From Thursday 27th November to Tuesday 9th December 2025, the Gorizia Campus library of the University of Trieste hosts the travelling exhibition The Garden of the (In)visibles, an international project that invites us to look at European borders as places of stories, passages and rights. 

The set-up stems from the collaboration between the University of Trieste and the Primorska University of Koper (Slovenia), which was launched as part of the Transform4Europe University Alliance: a joint work that exposes objects abandoned by people moving along the routes between Croatia, Slovenia and Italy and transforms them into traces of a shared European heritage.

The project takes the form of field research activities conducted jointly by professors, researchers and students of the two universities. The objects collected along the migratory paths are goods of daily use necessary for eating, sleeping, covering or caring, but also elements related to the intimate and spiritual sphere. Snatched away from the invisibility they are often surrounded by, these materials are recontextualised as ‘talking artifacts’: small physical elements that refer to identities, memories and belongings, opening a bridge between material heritage and intangible heritage, between what remains and the lives that have gone through it.

‘Ourtask as a university, as researchers, as students is above all to stimulate social but also political reflection on what is happening at European borders, not only in our own country, with regard to migratory mobility,’ emphasises Professor Roberta Altin, UniTS Rector’s Delegate for Development Cooperation and scientific coordinator of the exhibition. 

The Garden of the (In)visibles not only exhibitssome objects, but questions visitors and institutions about the materiality of a phenomenon that might remain abstract and calls for a responsible look at what is happening at Europe’s borders.

Conceived as T4E’s Common Cultural Activity of Work Package 7 (Common Heritage & Multilingualism), the exhibition is an evolving project that, step by step, is enriched with local contributions, artistic installations, oral stories and moments of public debate. After its debut at the University of Saarland, the exhibition will cover a total of seven out of ten T4E universities, including Italy, Slovenia, Germany, Portugal, Bulgaria, Spain and Poland. The Gorizia stage has a particularly symbolic value because it brings the project back to the border from which it started, rooting the European dialogue in the territory that inspired it.

The opening is scheduled for Thursday 27th November at 17:00 in the Gorizia Campus library of the University of Trieste (via Alviano 18, first floor). Prof. Roberta Altin from UniTS, Prof. Katja Hrobat Virloget from Primorska University, Prof. Jure Gombač from the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and Giuseppe Grimaldi of the University of Trieste. The event will also be actively attended by students from UniTS, UP and Collegio Fonda; The ‘Fonda for Others’ working group will gather visitors’ impressions and reflections during the visit.

The exhibition will be open and freely accessible until 9th December 2025. The library will be open from Monday to Thursday from 9:00 to 18.30 and on Fridays from 9:00 to 13:00; the venue will be closed on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

The exhibition will end with a T4EU International Conference entitled ‘Standing up for Higher Education in Times of Global Crises’, scheduled for Tuesday 9th December 2025 at 15:00 in the Main Hall of the Gorizia Campus (via Alviano 18).

For information about the project and the exhibition: t4eu.heritage@units.it.

Speaking at the TOP500 Companies event, organized by NEM – Nord Est Multimedia in the Oceania Hall of the Stazione Marittima, Rector Donata Vianelli highlighted the University's strategic role in the growth of the region, emphasizing that UniTS's trajectory is increasingly linked to the development of the context in which it operates. She also commented on the University's encouraging enrollment figures.

"This year, we are seeing an impressive double-digit growth of 13% in our three-year and single-cycle master's degrees," a figure set to increase "probably to 15%" once medical-area enrollments are completed after the filter semester.

Facing the future challenges of demographic winter, the role of the territory and the dialogue we can establish with companies and institutions become crucial for a university like ours. Vianelli observed that growth will be possible because "the territory is becoming more attractive: the University of Trieste is growing together with Trieste, a city profoundly changed from the past," now more open, international, and eligible as an ideal place to study, work, and live.

However, growth is not just a matter of numbers: "It is not a journey we can manage without a vision, without a strategy, without actions that lead us to growth." For over ten years, the University has been working on attractiveness, aiming to bring young people to Trieste from all over Italy and, increasingly, from abroad.

One of the pillars of this shared growth is the relationship with the business community: in this regard, the Rector cited the work started in 2013 on job placement, building a structured dialogue with companies. There are businesses that "wait for our graduate when needed" and often do not find them, while others "activate a continuous dialogue with the university" and undertake genuine talent acquisition, involving students as early as their bachelor's or master's degrees. This approach helps create value for companies, for the University, and for Trieste in terms of reputation and ability to attract talent.

