Mario MarcolongoUniversity of Padua project · Volunteer collaboration · 2022–2025
Helping people participate in research.
I supported remote focus groups with autistic participants, combining facilitation, recruitment, bibliographic research and practical preparation.
The collaboration was supervised by Marta Panzeri in the Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialisation at the University of Padua.
My contribution
- Led or co-facilitated approximately 4–5 remote sessions, typically lasting 1–2 hours.
- Helped develop accessible participation procedures: pseudonymous names, explicit consent, optional captions and written-chat participation, structured prompts and timed turns.
- Supported participant recruitment, literature research and technical preparation.
- Coordinated with the supervisor, researchers and another facilitator, including recording boundaries and facilitation handoffs.
What the work involved
The focus groups concerned sexuality and relationships. I prepared facilitation guides and helped create a nonjudgmental discussion: using neutral prompts, managing turns and making room for both spoken and written responses. Consent, recording boundaries and coordination with a second facilitator were part of the procedure. This was research facilitation, with responsibilities distinct from platform moderation or clinical care. Participant identities and confidential session content are not included here.
Project record and attribution
The university thesis documents the project and methodology. The project's facilitation guides identify me as a facilitator and document the participation procedures described above. My approximate session count remains self-reported; the thesis does not name the facilitators. Confidential research materials are not published here.