Elena is Senior Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento. She holds a degree in Communication Sciences (University of Padova, Italy, 2004) and a PhD in Sociology (University of Trento, 2009). She developed her expertise in the study and the use of social network analysis in various field of research (from supra national governance political processes to human-computer interaction) and in conjunction with other analytical techniques, such as lexicon-content analysis. Her most recent research interests pertain to the relationships between collective action/political participation and social media use. Within this area, she is working interdisciplinary to combine technical and social knowledges into the study of socio-technical systems and is employing network analysis techniques and tools. She recently published in international journals and in relevant Italian journals. Her PhD dissertation on Internet governance and multistakeholderism has been released in January 2012 as a book for Lexington Publications.

Research interests: social media and politics, Internet and politics, multistakeholder politics, social network analysis, digital research methods, and gender and media