Within this framework, Vianelli recalled the recently released results on UniTS graduate employment rates, with the University of Trieste being first in Italy in several disciplinary areas, including engineering, architecture, economics, and the pharmaceutical-healthcare sector, and also ranking high in the legal area.

Collaboration with the business world starts with the design of educational offerings through the involvement of company representatives in the stages of establishing and reviewing degree programs. This allows the University to read labor market trends, identify emerging skills, and continuously update teaching activities, ensuring constant adaptation to the needs of the working world.

Alongside placement, entrepreneurial training is an important chapter: Vianelli mentioned the experience of the Innovators Community Lab, the University's laboratory where interdisciplinary groups of students develop business ideas and are supported in defining the project and the business plan, with the backing of external entrepreneurs and professionals.

In her speech, the Rector also addressed the issue of young people's salaries and mobility abroad, where better-paid positions are offered. This is a matter concerning national economic policies and the tax framework, but one which the region can influence by making the living and working environment more attractive to encourage the return of highly qualified profiles.

Vianelli linked this reasoning to the issue of the demographic emergency: universities and businesses are called to devise long-term strategies for investing in human capital and attracting students from Italy and abroad.

A significant point was dedicated to the phenomenon of university dropout. In Italy, the Rector recalled, about a quarter of students abandon their studies, with peaks exceeding 30% in some degree courses. A dropout represents a "failure" for the people involved and for the university, as it can translate into a loss of motivation and a higher risk of unemployment. For this reason, she explained, it is not enough to simply "promote" the University to get enrollments, but constant support must be provided to students, and choices far removed from their aptitudes and passions should be advised against.

In this perspective, the Rector valued the role of the ITS (Higher Technical Institutes) in Friuli Venezia Giulia as partners in building an integrated educational system. The collaboration focuses on two main axes: joint orientation, to guide young people toward the most suitable path, and the exchange of competencies, involving UniTS lecturers in ITS teaching and the use of ITS labs for shared educational activities.

"We can achieve great results by making the entire education system and the productive system collaborate," she concluded.

Researchers from the ArQuS Laboratory at the University of Trieste managed to trap and photograph individual ytterbium atoms for the first time in Italy. They extended imaging techniques to new regimens: by observing the light emitted with a microscope, the researchers were able to clearly distinguish each individual atom and accurately count the number contained in a single trap, a capability lacking in existing techniques, where measurements were so far limited to distinguishing only between zero and an atom.  

The results, published in the two prestigious international journals Quantum Science Technology and Physical Review Letters, offer important perspectives for the development of sciences and technologies based on quantum bits (or qubits), such as computers and quantum clocks: The ability to observe every single atom with great precision is, in fact, a fundamental element for the realisation of a system of atomic qubits.  

Francesco Scazza, associate professor of Physics of Matter at the University of Trieste and head of the ArQuS Laboratory, explains: ‘To photograph very dim light sources, such as celestial bodies or, indeed, individual atoms, long exposures are usually used in order to collect a fairly large signal (i.e. a large number of photons) and to be able to distinguish the objects photographed from the background. In our work we have used an alternative approach, similar to using a camera flash: by illuminating the atoms with a lot of light for a very short period of time, it is possible to obtain a signal sufficient to distinguish each atom very clearly, reducing the duration of the detection without compromising its performance.’ 

In the technique devised by the ArQuS Laboratory, the atoms, cooled to almost absolute zero (-273 °C) by a laser light and then captured in ‘optical tweezers’ are illuminated with a second laser, of which they absorb and re-emit part of the light thanks to the fluorescence phenomenon.  

Omar Abdel Karim, a researcher at the ArQuS Laboratory, explains: ‘One of the main challenges in observing individual atoms is not losing atoms during image acquisition. Because of the absorption and re-emission of light, atoms acquire energy and can escape the trap. We were able to compensate for this effect by using an additional laser to cool the atoms during the image’. 
 
This solution is based on a delicate balance between the fluorescence light and the cooling light to ensure that the atoms remain trapped, allowing them to clearly distinguish their presence and reuse them for subsequent experiments. Another important element of the measurements conducted is the speed of execution.  

