There is something strangely intimate about writing a blog post as a researcher. It is not a paper, a deliverable, or a grant proposal. It doesn’t carry the armor to criticism that peer review somewhat provides, and it feels strange to hit that “post” button without receiving the green light from other co-authors. It is, in a way, closer to a journal entry. And that’s where the lines begin to blur.
Doing research, especially in Italy, is not just a job. For better or for worse, research becomes an identity. And that identity spills into every aspect of life. There are no real work hours for early-career researchers here (nor for full professors, although with some exceptions). No well-defined boundaries. You read a paper during lunch, you sketch out a prototype at 11 PM, you answer emails on Sunday… Not because you have to (well, sometimes you do), but because the work is always with you: in your mind, in your values, in your ambitions. And pressure and expectations also play their role. Passion and pressure are deeply intertwined.
If you are interested in what’s to come, subscribe so you won’t loose a single post!
And so, when I sit down to write a post for this blog, I find myself wondering: who am I writing as? A researcher? As a curious person who loves pens and notebooks as much as he loves researching AI? As someone who needs a creative outlet to let their own thoughts loose? The answer is: all of them. Writing here acknowledges that I am not split into two separate souls.
In academia, we often aim to compartmentalize: keep your work separate from your life, your thoughts from your feelings, your objectivity from your subjectivity. But the reality is more complicated, and in my experience, more human. I think better when I don’t pretend to be a machine.
The truth is, the personal and professional lives are not just blended: they are sometimes indistinguishable. Especially in the kind of research I do, centered on people and their interaction with intelligent systems. To understand what it means to build a human-centered AI, you need to be fully human yourself.
So this blog is not a distraction from my academic work. It is an extension of it. A slower, more reflective, more personal kind of thinking. A place where I can use words like “feel,” “wonder,” and “hope” without citation. A space where the pace of writing is not dictated by deadlines, but by curiosity.
And perhaps, in sharing these thoughts publicly, I’m not just writing for myself. I’m writing for other researchers who feel the same dissonance. Who want to embrace their whole selves, not just their academic title. Who are tired of pretending there is a clear line between their life and their research.
There isn’t. And that’s okay, as long as it doesn’t drive you to insanity.
If you are interested in what’s to come, subscribe so you won’t loose a single post!