Elena Bellodi is Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering of the University of Ferrara, where she graduated in Computer and Automation Engineering and obtained her PhD in Engineering Sciences. She is part of the AI@UniFE group since 2009. Her research interests include Machine Learning, Probabilistic Logic Programming and Statistical Relational Artificial Intelligence, Description Logics and the Semantic Web, Process Mining, Natural Language Processing.

She is the author of more than 90 works, including conference papers, international journals, and book chapters. 

Awards

• 2021 “Marco Somalvico” Award, sponsored by the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIXIA) for the contribution of young Italian researchers (under 37) to the AI field

• 2014 Award sponsored by the Italian Association “Gruppo Ricercatori e Utenti di Logic Programming” (GULP) for the best PhD thesis in the field of Computational Logic discussed from December 2011 until May 2014

• 2013 “Marco Cadoli” Award sponsored by the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIXIA), for the best PhD thesis in the field of AI discussed from January 2012 until May 2013 at an Italian university

For a complete list of publications see: 

• Publications on University Webpage; Google Scholar; DBLP; SCOPUS

AIR | Advanced Integrated machine leaRning, 2024-2025

• Funded by: PNRR M4C2 I1.3 Extended partnership FAIR - Cascade Call SPOKE 8 - "Pervasive AI" 

• Role: Principal Investigator

• Field: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

• Duration: 12 months

• Objectives:  "Objective 1: Novel integrative machine learning methods"

• Abstract: The project will develop cutting-edge Machine Learning methods that seamlessly combine symbolic and sub- symbolic approaches. These methods should be capable of learning from large, high-dimensional, and uncertain datasets, taking into account incomplete and noisy data. The methods should be scalable to handle massive datasets and leverage the wealth of information available on the Web through linked open data, knowledge graphs, and multi-relational databases. By integrating symbolic reasoning with the generalizability of sub-symbolic approaches, the proposed methods will offer superior performance and interpretability. Symbolic methods should be grounded in logic, with extensions incorporating probability theory and modal logic. These techniques will be able to handle high-dimensional, multi-modal, and partially labeled datasets. The project will demonstrate the applicability of the novel methods to challenging domains such as Industry 4.0, where manufacturing processes generate massive volumes of data, including vibrations, images, and noisy datasets. The legal field presents unique challenges due to the presence of uncertainty, vagueness, and complex relationships between entities. Medicine requires, for instance, the ability to diagnose conditions from complex biosignals such as EEG, voice, respiratory flow, and motion capture.

PRODE | PRObabilistic DEclarative Process Mining, 2023-2025

• Funded by: Italian MUR PRIN 2022 call

• Role: Principal Investigator

• ERC field: PE - Physical Sciences and Engineering

• Duration: 24 months

• Local Research Units: UniBo - Università degli Studi di Bologna and UniCal - Università della Calabria

• Keywords: Process mining, knowledge discovery, probabilistic logic programming, answer set programming

• Website: https://prode.unife.it/ 

• Objectives: The project addresses the task of learning and reasoning upon declarative process models taking into account uncertainty. It will take advantage of works in the fields of Probabilistic Logic Programming and Answer Set Programming, and will build a set of techniques that target the issues above by means of new combinations of declarative Process Mining with probabilistic and combinatorial approaches.

S4C | Support System for Sustainable Smart Cities, 2024- 2026

• Funded by: Regione Emilia-Romagna (PR FESR 2021-2027), within the Smart Specialization Strategy (S3) and the Cohesion Development Fund

• Role: Unit Leader, IN4 Hub

• Field/Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Big data, Smart Cities, Sustainable Tourism, Mobility

• Duration: 24 months

• Partners:

  • Research Labs: GeoSmart.Lab (PI), IN4 Hub (University of Ferrara), CIRI ICT (University of Bologna), CROSS-TEC (ENEA, Regional Network for High Technology), AIRI (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)

  • Industrial Partners: Airport "G. Marconi", Bologna; SRM – Società Reti e Mobilità S.r.l.; IF - Imola Faenza Tourism Company, ISCOM Group S.r.l.

  • Additional Stakeholders: Lepida; BolognaFiere; Po Delta Tourism.

  • Website: https://www.s4c-project.it

• Scenario/Context: Addressing the environmental impact of tourism and transportation—two sectors that together contribute significantly to CO₂ emissions—S4C builds on previous project POLIS-EYE to create a platform for optimizing mobility flows in tourism-heavy areas, with initial case studies focused in Bologna and scalable to other regions.

• Partnership: The project is a collaboration between academic and industrial partners, leveraging regional data to develop sustainable solutions that support tourism, urban planning, and sustainable mobility.

• Objectives: S4C aims to support sustainable planning by integrating transport solutions, using “what-if” scenarios for strategic decision-making, and creating a shared data space to provide valuable insights for businesses, policymakers, and tourists.