Alessandro Muzi Falconi, researcher at the ArQuS Laboratory, comments: ‘In recent years, one of the industry’s goals has been to develop imaging techniques that can observe atoms faster and faster, and possibly without losing them during imaging. Thanks to a technique based on short and intense fluorescence pulses, we were able to observe the atoms, without inducing losses, in a few millionths of a second, about a thousand times faster than the typical acquisition times. Our technique is based on the fact that atoms acquire energy during the image, but not enough to escape from optical traps. In addition, by means of fast cooling pulses we can remove the excess energy after the image, and repeat the observation of the same atoms for dozens of images in succession’. 

Another important result of the research group is the first observation of individual atoms of the element ytterbium-173, a particular isotope (atom of an element that has different mass numbers and therefore different atomic mass) charactersed by six internal states at its fundamental level, which would allow the development of quantum circuits based on qudits and no longer just qubits, storing and exchanging information more efficiently.  

The ArQuS Laboratory was born in 2022 from a collaboration between the University of Trieste and the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and thanks to an ERC Starting Grant of €1.4 million granted by the European Commission. 

***************************

Comprehensive study published in Quantum Science Technology 

Single-atom imaging of 173Yb in optical tweezers loaded by a five-beam magneto-optical trap 

O. Abdel Karim1,2,4, A. Muzi Falconi3,4, R. Panza3,1, W. Liu1,5 and F. Scazza3,1,∗ 

1. National Institute of Optics of the National Research Council (CNR-INO), 34149 Trieste, Italy 
2. Department of Physics, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy 
3. Department of Physics, University of Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy 
4. These authors contributed equally to this work. 
5. Present address: Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, People’s Republic of China. 

∗ Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. 

Comprehensive study published in Physical Review Letters 

Microsecond-Scale High-Survival and Number-Resolved Detection of Ytterbium Atom Arrays 

A. Muzi Falconi1, R. Panza1,2, S. Sbernardori1,2, R. Forti1,3, R. Klemt4, O. Abdel Karim2, M. Marinelli1,5, and F. Scazza1,2,* 

1. Department of Physics, University of Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy 
2. National Institute of Optics of the National Research Council (CNR-INO), 34149 Trieste, Italy 
3. Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., 34149 Trieste, Italy 
4. Physikalisches Institut and Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology, Universität Stuttgart, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany 
5. Institute of materials of the National Research Council (CNR-IOM), 34149 Trieste, Italy 

*Contact author: francesco.scazza@units.it 

From 25th to 28th November 2025, Trieste and Gorizia will host the advanced course ‘Challenges and Perspectives of Science Diplomacy in Central, Eastern and South‑Eastern Europe’, dedicated to an increasingly central theme in the dialogue between science, public policy and international relations.

The initiative, promoted by the Executive Secretariat of the Central European Initiative (CEI) and the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, is co-organised by UniTS Department of Political and Social Sciences (DiSPeS), as part of the joint InCE‑FVG 2024‑2025 work programme. The project is supported by Area Science Park and Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, in collaboration with the Science and Innovation System of the FVG and the EU Science Diplomacy Alliance.

The course is part of a particularly dynamic international context: in 2025, UNESCO launched the first Global Dialogue on Scientific Diplomacy and, at European level, an EU Council Recommendation for the adoption of a European Framework for Scientific Diplomacy is expected by March 2026. In this context, Trieste and Friuli Venezia Giulia strengthen their role as a platform for scientific cooperation and advanced training towards the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Skills and competences for a strategic region

Scientific diplomacy is now a concrete lever to tackle challenges that go beyond national borders – from research security to energy transitions, from environmental sustainability to the protection of cultural heritage – by translating knowledge into cooperation and evidence-based decisions. The course was created to address the limited focus so far on the topic in the CESEE (Central,Eastern and South‑Eastern Europe) area, which is strategic for the future of Europe and particularly exposed to geopolitical, demographic and technological transformations.

As Professor Simone Arnaldi from UniTS Department of Political and Social Sciences points out, the University’s participation is part of a long-lasting collaboration with the Central European Initiative and the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region: ‘In the context of this collaboration and in line with its vocation, UniTS focuses on training in the field of scientific diplomacy, both through the analysis of training needs and in the design and implementation of courses and seminars at the intersection of science, public policy and international relations. The aim is to disseminate among researchers, diplomats and public and private decision-makers the knowledge and skills necessary to promote scientific cooperation and, through this, international dialogue and collaboration on the major challenges facing our societies.’ 

International participants and faculty of the FVG science system
26 participants were selected through an international call from 11 CEI member countries (Italy, Slovenia, Romania, Albania, Serbia, Poland, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Hungary, North Macedonia, Moldova). The classroom group is multidisciplinary and includes diplomats, public officials, researchers, scientific leaders, private sector professionals, journalists and NGO operators, international relations students.

