Discussions around public engagement and social responsibility

The series of in-depth meetings on Public and Social Engagement - Third Mission of the University of Trieste continues. The next meeting will be held on the campus in Piazzale Europa on Thursday, March 21, 2024 from 3 to 5 p.m. (Bachelet Lecture Hall, Central Campus Building, second floor). The meeting, titled "Why call it third? The mission of knowledge exchange and collaboration between universities and society", will feature Fulvio Esposito, contact person for the Inequality and Diversity Forum.

Fulvio Esposito has worked in a variety of roles throughout his career. He was Head of the Technical Secretariat of the Ministers for Education, Universities and Research, represented Italy in the OECD's Science and Technology Policy Committee (Paris), and coordinated the MUR Working Group on the ‘Role of universities in combating social, economic and territorial inequalities’ with Fabrizio Barca. On 21 March, he will ask whether it still makes sense to distinguish public engagement and social responsibility (the so-called ‘third mission’ activities) from teaching and research? Esposito will also highlight how perspectives have changed around enhancing knowledge generated by universities, with particular reference to the Research Quality Assessment (VQR) 2020-2024.

The initiative is addressed to teaching and research staff, technical-administrative staff, all students at the University, as well as external researchers and other organisations that have collaborated with the University of Trieste around these issues.

The following discussion in the Public Engagement and Social Responsibility series is scheduled for Thursday 16 May. The speaker on this occasion will be Francesca Spigarelli, Professor of Applied Economics, former Deputy Rector for the ‘Third Mission’ at the University of Macerata, with a presentation entitled: ‘Beyond technology transfer: enhancing social impact and human and social sciences’.

To sign up for the discussion on 21 March, please write by Monday 18 March to: divulgazione.scientifica@units.it