DISCOVER

A global network of people

nurturing children’s philosophical inquiry.

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Doing philosophy with children inspires wonder of all kinds…
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EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Meet the Team

Marina Santi

Marina Santi

President

Marina Santi (Italy) holds a PhD in Educational Sciences and is Full Professor in Didactics and Inclusive Education. She works in the Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Pedagogy and Applied Psychology at University of Padova, Italy. Her research deals with dialogue and argumentation concerning knowledge construction processes and the investigation of social interaction as cognitive potential for learning. She specializes in classroom discussion both as method and context for the development of higher-order thinking skills and reflective capabilities. She is an expert on “Philosophy for Children”, a subject into which she has carried out a wide range of empirical research to evaluate the effectiveness of philosophical practice within communities of inquiry for the development of critical, creative and caring thinking and the construction of inclusive social environments. Her recent studies focus on improvisation teaching and learning. Among her main publications: with Stefano Oliverio (eds.) (2012), Educating for Complex Thinking through Philosophical Inquiry. Models, advances and proposals for the new millennium, Napoli, Liguori; (2010) (Ed.), Improvisation Between Technique and Spontaneity, Cambridge Scholar Publisher; with ZORZI E. (2016) (Eds.), Education as Jazz. Interdisciplinary Sketches on a New Metaphor. New Castle: Cambridge Scholar Publishing.

Sumaya Babamia

Sumaya Babamia

Co-President

Sumaya is a South African educator, researcher, and speech-language therapist. She holds a PhD in Education from the University of Cape Town, as well as undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of the Witwatersrand. Her doctoral research explored therapeutic and educational encounters through philosophical practice, with a focus on how inquiry-based dialogue can expand possibilities for communication, understanding, and participation.
Her work engages dialogical approaches as both method and practice. Drawing on philosophy of education, critical disability studies, and posthumanist perspectives, she examines how spaces of inquiry can open alternative ways of knowing and responding, with attention to questions of voice, recognition, and epistemic injustice.
She is the founding director of Jozi4Autism, a Johannesburg-based non-profit organisation working in advocacy, education, and community-based support. Alongside this, she contributes to international networks of philosophical practice through collaborative projects, invited talks, and ongoing involvement in organisational development and governance processes.

Daniel Gaivota

Daniel Gaivota

Secretary

Daniel Gaivota (Brazil) learned to read and write in the sand. Walking in similar textures, graduated in Philosophy and did a PhD in Education. He has been a public school teacher in Rio de Janeiro for many years and after a couple of years working as a professor at the University of Padova is now teaching at the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Furthermore, flaps his wings as a researcher at the Center for Studies on Philosophies and Childhoods, linked to the Postgraduate Program in Education at UERJ. More important than all this, believes in the school's philosophical potency in making people fall in love with the world. He is passionate about tangerines and the sea, and always tries to dream a little before going to sleep.

Maria Martha Barreneche

Maria Martha Barreneche

Secretary

Maria Martha Barreneche is a Youth Well-Being International Specialist and the of the United Nations Youth Office’s Mental Health & Well-Being Flagship, where she authored the foundational framework with UN University in consultation with +10 universities internationally.
A Distinguished Graduate of the National University of La Plata (9.34/10 average), she holds a PhD in Education from the Università degli Studi di Padova. Her academic contributions include published research in journals focusing on philosophical inquiry with adolescents and navigating uncertainty in educational settings. Together with professor Marina Santi, developed a dis-orientation approach to educational pathways, underscoring the value of improvisation and the design of educational settings to navigate uncertanty through philosophy.

Lucy Elvis

Lucy Elvis

Treasurer

Lucy Elvis is the director of Public Philosophy at the University of Galway, Ireland, where her teaching is focused on Philosophy for Children and Philosophy of Art and Culture. Her research focuses on the aesthetic dimensions of philosophising together, the interpretation of art (especially architecture) and developing attentive approaches to facilitation.
She is a member of AIRE research collective, who focus on the use of the Community of Philosophical Inquiry as a model for projects focused on art, attention and the Anthroposcene, and a model of producing research collaboratively to resist the dynamics of competition and hierarchy that are present in the post-modern university.
Beyond the academy, she is one of the founders of Curo - thinking for communities a not-for profit that believes philosophy needs all voices and that all persons should be offered opportunities to explore their experience philosophically. Together with Dr Annie O'Dononvan, she has bought philosophy to libraries, art galleries, music festivals and public spaces to empower communities to build ideas and imagine new worlds together.

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