Riccardo Emilio Chesta is a comparative sociologist which work investigates the social and political dimension of expertise, how science and technology interact with democratic processes and the participation of lay people. His research has investigated the politics of expertise on environmental issues, labour mobilizations on digital platforms and the interaction dynamics between scientific experts and social movements in the Covid-19 pandemic.
Previously, he studied Sociology (BSc) at the University of Trento, Social Sciences (MSc) at the EHESS and ENS in Paris and obtained a PhD in Social and Political Sciences at the European University Institute in Florence. He has also been Postdoctoral Researcher at the Scuola Normale Superiore, as well as Visiting Researcher at New York University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is a member of COSMOS – Center on Social Movement Studies at the Scuola Normale Superiore.