
Laura Del Vecchio
Research
Since 2017, I have developed methodologies and coordinated research groups, collaborating with UNESCO, the Austrian Chamber of Commerce (WKO), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and many others. In 2020, I developed the research methodology of the techDetector, a platform that provides insightful data about emerging technologies focused on sustainability. âIn the same year, I created the methodological vision of the Envisioning Cities project, a program developed to support public officials and urban innovators in identifying and evaluating the key technologies that shape the future of cities. i have also collaborated with the Cappra Institute for Data Science in developing statistical models to evaluate potential futures and creating immersive experiences around data learning.
Published Research
Editor
UNESCO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngvw7PGUBsA&t=2740s
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The Austrian Economic Chambers (WKO)
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armasuisse of the Swiss Confederation
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L’ATELIER BNP Paribas
https://atelier.net/projects/strativerse
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Nubank
https://www.envisioning.io/work/nubank
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World Government Summit
https://www.envisioning.io/work/wgs
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Harvesting Data as a Crop
https://techdetector.de/projects/harvesting-data-as-a-crop
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Carbon Neutrality
https://techdetector.de/projects/carbon-neutrality
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The Future of Digital Transformation for Economic Inclusion in the MENA Region
https://techdetector.de/projects/mena-4-0-exploring-digital-transformation
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The Future of Food
Research methodologies
TECHDETECTOR
A platform that compiles a database of technologies and innovation articles aimed at advancing a sustainable future.
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LOW-TECH: BUILDING AND IMAGINING FUTURES
A training model for people of any age that fosters creative strategies to envision utopian futures through cultural heritage and de-growth thinking.
https://pitch.com/v/taller-low-tech-ba8iy9
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ENVISIONING CITIES
A program designed to assist public and urban innovators in identifying and evaluating key technologies that will shape the future of cities.
https://cities.envisioning.io/?pg=home
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CAPRA INSTITUTE
Statistical models for evaluating potential futures and creating immersive experiences around data learning.
Workshop Facilitator
Co-developing and Assessing the Future of Education
https://techdetector.de/stories/debunking-myths-and-co-developing-futures
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MENA 4.0: Exploring Digital Transformation
https://techdetector.de/stories/mena-4-0-exploring-digital-transformation
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¿Cuál es el lenguaje del futuro?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngvw7PGUBsA&t=2740s
techDetector Launch
Published Articles
â2024-2019
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Violència lingüística i necropolítica d’Israel
https://directa.cat/violencia-linguistica-i-necropolitica-disrael/
La Directa
2024
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What Does “Dual-use” Stand for?
https://techdetector.de/stories/what-does-dual-use-stand-for
techDetector
2022
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What Will Food Systems Look Like in the Future?
https://techdetector.de/stories/the-future-of-food
techDetector
2022â
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Feeding The Global Population
https://techdetector.de/stories/food-and-climate-crisis
techDetector
2022
Gender & Tech
https://techdetector.de/stories/gender-and-tech
techDetector
2021
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Five Technologies Leading the Way to a Carbon Neutral Future
https://techdetector.de/stories/five-technologies-leading-the-way-to-a-carbon-neutral-future
techDetector
2021
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What Does Carbon Neutrality Mean in Practice?
https://techdetector.de/stories/what-does-carbon-neutrality-mean-in-practiceâ
techDetector
2021
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A Supply Chain Act to Prevent the Sky from Becoming a Sheet of Smoke
techDetector
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Um desejo incontrolável de liberdade e submissão
Up Future Sight
2019
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Sergio Moro faz 'crime e castigo' no Admirável Brasil Novo
Ethnography
I am deeply interested in ethnography since this research field values personal narratives and lived experiences as reliable sources of knowledge. In my research, I employ ethnography as a method to expand the scope of meaningful academic inquiry. I want to make academic contributions that are in contact with the world beyond human knowledge. I am fully aware that these contributions will always be interpreted through me as a human subject with my own prejudices, viewpoints and background. But, after all, aren't all ideas biased, even if justified with the right sources and references? Instead of looking solely into materials produced by the human, I advocate for a non-hierarchical approach to knowledge production that integrates manifold perspectives, human and more-than-human.
