybrid models for the computational representation of concepts (original Italian title: Modelli ibridi per la rappresentazione computazionale dei concetti).
• July 2011 - July 2013 – Title: Scientific discovery and automatic generation of hypotheses via web mining: the role of background knowledge and machine learning (original Italian title: Scoperta scientifica e generazione automatica di ipotesi via web mining: il ruolo della conoscenza di sfondo e dell’apprendimento automatic).
• October 2011 - October 2013: Local coordinator of the Italian PRIN project titled: Computational models for the representation of the conceptual knowledge (original Italian title: Modelli computazionali per la rappresentazione della conoscenza concettuale).
• September 2008 - September 2010 - Team member (University of Salerno) of the Italian PRIN project titled: Models, Strategies and Representations for the Epistemology of Scientific Research (Italian title: Modelli, Strategie e Rappresentazioni nell’Epistemologia della Ricerca Scientifica) - Local unit (University of Salerno) project: Epistemological models in research on mental processes and organization of knowledge and reasoning (original Italian title: Modelli epistemologici nella ricerca sui processi mentali e sull’organizzazione della conoscenza e del ragionamento).
• January 2007 - December 2007: Grant of the Italian Ministry of Economy through the University of Padova (together with dr. Tsvi Kuflik, University of Haifa, Israel) for the project: Examination of the Gap between Customers and Providers in the E-Commerce Marketplace

• Comportamenti di acquisto nello shopping online - Modelli empirici adottabili dalle imprese.  Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, December 11st, 2019.
• February 2019: Invited Lecturer for the PhD Programme in Management, Banking and Commodity Sciences, Department of Management, Sapienza University – Title: Shopping online and sustainable decision- making - The role of heuristics. 
• September 2017: Invited Lecturer @ EDaSS Research Group on Economic Development and Social Sustainability Faculty of Economics and Business - University of a Coruna - Campus of A Coruña, Spain – Title: Artificial Intelligence for Medical Diagnosis. Data-driven decision making for a sustainable healthcare - A case-study from orthodontics clinical activity. 
• September 2017: Invited Lecturer @ EDaSS Research Group on Economic Development and Social Sustainability. Faculty of Economics and Business - University of a Coruna - Campus of A Coruña, Spain -– Title: Using Twitter sentiment and emotions analysis of Google Trends for decisions making. 
• May 2017: Invited Lecturer @ Centro Interdipartimentale per la Ricerca in Diritto, Economia e Management della Pubblica Amministrazione (CIRPA), University of Salerno – Title: Buyers’ Shopping Decisions: Laplace’s Demons or Simon’s Satisficers? 
• May 2017: Invited Lecturer @ Centro Interdipartimentale per la Ricerca in Diritto, Economia e Management della Pubblica Amministrazione (CIRPA), University of Salerno – Title: Collective Rules and Evidence Integration to Support Orthodontic Decisions. 
• The Relationship between "Corruption" and "Ethics" - A Causal Explanation through Structural Equation Models @ Forum of 6th Conference on Economic Development and Social Sustain- ability - EDaSS 2017, A Coruna, Spain May 11th, 2017. 
• Sustainable Decision Making - A case study from bio-medicine. Invited @ International Conference Future of Business and Finance: Challenges and Prospects after the Crisis, Faculty of Management and Economics of Services, University of Szczecin, December 15th, 2016, Szczecin, Poland. 
• Modeling Online Consumer behaviors through Structural Equation Analysis. EDaSS Research Group on Economic Development and Social Sustainability, Department of Economy - University of A Coruña, Spain, October 21st, 2016. 
• From information to knowledge: Snippets, raws texts or justified true beliefs? Some Trends on Text, Web and Knowledge Mining. Invited @ Department of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Italy. March 31st, 2015. 
• Gli acquirenti online: demoni laplaciani o traguardisti? Alla ricerca della logica della decisione - Invited @ Department of Philosophy and Communication, University of Bologna, Italy. December 4th, 2014. 
• Mining Users Opinions’ to Aid Buyers’ Shopping Decisions (a common talk with G. Pilato) - @ Meeting on Social Nets and New Media, Nice, France. August 27th, 2014. 
• Buyers’ Behaviors - Laplace’s Demons or Simon’s Satisficers: The Online Marketplace Case - Invited @ Institute of High Performance Computing and Networking - Italian National Research Council (ICAR - CNR), Palermo, Italy. October 30th, 2012. 
• The Role of Buyers’ Heuristics in the Design of Online E-Commerce Processes and Services - @ World Summit on the Knowledge Society 2012 (WSKS 2012), Rome, Italy. June 21st, 2012. 
• Le menti della rete: l’intelligenza artificiale nel web - Invited @ Borgo dei filosofi, Italy. November 25th, 2011. 
• Scientific method, hypothesis generation and heuristics. An algorithmic approach to scientific explanation - Invited @ Department of Philosophy, University of Rome La Sapienza, Italy. May 17-18, 2011. 
• Mining Knowledge Nuggets from Text and Web - Invited @ Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Trento, Italy. March 8th, 2011. 
• From Information to Knowledge: Trends on Text and Web Mining - Invited @ Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Italy. December 15th, 2010. 
• Keyphrases for Text Mining: Applications and Evaluation - Invited @ MIS Department, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel. June 18th, 2008. 
• An Examination of the Gap between Customers and Providers in the e-commerce Market- place (a common talk with Tsvi Kuflik) - @ Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems (MCIS’07), San Servolo, Venice, Italy, October 5th, 2007. 
• Where Does Text Mining Meets Knowledge Management? A Case Study - @ IV Conference of the Italian Chapter of AIS (ItAIS), San Servolo, Venice, Italy, October 4th, 2007. 
• Linguistic Summaries on Small Screens - @ 6th International Conference on Data Mining, Skiathos, Greece. May 25 -27, 2005. 
• Using Keyphrases for Text Mining Applications - @ Third Annual Meeting on Text Processing Technologies at the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (ex ITC-Irst), Trento, Italy. November 9th, 2005. 
• Using Keyphrases for Text Mining Applications - @ Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Italy. December 15th, 2005. 
• La soggettività nell’interazione uomo-macchina (a common talk with A. Valitutti) - @ Where is your head at? SIFA Conference, International Institute for Advanced Scientific Studies (IIASS), Vietri sul Mare (Salerno). October, 2-3, 2003. 

