Patrizio Paoletti is the founder of the Research Institute in Neuroscience, Education and Didactics and the Paoletti Foundation for Development and Communication. Paoletti developed the Sphere Model of Consciousness, which has recently been considered the most advanced and elegant neuro-phenomenological model for consciousness. His research interests include the investigation of ‘consciousness-in-itself’, self-awareness and its neurophysiological correlates; sensorimotor paradigms aimed at the development of attention and willpower capacities and their educational applications. Paoletti has created several techniques aimed at enhancing brain functions, including Quadrato Motor Training, a motor training technique that has proven beneficial in developmental disorders and neurodegenerative states. In the educational field, through his numerous teaching projects, Paoletti promotes a global approach to human development in terms of bodily experience, emotion regulation, and the enhancement of attention and self-awareness. The neuroscientific investigation of Paoletti and his Foundation aims at providing scientifically validated educational tools, addressed to different age groups ranging from children to adults, as well as to educational professionals and non-specialised audiences. The Paoletti Foundation’s vision takes the form of education for Peace and Awareness as indispensable values for the future of mankind.

Adele Diamond, PhD, FRSC is the Canada Research Chair Tier I Professor of Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC, Canada. A member of the Royal Society of Canada, she has been named one of the “2000 Outstanding Women of the 20th Century” and has been listed as one the 15 most influential neuroscientists alive today. She was educated at Swarthmore (BA, Phi Beta Kappa), Harvard (PhD), and Yale Medical School (postdoc). Her research focuses on the cognitive control functions collectively called executive functions, dependent on prefrontal cortex, including the neuroanatomical, genetic, and neurochemical mechanisms that make those functions possible and how these functions are modulated by the environment. Her research interests include the roles of storytelling, dance, music, physical activity, and mindfulness in improving executive functions and academic and mental health outcomes. She has thought deeply and written about interrelations between cognitive and perceptual-motor development. In the field of education, her research is showing that focusing exclusively on training cognitive skills is less efficient, and ultimately less successful, than also addressing emotional, social, spiritual, and physical needs.

Tal Dotan Ben-Soussan, Ph.D., is the director of the Research Institute for Neuroscience, Education and Didactics (RINED) – Paoletti Foundation. Ben-Soussan leads international studies on training and neuroplasticity from neurophysiological and psychobiological perspectives. As a neuroscientist and bio-psychologist, she has published numerous articles on the importance of movement and meditation for improving cognitive and emotional wellbeing. Her pioneering work on the Quadrato Motor Training had led to a significant understanding of the underlying neuronal and biological mechanisms mediating cognitive improvement following movement meditation, for healthy development and aging.
Ben-Soussan is fascinated by the topic of consciousness, enhancing cognitive functions and their electrophysiological and molecular correlates.
She has dedicated over 20 years to understanding the mechanisms of wellbeing in children and adults and applying them in different settings including schools, hospitals and the workplace. Ben-Soussan is part of the leading think tank of the School Mental Health International Leadership Exchange (SMHILE). Her recent review on the electrophysiological correlates of different states of the self, in relation to different types of meditation and higher states consciousness, emphasizes the importance of movement for accessing the embodied-self anchored in the here and now, while non-dual practices of transcending the self, allow a greater state of empathy and connection with the other, such as the Quadrato Motor Training and OMM One Minute Mediation, by Patrizio Paoletti. She acts as an editor and reviewer in several renowned journals and coordinates international conferences integrating theoretical, methodological and practical approaches on various topics, such as neuroplasticity, training and neuro-education. She has edited 3 books on the topic of silence in Frontiers in Psychology and Progress in Brain Research.

