Gianfranco Ferraro is born in Messina, Italy. His current research focuses on forms of conversion, approached through several points of observation (philosophical, literary, theological, political), particularly through the approach of Michel Foucault and Pierre Hadot. On the topic he wrote several essays particularly concerning Foucault, Nietzsche, the history of utopian thought, and is also working on a theorical volume.

He is currently coordinating the Research thematic line on “Conversion, education and global pedagogical utopias” at the Center for Global Studies at the Universidade Aberta (Lisbon, Portugal), where he is also a PhD Candidate on Global Studies with a research project on the ancient roots and the modern influence of Ignatius of Loyola’s “Spiritual exercises”.

Previously, he studied Philosophy in Italy (Pisa) and France (EPHE, Paris), where he obtained his PhD in Philosophy with a thesis on the notion of asceticism in Nietzsche, Weber and Foucault.

He is founder and editorial director of the international journal Thomas Project: A Border Journal for Utopian Thoughts. He co-edited (with Marta Faustino) the book The Late Foucault. Ethical and Political Questions (Bloomsbury: London-New York, 2020) and (with António Caeiro) the book Formas de conversão. Filosofia, política, espiritualidade (Abysmo: Lisboa, 2023). He is coordinating (with José Eduardo Franco) a Global history of Utopias. He also translated into Italian modern and contemporary works of utopian tradition.