Reviewer for foreign institutions

• June 2015 - October 2015: Appointed by the South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF) in evaluating the quality of the research outputs and standing of a member of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Stellenbosch University. Proposed as a reviewer by NRF Specialist Committee comprising of academics from South African Higher Education Institutions.
• September 2012 - October 2012: Appointed by the South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF) for the assessment of research proposal of an application by a member at the University of the Witwatersrand, to get funded by Thuthuka Programme.
• July 2011 - October 2011: Appointed by the South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF) to peer-review the quality of the research outputs and standing for members of the School of Computing, University of South Africa.

Bilateral Agreements 

• November 2012 - November 2014: Appointed representative of ERASMUS Agreement between the University of Salerno and the University of Utrecht.
• October 2007 - October 2010: Appointed representative of the bilateral Agreement of Academic Cooperation between the University of Salerno and the University of Haifa.

Academic Boards 

• February 2021: Appointed member of the Examination Committee (with secretary assignment) for the award of the title of Ph.D. Mathematics and Computational sciences @ University of Catania, Italy.
• April 2015: Appointed member of the Examination Committee (with secretary assignment) for the award of the title of Ph.D. Engineering of Civil and Mechanical Structural Systems at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering @ University of Trento, Italy.
• September 2013: Appointed president of the Committee for the assignment of a contract for performance of highly qualified scientific advice as part of research activity @ University of Salerno, Italy.
• December-January 2011/2012: Appointed Member (with secretary assignment) of the Academy Board for a doctoral degree application in Communication Sciences @ University of Salerno, Italy.
• March 2011: Appointed member of the Academy Board for a research fellowship in cognitive psychology @ University of Salerno, Italy.
• April 2010 - April 2015 Erasmus coordinator for the Degree in Communication Sciences @ University of Salerno, Italy.
• April 2010 - April 2012: Coordinator/Manager of the Unisa website for the degree in Communication Sciences @ University of Salerno, Italy.

Other Academic Activities

• April 2010 - April 2015 Erasmus coordinator for the Degree in Communication Sciences @ University of Salerno, Italy.
• April 2010 - April 2012: Coordinator/Manager of the Unisa website for the degree in Communication Sciences @ University of Salerno, Italy.

Start-up activities

• September 2018: Co-founder of Y Media Analytica srl - An innovative start-up company (startup innovativa), specialized in social media analytics, artificial intelligence and decision support systems, operating in three sectors: online publishing, corporate communication and analytical services.