Dr. Sabrina Venditti, researcher at Dept. of Biology and Biotechnology “Charles Darwin”, Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). Dr. Venditti started her research in the field of DNA structure and topology, focusing on DNA alternative conformations of gene promoter regulatory elements. Subsequently she approached the field of gene expression and of in vivo analysis of chromatin configurations in yeast nuclei. In more detail, she focused on epigenetic molecular mechanisms that regulate the biology of important chromosome structures such as the telomeres, investigating telomeric position effects and subtelomeric elements dynamics. Since 2011, Dr. Venditti moved to the field of human neuroscience, with a specific focus on epigenetics, with the aim of elucidating the molecular mechanisms that mediate the effects of Quadrato Motor Training on creativity and well-being, in collaboration with Fondazione Patrizio Paoletti. Dr. Venditti is teacher of Molecular Genetics and of Elements of Epigenetics and Epigenomics at Sapienza University of Rome.

Angela Colonna is a researcher in History of Architecture and Landscape at the University of Basilicata, where she has directed the UNESCO Chair (UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme) in Mediterranean Cultural Landscapes and Communities of Knowledge since 2016. Together with Domenico Fiore, he drafted the Management Plan for the UNESCO site of the Sassi and the Park of the Rock Churches of Matera (2014). She conducts research on landscape heritage and territorial identities in the Mezzogiorno, on UNESCO heritage, on the genealogy of historical processes, and as part of the UNESCO Chair he has initiated research on ‘Architecture and Embodied Knowledge’.

Graduate in Physical Education, degree in Movement and Sport Sciences, master of Psychology (Rome) and PhD in Philosophy (Berlin). Professor at the University of Rome “Foro Italico”. Main research foci: physical activity and cognition, motor competence and enriched physical education. Around 130 international peer-reviewed articles and 14 books (authored/edited), almost 5,000 citations and H index 37 (Scopus), highest IF: 22 (Psych Bull). Associate editor for MENPA, editorial board member of JSEP and JMLD. High national and international reach through the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child “Joy of Moving” approach to holistic child development promotion through quality physical activity.

Psychologist, psychotherapist, supervisor and international trainer. She collaborates with several universities to promote training and research on the constructs of mindfulness, hope, resilience and planning. Since 2008, she has been involved in the design and implementation of interventions and training courses for professionals, teachers and communities, particularly in the context of emergency and social marginalization.

Patrizia Tortella is a researcher in Methods and Didactics of Motor Activity at the “Kore” University of Enna. Her research primarily focuses on the motor and cognitive development of children aged 0 to 6 years. She has designed three playgrounds in Italy for children aged 0 to 6 years, located in the cities of Treviso, Rome, and San Lazzaro (BO), and four mini playgrounds in preschools in the Veneto region.
She has developed an innovative method to promote the motor and cognitive development of children in parks. She is the president of the “Centro Educazione Motoria e Fitness – CEMEF,” an association dedicated to motor activity with children aged 0 to 6 years, involving their families as well.
Additionally, she has created three manuals for preschool teachers aimed at promoting children’s motor and cognitive development through school activities using the “Movement Storytelling” method. With this method, she is conducting national training with the project “Movement Storytelling to Combat Educational Poverty,” funded by the National Foundation “Con i Bambini.”
Currently, she is implementing action research activities in preschools and primary schools associated with experimental studies using the “Movement Storytelling” method. She uses local legends to promote the memory of one’s own history and the sense of citizenship among children, making activities inclusive and engaging.
She is the educational coordinator of the 1st level Master’s program at the University of Verona in “Childhood and Movement: Development from 0 to 6 Years,” now in its XII Edition.
She is the author of numerous publications.

Philosopher of psychology and associate professor at the University of Roma Tre. In her career, she has devoted particular attention to theories on the role of mirror neurons in the development and evolution of human consciousness and cognition. She has been a research fellow at the Department of Philosophy and Communication at the University of Bologna, conducting an interdisciplinary research project on the role of narratives and emotions in visual self-perception. She has worked as associate professor and researcher in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Mississipi State University. She conducts her research in the areas of philosophy of biology, evolutionary psychology and neuroscience. She has dedicated particular attention to epigenetics in the development and evolution of intersubjectivity and social cognition. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the role of language and mimicry in the aesthetic perception of the self.