The faculty brings together experts from the University of Trieste and the main scientific and international institutions active in the area, including ICTP, TWAS, ICGEB, OWSD, OGS, University of Udine, Elettra, Area Science Park, as well as representatives of the European Commission, MAECI, CNR and other partners.

A program divided into lectures, workshops and visits
The course includes 17 taught modules, three interactive workshops, discussions with participants and a study visit to the research infrastructures of the SIS FVG system, with a focus on the role that large laboratories and technology platforms can play in international cooperation. The days will address the fundamentals of scientific diplomacy and its evolution in the European and global context, the skills required of new ‘scientific diplomats’, the thematic perspectives (Agenda 2030, research security, sustainable agriculture, energy, disasters and resilience) and a concluding round table dedicated to the Italian perspective on scientific diplomacy for Eastern and South-Eastern‑Europe.

26th November in Gorizia, in the historical premises of diplomatic sciences
The course takes place on an itinerant basis in the partners’ premises and took place on Wednesday 26th November in UniTS Gorizia Campus. The choice of the Gorizia Campus enhances the vocation of the city and its academic history, which for years has been a national reference for training in diplomatic and international sciences. Hosting a day dedicated to scientific diplomacy here means linking a consolidated patrimony of studies and skills with an emerging field, today decisive for foreign policy and regional cooperation.

With this course, UniTS confirms its commitment to international training and the building of scientific partnerships in the CESEE area, helping to make Trieste and Friuli Venezia Giulia a European hub of expertise on scientific diplomacy aimed, in particular, at Western Balkans and Eastern Europe countries in the process of entering the EU.

A delegation of representatives from the six of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) – TWAS Centres of Excellence https://twas.org/cas-twas-centres-excellence visited UniTS, where they were welcomed by Rector Donata Vianelli, her Delegate for International, Elisabetta De Giorgi, Vice-Rector for Research Paolo Fornasiero, Head of the MIGE Department and Prof. Stefano Di Bella of the Department of Medicine. The delegation was accompanied by Prof. Knobel, Executive Director of TWAS.

The CAS-TWAS CoEs represent an important opportunity for researchers to develop their activity in the laboratories of excellence located in Beijing.

In addition to discussing future goals and possible extensions of their ongoing projects, the delegation was able to learn about the reality and opportunities offered by the University of Trieste and the SiS FVG network.

These are the 16 members of the delegation visiting Trieste:

Dongyao WANG, Deputy Director Division of International Organization Programs, Bureau of International Cooperation, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Zhaohui LIN, Professor & Director CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Climate and Environmental Sciences (ICCES), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Xiaodong ZENG, Professor & Deputy Director, TWAS Young Affiliate Alumni, CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Climate and Environmental Sciences (ICCES), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Chenglai WU, Professor TWAS Young Affiliate, CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Climate and Environmental Sciences (ICCES), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Bo HAO, Program Officer for International Cooperation, CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Climate and Environmental Sciences (ICCES), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Chunshan LI, Professor & Director, TWAS Young Affiliate Alumni, The CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Green Technology (CEGT), Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Yang ZHOU, Program Officer for International Cooperation, The CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Green Technology (CEGT), Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Yanping ZHANG, Professor & Director CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Biotechnology (CoEBio), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Liu HE, Program Officer for International Cooperation, CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Biotechnology (CoEBio), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Likui Wang, Associate Professor CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Emerging Infectious Disease (CEEID), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Science

Wang Liang, Associate Professor CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Emerging Infectious Disease (CEEID), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Qihui Wang, Professor CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Emerging Infectious Disease (CEEID)

Deputy Director of the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Fang CHEN, Professor & Director Co-Chair of TWAS Young Affiliates Network, CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Space Technology for Disaster Mitigation (SDIM), Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Lei WANG, Professor CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Space Technology for Disaster Mitigation (SDIM), Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Baiwen Ma, Professor & Director CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Water and Environment (CEWE), Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Jiaoqi Huyan, Program Officer CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Water and Environment (CEWE), Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Friuli Venezia Giulia now has its first specialists in Pharmacology and Clinical Toxicology. Today (Friday 21st November), the final exams of the first course of the School of Specialisation in Pharmacology and Clinical Toxicology at the University of Trieste, promoted in collaboration with the Research Hospital Burlo Garofolo, in partnership with the Pharmacology departments of the Research Hospital and Oncological Reference Centre (CRO) of Aviano, and the local health authorities AsuFc and AsuGi.

