Faculty – Mind the Gap Winter School 2026
A small, high–impact faculty with deep experience in psychometrics, data analysis, VR & immersive methods, ESM and psychophysiology – working with you on your own project.
From computational psychometrics and GLM to VR, ESM and psychophysiology.
Peer-reviewed papers, edited books and editorial roles in quantitative and methods journals.
The faculty does not just “give talks” – they sit with you to rethink your study design.
Pietro Cipresso
Pietro works at the frontier between psychometrics, computational modelling and virtual reality, with a long-term focus on how to measure behaviour and emotions in complex, technology-mediated situations. He has authored over 100 scientific publications and several books on computational psychometrics, VR and quantitative methods, and serves as editor-in-chief / editor for international journals in quantitative psychology and measurement.
During the Winter School, he will challenge how you think about measurement, design and analysis pipelines, helping you to build a coherent workflow from hypotheses to models.
Alice Chirico
Alice is a psychologist and researcher whose work on awe, the sublime, flow, creativity and VR-mediated experiences is widely cited internationally. She leads the Experience Lab in Milan, where she designs and tests immersive experiences to understand how complex emotions can foster well-being and transformation in everyday life and clinical contexts.
At the Winter School, she will help you connect design of experiences, measurement choices and theoretical depth, so that your studies are not only statistically sound but also psychologically meaningful.
Francesca Borghesi
Francesca’s research focuses on statistics and psychometrics applied to affect dynamics and mental flexibility, often using virtual reality and 360° video paradigms. She works on modelling how emotional states unfold over time, using time-series and stochastic models in collaboration with clinical and experimental teams.
During the Winter School, she will be one of your closest allies when it comes to making analysis decisions concrete, understanding models, and translating your research questions into something you can actually estimate.
Not just lectures: project-centred work
The faculty will not simply “deliver content”. Every core session is followed by labs, clinics and design reviews where your own project is on the table.
- Short, focused inputs on design, measurement, analysis and immersive methods.
- Hands-on labs where you apply concepts directly to your study.
- Structured spaces to re-write hypotheses, protocols and analysis plans.
Mentoring and “project clinics”
Throughout the week, you will have access to small-group mentoring and one-to-one slots with the faculty to tackle the hard questions of your research practice.
- Booked mentoring sessions to go deep into your design and data.
- “Project clinics” where you present specific bottlenecks and get targeted feedback.
- Informal discussions during breaks, meals and evening activities.
The aim is that you leave the Winter School with a stronger, defensible methodological workflow – not just a notebook full of notes.