The project is expected to optimize sustainable mobility solutions, reduce emissions, and foster a regional data-sharing infrastructure, providing actionable insights for businesses, policymakers, and the public to promote eco-friendly tourism and urban mobility across Emilia-Romagna. The main technologies on which the project is based are Artificial Intelligence, Machine learning, Big data, Internet of Things.

Dinamiche di opinioni e intelligenza artificiale

Opinion Dynamics and Artificial Intelligence

Bando FIRD (“FONDO INTERDISCIPLINARE PER LA RICERCA DIPARTIMENTALE”) 2023, financed by University of Ferrara. Participant. This project aims to apply machine learning techniques, particularly natural language processing, to improve and develop mathematical models that better reflect social dynamics. Specifically, by objectively quantifying opinion, we expect to gain a deeper understanding of dynamics on social networks, from the spread of fake news to the presence of polarization, echo chambers, and their related effects.

Sviluppo e validazione di una nuova formula basata sull’intelligenza artificiale per il calcolo del potere delle lente intraoculare impiantata durante l’intervento di cataratta

Development and validation of a new artificial intelligence-based formula for calculating the power of the intraocular lens implanted during cataract surgery

Bando 5x1000 2022, financed by University of Ferrara. Participant. This project aimed to develop a new formula for calculating IOL (intraocular lens) using machine learning techniques, with the objective of improving the accuracy and precision of refractive outcomes in cataract surgery. The formula will be built and tested on a sample of normal eyes as well as eyes with other comorbidities or those that have undergone previous combined surgeries. The performance of the new formula will be compared with the results obtained using other traditional formulas. 

No esitazione (NOE'). Per una comunicazione efficace della vaccinazione anti covid-19

Bando FIR (“FONDO PER L’INCENTIVAZIONE ALLA RICERCA”) 2021, financed by University of Ferrara. Participant. The aim of the NOE’ project was to develop a communication strategy targeting the segment of the Italian population that is resistant to getting vaccinated against the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is responsible for the current Covid-19 pandemic. To achieve this goal, the project employed an innovative and multidisciplinary methodology, involving close interaction between communication and social research methods, data science approaches, and mathematical modeling techniques. See the following publications: PLOS ONE, NL4AI 2022, MEDIASCAPES JOURNAL

POLIS-EYE | POLIcy Support systEm for smart citY data governancE (2019-2022)

POLIcy Support systEm for smart citY data governancE (POLIS-EYE), 2019-2022, financed by Regione Emilia-Romagna (POR-FESR2014-20). Participant. The project intended to analyze, together with companies, requirements and data related to the tourism sector to create forecasting and decision-making models integrated into a decision support system. See the following publications: LOD2021, ISC2, Predicting the impact of public events and mobility in Smart Cities, accepted for publication.

GST4Water | Green Smart Technology for Water, 2016-2018

Green Smart Technology for Water (GST4Water), 2016-2018, financed by Regione Emilia-Romagna (POR-FESR2014-20). Participant. The project aimed at developing innovative solutions towards economical savings and hydro-sustainability by means of ICT technologies that should make citizens informed about water consumption.  See the following publication: IEEE Access

Decision Support System to improve appropriateness of repeated execution of laboratory examinations, 2012-2015

Decision Support System to improve appropriateness of repeated execution of laboratory examinations (2012-2015), financed by the Italian Ministry of Health under the “Ricerca Finalizzata 2010” call. Participant. See the following publications: ICHI2014, ICTAI2015, BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making Journal

• Deputy director of the UNIFE editions of the “Advanced Schools in Artificial Intelligence in Emilia Romagna” (ASAI), financed by the Emilia-Romagna region (AY 2021-22 and 2022-23)

• Associate Editor of Artificial Intelligence Review

• Member of the Editorial Board of

  • Intelligent Data Analysis (IDA)

  • Machine Learning and Knowledge Extraction (MAKE) 

  • Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence and Frontiers in Big Data: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence section

  • Intelligenza Artificiale

• Past Associate Editor of the Journal of Computer Science

• Guest co-Editor of the Special Issue of Inductive Logic Programming, ILP 2023 @IJCLR2023 of the Journal Machine Learning

• Guest co-Editor of the Special Issue on Probabilistic Logic Programming 2018 of the International Journal of Approximate Reasoning

• Guest co-Editor of the Special Issue of Inductive Logic Programming, ILP 2017 and 2018 of the Journal Machine Learning

• Co-Editor of the proceedings of:

  • 5th Workshop on Probabilistic Logic Programming (PLP2018)

  • Up-and-Coming and Short Papers of ILP 2018

  • Regular Papers of the Inductive Logic Programming conference 2018

  • Doctoral Consortium of the XIV Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence

• Program co-chair of the 32nd International Conference on Inductive Logic Programming (ILP 2023), (Bari, Italy, November 2023)

• Co-organizer of ACAI 2018 – Summer School on Statistical Relational Artificial Intelligence, part of RAID 2018 (Ferrara, Italy, August 27-31, 2018)