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In general, the narratives and lived experiences documented in ethnography are “not assembled for the purposes of a coherent narrative, but [...] [to] accommodate unprecedented things, including things that do not necessarily fit” (Hohti and Tammi 5). Thus, in order to reflect a method that is “potentially messy, fluid, and highly contextual” (Edwards 3), I intend to apply a multi-disciplinary approach to documenting the encounters I have during my research, including video essays, photographs and sound collages.
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The following projects are examples of recent ethnographic studies that combine scientific research with artistic experimentations.
Buzzing Against Collapse
Buzzing Against Collapse is an auto autoethnographic study conducted with Damià Sinfreu’s in the small village of Sant Julià de Lória, Andorra, in March 2024. The concept of ‘buzzing’ refers to a communicative practice that challenges human exceptionalism and promotes response-able understandings of planetary dynamics. This study illustrates how recognizing the agency of more-than-human beings can provide entirely new avenues to inhabiting a precarious world. This approach moves beyond catastrophic discourses and established thought structures and emphasizes the importance of the narratives produced by subjects commonly marginalized, disregarded, and forgotten in Western canons of knowledge.
Overall, Buzzing Against Collapse explores stories told by more-than-human beings that are different from Cartesian thought structures that perpetuate hierarchies between humans and nature—and among humans themselves. By examining alternative cosmologies and storytelling practices as an effort to oppose collapse, this work advocates for a shift away from the centrality of the human and proposes relational communication practices that acknowledge the subjectivity of diverse life forms.
To better illustrate buzzing, this audio shows the moment Marina and I were checking on the bee boxes and the bees started to buzz. The sound of me desperately trying to gush smoke on the bees is also noticeable, while Marina intends to tell me that the smoke we have is enough to calm the bees down.
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The photograph used was taken by me with my Olympus Pen camera, using an Ilford HP5 film, in March 2024, during my visit to Damià's house.
Escletxes
Escletxes is an ethnographic study conducted in Berga during a residency in Konvent Zero in august 2024. The research followed the methodology "Low Tech: Building and Imagining Futures." The results culminated in a video essay that documents the history of the Riera de Metge, a stream crucial to the industrialization of the Berguedà region. As the industrial era declined, capitalism left abandoned industries, and the Riera de Metge was marked by the scars of expropriation and the accumulation of natural resources.
In this context, Escletxes proposes a discourse that links ancestral techniques, such as controlling the river’s course, with new ways of understanding the effects of capitalism. The "escletxes" (cracks) left by capitalism can be seen as opportunities to escape neoliberal misery and violence.

Utopias of Care
The colonial vision that migrant women should be designated to specific caregiving roles perpetuates power imbalances and dependency, hindering systemic change in a global care chain. While governmental efforts may aim to address inequalities, they often adopt a paternalistic stance, undermining agency. Accordingly, together with Dr., Isabel Alonso-Breto and Dr. Dolors Ortega, we developed a theoretical framework that analyzes the commodification of care and the exploitation of migrant women in the city of Barcelona by employing the case study of the Barcelona-based collective Madrecitas. The theoretical work culminated in the elaboration of a stop motion video oriented by Dr. Marta Segarra, which aims to exemplify the powers of mutual aid, reflecting on Madrecitas' resilience and collective empowerment.
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The Dichotomy of Misogyny: Morally Inferior and Virtuous Women
The film Holy Spider, directed by director Ali Abbasi, is inspired by the real-life case of a serial killer who, in 2001, killed 16 sex workers in the city of Mashhad, Iran. The murders follow a similar pattern: a man on a motorbike picks up the women at roundabouts in the area and takes them to another location, where he strangles them. He then dumps them in open fields or on the outskirts of the city. The killer gave the reason that the city of Mashhad should be purified.
Although the murderer, Saeed Hanaei, was convicted, the trial caused a great stir because part of society treated him as a hero. The director sets out to recreate the reality of the city of Mashhad, the social dynamics of which are advocated by prevailing male chauvinism, misogyny and violence against women. So this video essay aims to address "The dichotomy of misogyny: Morally inferior or virtuous women" through a critical look at Ali Abbasi's film Holy Spider (2022).