Ph.D. students
Centro di Ricerca Interdisciplinare Health Science
Giulia Russo
Bio
I am currently a Ph.D. student in Health Science, Technology, and Management, specializing in Philosophy of Psychiatry through a critical lens.
My background was mainly in History of Science, with a Bachelor's Degree in Italian Literature at the University of Udine and a Master's Degree in Logic, Philosophy and History of Science at the University of Florence (with a thesis on the history of conspiracy theories).
Research
The central focus of my research is Psychiatric Self-Diagnosis, as a concept and as a practice.
The study of this growingly spreading phenomenon has made me cross borders between analytical Philosophy of Psychiatry and Critical Disability/Neurodiversity/Autism Studies (with reference to the Social Model of Disability and Neurodiversity Paradigm).
I am interested in epistemic injustice and issues of expertise, as well as in the philosophical work of Ian Hacking.
I am also a member of the working group on Participatory Research in Autism "ORPA (Officina per lan Ricerca Partecipativa sull'Autismo)".
Publications
Russo, G. and Ferraro, M. (forthcoming). The Politics of Self-Narration: Self-Diagnosis as a digital counter-narrative. Topoi.
Bartoccini, A, Petrachi, L., Russo, G. (Eds.) (2025) Politiche dell’Autismo. Etica, epistemologia, attivismo (Vv.Aa.), DeriveApprodi publishing.
Esperienze di autodiagnosi tra epistemologia e politiche della cura (2025) in Bartoccini, A., Petrachi, L., Russo, G., Politiche dell’Autismo. Etica, epistemologia, attivismo, DeriveApprodi publishing.
Russo, G. (2024). Identifying pathology and pathologising identity: The role of self-diagnosis in philosophy of psychiatry. MEFISTO. Journal of Medicine, Philosophy, and History, 8(2).
Courses
“Approaching Psychiatric Kinds: who is wrong about which Kinds?” 20/06/2025 - “Philosophy of Psychiatry Work-in-Progress” Workshop - Lancaster University (UK)
“Countering dominant narratives in psychiatry and mental health: political and collective responses from self-diagnostic practices” 12/06/2025 - “Who knows what in mental health care? Philosophical perspectives on lived experience, experiential knowledge and epistemic injustice” Conference - Radboud University, Nijmegen (NL)
“Approaching Psychiatric Kinds: Who is wrong about which Kinds?” 23/05/2025 - 13th Values in Medicine, Science and Technology Conference (VMST-13) “Ian Hacking’s Philosophical Legacy” - University of Texas Dallas (USA) (online)
“Tell me about us: epistemic solidarity as activism” 25/04/2025 - Midlands Conference in Critical Thought - University of Derby (UK)
“Self-diagnosis of psychiatric conditions and lived experience: philosophical insights and political role of self-diagnosis in the psychiatric discourse” 27-28/03/2025 - “Philophy of Psychiatry and Lived Experience” Conference - King’s College London (online)
“Diagnosing or Self-Diagnosing? Argument(s) for the political role of Psychiatric self-diagnosis” 21/02/2025 - Online Workshop “Psychiatric Diagnosis - Empirical and Philosophical Perspectives - Jagellonian University and Polish Academy of Sciences.
“Challenging Norms: the role of Psychiatric self-diagnosis in the Psychiatric discourse” 11/09/2024 - International Conference “Bioethics and Social Justice: Phenomenological and Analytical perspectives” - IRLaB, Prague (CZ)
Lecture on Self-diagnosis and Philosophy of Medicine and Psychiatry (23/04/2024) for the course “Tecnoetica e Medicina di Frontiera” held by prof. Alberto Pirni, for Medicine students of University of Pisa.
“Robotica e disabilità: il caso avatar” - 25/05/2024 - “Fesival della Robotica” in Pisa Speaker for
Talk on self-diagnostic experiences of ND individuals and related philosophical issues (7/10/2023) in activism event “AutCamp 2023” organized by NeuroPeculiar APS and Università di Roma La Sapienza