• Program co-chair and co-organizer of the 28th International Conference on Inductive Logic Programming (ILP 2018), part of RAID 2018 (Ferrara, Italy, September 2-4 2018)

• Program co-chair and organizer of the 5th Workshop on Probabilistic Logic Programming (PLP 2018), part of RAID 2018 (Ferrara, Italy, September 1, 2018)

• Co-organizer of AIxIA 2015

• Program committees: LOD 2022, KR 2022, ICLP 2020 (special track on Women in Logic Programming), IJCAI-ECAI 22, IJCAI 2021 (senior PC member), IJCAI-PRICAI 2020, IJCAI-19, AAAI 2019/2020/2021, NIPS 2018, AmI 2018, AIXIA 2015, RCRA 2015, ILP 2015/2019/2020-21@IJCLR, NFMCP 2015/2016/2017/2018, CILC 2014/2015/2016, DeclarativeAI2022, KR2022, PLP 2014/2015/2016/2017/2019/2020/2021/2022/2023/2024, ICLP2023, 2024; RR2023,UAI2023, UAI2024, ECAI2024

• • Invited Speaker in Round Table at the event Intelligenza Artificiale per il Turismo: sfide ed opportunità | L'AI per il futuro dell'Emilia-Romagna organized by the Emilia-Romagna Region, Clust-ER Tourism, ART-ER and Tecnopolo di Ferrara with the presentation Sistemi di supporto alle decisioni per Smart Cities sostenibili on the occasion of the World Tourism Day 2024 (Ferrara, Italy, September 27, 2024) 

  • Invited Speaker in Panel "Gestione del territorio: monitoraggio e governo" at the AI per la trasformazione digitale delle amministrazioni locali: sfide e opportunità event, Cerchio ICT 2023 (Bologna, Italy, November 29, 2023)

  • Invited speaker at the 20th International Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIxIA2021) for the “Marco Somalvico” award (virtual event, December 1-3, 2021)

  • Invited panelist on “How should LP evolve to become ubiquitous and important in AI" and "How can LP serve to solve societal problems?” at the 2021 MentorLP Workshop, ICLP 2021 (virtual event, September 20-27, 2021)

  • Grad School Survival Guide at the 2021 MentorLP Workshop, ICLP 2021 (virtual event, September 20-27, 2021)

  • Introduction to Probabilistic Logic Programming (Part I; Part II), at The Autumn School on Logic and Constraint Programming, ICLP 2020 (Rende, Italy, September 18-25, 2020)

  • Efficient inference in discrete and continuous domains for PLP languages under the Distribution Semantics at PLP 2019 (Ferrara, Italy, September 21, 2019)

  • Invited speaker at the 31st Italian Congress of Computational Logic (CILC 2016) to present the PhD thesis awarded with the prize for the best PhD thesis in Computational Logic (Milan, Italy, June 20-22 2016)

  • Invited speaker at the XIII Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIXIA2013), to present the PhD thesis awarded with the 2013 “Marco Cadoli” Award (Turin, Italy, December 4-6, 2013)

• Member of the Orientation staff of the Department of Engineering for the Computer Science area, since 2023.

• Ragazze Digitali ER representative for UniFe for the 2024, 2023 and 2022 editions

• Member of the Interest Group for Data Science in Food Safety Risk Assessment of the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) for UniFe. The technical group brings competences on machine learning, natural language processing and data mining – from September 2021

• Member of the Council (“Giunta”) of the Department of Engineering as person in charge for its web site management – December 2018 to October 2024

• Basi di Dati (Database Systems) since A.Y. 2018/19, Laurea triennale in Ingegneria elettronica e Informatica (BSc)

• Machine Learning and Data Mining since A.Y. 2023/24, Laurea magistrale in Intelligenza Artificiale, Data Science e Big Data e Laurea magistrale in Ingegneria Informatica e dell'automazione (MSc) 

• Machine Learning and Data Mining Project Work since A.Y. 2023/24, Laurea magistrale in Intelligenza Artificiale, Data Science e Big Data (MSc) 

• Co-teaching in Fondamenti di Machine learning e Big data per le Biotecnologie since A.Y. 2024/25, Dept. of Translational Medicine and for Romagna (MSc)

• Co-teaching in Fondamenti di Intelligenza Artificiale e Cloud Computing per le Biotecnologie since A.Y. 2022/23, Dept. of Translational Medicine and for Romagna (BSc)

• Module 3 of Applicazioni dell’Intelligenza Artificiale in Medicina since A.Y. 2019/20, Department of Translational Medicine and for Romagna.

• Co-teaching in Fondamenti di Intelligenza Artificiale in A.Y. 2022/23 (MSc)

• Co-teaching in Fondamenti di Informatica – modulo B in A.Y. 2022/23 (BSc)

• AIMA search library Laboratorio di Fondamenti di Intelligenza Artificiale, 2014-2020 (MSc)