Dr. Asta Adukaite – was the former coordinator of USI UNESCO Chair. She holds a PhD in Communication Sciences from Università della Svizzera italiana (Switzerland). Her research focused on the the use of gamification methods to support tourism curricula development in high schools in African countries.

Eleonora Alberti – was assistant of USI UNESCO Chair from Ferbuary to July 2023. She holds a Master in History and Theory of Art and Architecture from Università della Svizzera italiana – USI, a Master in Communication Sciences and Techniques from Università dell’Insubria (Varese, Italy), and a BA in Disciplines for the enhancement of cultural heritage from the Academy of the Fine Arts of Brera (Milan, Italy). She recently got a certificate of Protection of Ecclesial Communita Heritage from the Institute of Religious Sciences in Milan. 

Daniela Baiardi – was an intern at the Chair from March 2022 to April 2023. She worked on the design of a digital exhibition on the works of the Swiss sculptor Pietro Borsari. 

Fiametta Battino – was an intern of the Chair in 2019. She studied the presence on social media of UNESCO World Heritage sites in Italy and Tessin (Switzerland).

Yasaman Behshad – was an intern of the Chair in 2018. She studied the online presence of UNESCO World Heritage sites in Iran. 

Camilla Borghi – was an intern of the Chair between 2020 and 2021. She collaborated in the design and implementation of the digital storytelling project “Machu Picchu – Seen through the eyes of Fernando Astete”. 

Evgeniya Chernysheva – was an intern of the Chair in 2014. She studied the online presence of World Heritage sites in Commonwealth of Independent States, and assisted in the organization of the Chair’s Summer School 2024. 

Dr. Maurizio De Rose – worked on the design and development of the first version of the UNESCO Chair website.

Giulio Del Giudice – was a scientific collaborator of the Chair from 2020 to 2023. He co-designed and coordinated the online communication of the Interreg project MARKS.

Gisela Etter – collaborated in the preparation of the inauguration event of the UNESCO exhibition “Travels through our fragile heritage”, which took place in May 2018 in Lugano.

Elmira Gazizova – was an intern of the Chair in 2013, and studied the online presence of World Heritage sites in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

Tetteng Gaduel – was an intern of the Chair in 2020. He studied the online representation of the African Kanga fashion and UNESCO World Heritage sites located in the East African community.

Soha Ghezili – was an intern at the Chair in 2021. She worked on the Erasmus+ #ICT4STD project, in particular for the research project “eLearning for tourism during COVID-19”. She also served as assistant to the Master in International Tourism.

Seline Girgis – was an intern at the Chair in 2018. She analyzed the reach and penetration of the social media campaign #faces4heritage. 

Carolina Guidi – was an intern at the Chair in 2020. She collaborated in the project “Machu Picchu – Seen through the eyes of Fernando Astete” supporting the digitization of the photographic material taken by Fernando Astete. She assisted in the organization of the HTHIC 2020 Conference. 

Antanina Kamelchyk – held an assignment at the Chair in 2022, working on the project “Machu Picchu – Seen through the eyes of Fernando Astete” and the Erasmus + ICT4STD Summer School in Poland. She supported the digitization of photographic material taken by Fernando Astete.

Zlata Kolesnyk – worked on the compilation of acts related to heritage, tourism and hospitality, the 4th International Conference, as well as the design and implementation of the online presence of World Heritage sites in Russian-speaking countries.

Prof. Jingjing Lin – holds a PhD from the Faculty of Communication Sciences of Università della Svizzera italiana – USI (Lugano,  Switzerland). Her PhD research focused on Massive Open Online Courses, particularly in the field of tourism and hospitality. She served as Project Manager of the UNESCO Chair Summer School ICT2ST4D. Between 2015 and 2017 she was project manager and course assistant of the first pilot MOOC of USI – eTourism: Communication Perspectives. Jingjing Lin has been appointed assistant professor at Tayohashi University of Technology (Japan) in 2022. 

Maha Abdul Muhusin – was a former intern of the Presidency. He worked on the Machu Picchu project concerning the digitization of photographic material taken by Fernando Astete. He was responsible for the communication plan.

Angela Simona Patruno – worked as an intern on a project for the creation of an app for the promotion of Batik, which is inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List, and present in the tourist destinations of the 33 Indonesian provinces.

Dr. Puspita Ayu Permatasari – was a PhD student at the USI Faculty of Communication, Culture and Society. Together with the Chair he created an online platform and mobile application, #iWareBatik (2020), designed to promote and communicate the cultural values of the Indonesian Batik tradition, recognized by UNESCO.

Chiara Poletto – was an intern of the Chair in 2022. She studied Monte San Giorgio on an anthropological level in collaboration with the UNESCO Chair of Genoa.

Carina Pop – was a former intern of the Chair. She has carried out research related to the usability of ICT and the promotion of sustainable tourism in World Heritage sites.

Laura Raimundo – was involved in the preparation of the promotion of the second edition of the Summer School, which took place in August 2015. In addition, she contributed to the finalization of several reports such as the final report of the WHACY Game and the semi-annual report of UNESCO.

Ilaria Rosani – was a former research assistant and eLearning project manager of the Chair.

Theresa Karolina Schieder – was responsible for the concept design and development of the new mobile application for the two World Heritage Sites in Ticino (Switzerland).

Jannina Stüben – was a chair intern from October to December 2022. She worked on the project “Nachhaltigkeit bei Buchungsportalen und digitalen Reiseanbietern” for Tourism Watch (Germany).

Andela Sormaz – was a former intern of the Presidency. He has been working on a project related to overtourism at the Jungfrau-Aletsch World Heritage Site in the Swiss Alps which aims to balance the flow of visitors within the area.

Giulia Vighetti – worked as an intern at Chair. He worked on the second volume of the MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) “Tourism Management at UNESCO World Heritage Sites” designed by the UNESCO/UNITWIN network “Tourism, Culture, Development”, led by IREST (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne).

Susanna Phan – was an intern at the Chair. She collaborated with Ahmed Adam on the digital exhibition “Al-Khandaq and its architecture” on Google Arts&Culture.

Emanuele Mele – was an external research associate at the Chair. His research interests were focused on the use of social media marketing by tourism destinations, the promotion of heritage tourism, and the cultural adaption of online communication.