Currently a subject expert at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Gaia Varone has been dedicating her research efforts to the field of critical language pedagogy since 2018, when she started collaborating with prof. Marcella Mariotti. Her main interest is exploring the role uncertainty plays in critical language education and how it can be reframed as a driving force instead of a disruptive one.

She has been Jr. Coordinator and Research assistant for the research projects “Virtual Ryuugaku for real interactions and job-hunting: supporting Covid online teaching of Japanese language oral and written production skills” 1 and 2 (2020/21 and 2021/22). Varone has then coordinated the Cafoscari Jisho App research project (2022) as Jr. Research Assistant, growing into a Senior Research assistant and Coordinator for the BEW1 2023/24, the BEW2 2024/25 and the BEW3 2025/26..

Some of her latest publications and lectures are:

Varone G.“SDGs and emergency online learning spaces: critical dialogue as a way to develop social responsibility in the ‘new normal’”, Proceedings of The 14th Next-Generation Global Workshop, Kyoto University Asian Studies Unit, Kurenai, 2021

Varone G. “Un-certainty? Reconsidering uncertainty as a positive force in critical-transformative language education”, JSAA-ICNTJ, Sydney, 2023

Varone G., “Monogatari no sōsaku o mezashita kurieitibu raitingu wākushoppu no jissen hōkoku” 　[Towards the creation of stories: A data report on the creative writing workshop], JAPANESE LANGUAGE EDUCATION IN EUROPE 27, 42-57, 2024