About us

We are AIRE, a collective research group based in Galway, Ireland.

We specialise in environmental philosophy, philosophy of art, philosophy of literature and public philosophy.

Founders

Michela Dianetti

Michela Dianetti is a postdoctoral researcher and instructor in Philosophy at the University of Galway. Her PhD research developed a literary ethics of attention grounded in Simone Weil, Iris Murdoch, and Elsa Morante. She has been a research fellow at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University and at the Centre for Ethics as Study in Human Value, Pardubice. She integrates art and literature into her CPI practice with a focus on how this space can foster attention.

Lucy Elvis

Lucy Elvis is a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Galway, a founder of Curo Thinking for Communities a not-for-profit that focuses on empowering groups to think philosophically together in non-formal educational contexts from music festivals to art galleries and libraries and an art writer. Her research and teaching focuses on the power of art and of philosophical thinking to enrich human life.

Chiara Li Mandri

Chiara Li Mandri is a PhD candidate in Philosophy at the University of Palermo. Her current research explores the intersection of poetry and environmental studies, focusing on poetry as a powerful medium for raising awareness about climate crisis, particularly through the works of the Italian poet and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi. In addition, she is developing an educational methodology – Dark Pedagogy – to engage with the unsettling dimensions of climate and ecological disruption.

Nora Ward

Nora Ward is a lecturer in the philosophy department at the University of Galway. She received her BA and MA from the University of Galway and her Ph.D. from the University of North Texas. Her research focus is on environmental ethics and philosophy, with a particular interest in ecological attention, rewilding, and ecofeminism.