Curriculum Vitae

Data from ORCID: 0000-0003-3657-106X

Data from Google Scholar Citations: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8KqSpwMAAAAJ

Data from Scopus: https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=56962750600

Data from Web of Science:  https://www.webofscience.com/wos/author/record/190610

Roles in Scientific Associations

Giuseppe Riva is the President of the International Association of CyberPsychology, Training, and Rehabilitation and member of the steering committee of the Society for Computers in Psychology.

Conference organization

He is one of the organizer of the CyberTherapy and CyberPsychology Conference and of UbiHealth: The International Workshop on Ubiquitous Health and Wellness.

Editorial Board Membership

1) Editor for Europe

Cyberpsychology,  Behavior and Social Networking

This bimonthly peer-reviewed journal explores the impact of the Internet, multi-media and virtual reality on behavior and society. This journal is a "must read" for psychologists, psychiatrists, sociologists, educators, computer scientists, business executives and opinion-makers interested in the effects of interactive technologies.

Indexed by PsycInfo, DOAJ and Scopus.

2) Editor-in-Chief

Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine

This yearly peer-reviewed journal covers a wide variety of topics of interest to the mental health, neuroscience, and rehabilitation communities. Its mission is to provide systematic, periodic examinations of scholarly advances in the field of CyberTherapy and Telemedicine through original investigations in the telemedicine and cybertherapy areas, novel experimental clinical studies, and critical authoritative reviews.

Indexed by PsycInfo, DOAJ and Scopus.

3) Editor-in-Chief

PsychNology Journal

This quarterly peer-reviewed journal covers a wide variety of topics of interest on the relationship between humans and technology. The name 'PsychNology' emphasizes its multidisciplinary interest in all issues related to the human adoption and development of technologies.

Indexed by PsycInfo, DOAJ

Profile

Giuseppe Riva, Ph.D., is Full Professor (tenure position) of General Psychology and Communication Psychology at the Catholic University of Milan, Italy and Head Researcher of the the Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Laboratory - ATN-P Lab., Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Verbania Italy. In the ATN-P Lab. he conducted several researches and published many papers about methods and assessment tools in psychology and about the use of Virtual Reality and Internet in medicine and in training.

As a part of the Istituto Auxologico Italiano, the ATN-P Lab has started its activity in 1996. The Istituto Auxologico Italiano is one of the main Italian research sites, with three main hospitals located in northern Italy. Clinical activity and research are carried out together, by many indipendent laboratories, each with its peculiar field of interest. This activity is still being carried out, in support of Istituto Auxologico's activities.

ATN-P Lab, headed by Riva, focussed on the implicancies of psychological issues on Human-Computer Interaction, thus dealing with technology related problems, as well as with more general psychological topics.

In its first decade, Riva pioneered much of the applications that enabled the diffusion of Virtual Reality and Internet in the field of health care. Specifically, his research work led to the development of a new scientific discipline – Cyberpsychology - integrating innovative research ranging from usability, ergonomics, and cognitive science, to mobile devices and simulation apparatus.

In its second decade, Riva research work is focusing on the concepts of “presence” and “human adaptability” embedding the bits of the digital realm with the atoms of our physical world. This is producing expanded research in ambient intelligence, shared virtual world and “interreality” applications: the creation of an hybrid augmented experience merging physical and virtual worlds.

Specifically, the main contribution of Riva research work is related to the impact of mediated technologies on the user’s experience. Through the analysis of the cognitive processes involved in simulated realities Riva expanded the concept of “Presence” – the feeling of being there - originally developed by communication scholars.

The term “Presence” has referred to a widely reported sensation experienced during the use of virtual reality or other media. Riva modified this vision describing presence as a neuropsychological phenomenon, evolved from the interplay of our biological and cultural inheritance whose goal is to produce a strong sense of agency and control: Presence as the contact point between intentionality, perception and action. Riva just published as Guest Editor a Special Issue on Presence and Interaction for the ISI Scientific Journal “Interacting with Computers” (http://www.elsevierscitech.com/cfp/Presence_and_Interaction4.pdf)

He is also co-founder and co-chair of the Cybertherapy International Conference, to be held in conjunction with Medicine Meets Virtual Reality Conference. He has served on a European Committee tasked to investigate the use of Ambient Intelligence in health care and won the Honorable Mention (2nd position out of 117 projects) for the research theme “eHealth homecare and telemedicine tools and services for citizens“ at the eHealth Award 2004 (http://www.e-europeawards.org). His Lab received in 2005 and 2007 the Laval Virtual Award for the best world-wide virtual reality applications in the field of Medicine (2005) and Science (2007 - NeuroVR open source software - http://www.neurovr.org)

In 2007 Riva, has been awarded the 3rd Annual Cybertherapy Excellence in Research Award at the 2007 Cybertherapy conference . The conference, now in its 7th year serves as an international forum for physicians, computer scientists and educators to present research on data-centered solutions to health care problems. In the same year he received the "Best Paper Award" at the Virtual Rehabilitation Conference for his study of how the NeuroVR software can be used to develop a new breed of clinical and rehabilitative applications for health care.

In 2008 Riva received the Grand Challenge Presence Award from the PEACH – Presence Research in Action - IST FET Presence Support Action. Goal of the award was to identify long-term research challenges engaging the research communities in Human Cognition, Human-Machine Interaction and Machine Cognition around a focal problem leading to a major advancement in science and result in major positive social impact.

In 2023, he was awarded the Aristotle Prize by the European Federation of Psychologists’ Associations, the highest honour in European psychology for lifetime achievement. This prize was conferred at the European Congress of Psychology in Brighton in acknowledgment of Prof. Riva’s groundbreaking scientific work, his international leadership, and his substantial influence across multiple subfields of psychology. 

In 2025, the American Psychological Association honoured him with the Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology. This prestigious APA award recognises individuals who have significantly promoted the development of psychology as a global discipline, and Prof. Riva’s decades of innovative research in the field of cyberpsychology, cross-cultural collaborations, and mentorship of international scholars were specifically highlighted in his citation. These two accolades, one from Europe and one from the United States, underscore the worldwide esteem for Prof. Riva’s work.