This is one of the most prestigious training courses in contemporary pharmacology, at the crossroads between clinical research, drug governance, therapy safety and therapeutic innovation. The specialisation in Pharmacology and Clinical Toxicology qualifies graduates to carry out professional activities in areas crucial to modern healthcare: therapeutic drug monitoring, pharmacogenetics, pharmacovigilance, pharmacoeconomics, clinical trials, appropriate prescriptions, therapeutic innovation management and related clinical and care activities.

The course is open to graduates in Medicine, but also in Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Biology and other scientific degrees; it is also equivalent to the specialisation in Hospital Pharmacy.

At the end of the exams, the Examination Board – composed of Professors Marianna Lucafò and Raffaella Franca of the University of Trieste, Dr Erika Cecchin of the Oncological Reference Centre in Aviano, Professor Massimo Baraldo of the University of Udine and AsuFc, and chaired by Professor Gabriele Stocco of the University of Trieste and Burlo, who is also the director of the specialisation school – announced the first four specialists trained in our region.

The creation of this specialisation school, strongly supported by Professor Giuliana Decorti and Dr Anna Arbo, who heads the Pharmacy Department at Burlo, represents a significant step forward at a time when the role of the clinical pharmacologist is increasingly central to drug policy and the sustainability of regional and national health systems.

'This is an important milestone for the Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health Sciences (DSM) at the University of Trieste, the result of the University's policy of investing in the growth of the number of specialisation schools, in order to provide the regional healthcare system with key professionals trained in our region,' said Luigi Murena, head of the DSM Department

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, observed on 25 November, the Comitato Unico di Garanzia (CUG) of the University of Trieste is promoting a Focus Week aimed at engaging both the university community and the general public. The initiative seeks to explore the phenomenon from different perspectives and to offer tools to understand it, provide training, and raise awareness.

According to data from the Department of Public Security of the Italian Ministry of the Interior, in the first half of 2025 there was an increase in murders committed by a partner or former partner: compared with the same period in 2024, cases rose from 33 to 40 (+21%). The number of female victims also increased from 28 to 34 (+21%).

This means that, among all murders occurring within family or intimate relationships, 67% of victims are women, and of these, 85% are killed by a partner or former partner. The figures therefore highlight how women are most at risk of violence precisely in contexts where they should feel safest and most protected.

“The Focus Week ‘Knowing, training and informing to end violence against women’,” explains Prof. Maria Dolores Ferrara, Chair of the University’s CUG, “is designed first and foremost for young people such as university students. Through a series of seminars, professors from the University of Trieste’s departments will address issues related to violence against women, gender stereotypes and inequalities.”

As in previous years, several university classrooms will host the Posto Occupato initiative. By symbolically reserving empty seats, the project commemorates all women who were victims of violence—women who, before being killed by a husband, former partner or lover, once occupied a seat in a theatre, on a tram, at school, at university and, more broadly, in society.

In cooperation with other local organisations and institutions, the University’s CUG is also promoting a calendar of awareness‑raising events open to the public, including the following:

Ending violence against women and domestic violence: legislation and field work
Meeting organised by Soroptimist Trieste
25 November 2025, 6.00 pm, Stazione Rogers, Riva Grumula 14

Gender‑based violence between law and lived reality
Natalina Folla and Patrizia Romito, former UniTS professors, interview Paola Di Nicola Travaglini, Justice at the Court of Cassation
16 December 2025, 3.00 pm, Aula Magna, Building A, Piazzale Europa Campus

Notes of light: women’s memories
Concert in memory of femicide victims by the University of Trieste Choir and the Student Council
16 December 2025, 6.00 pm, Aula Magna, Building A, Piazzale Europa Campus

The programme also includes a listening point run by the GOAP Anti‑Violence Centre, which will be available on Thursday 27 November from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm in Building B of the Piazzale Europa Campus.

From 24 to 28 November, the entrance hall of the right wing of Building A will host the exhibition “What Were You Wearing? Toward a Positive Manifesto,” promoted by the Trieste Women’s Council. The display presents clothing worn and excerpts from court statements given by women who have experienced violence. It offers a reflection on misguided interpretations that, in public debate or in investigative settings, may place undue emphasis on clothing and generate forms of secondary victimisation. The exhibition is complemented by QR codes for further information and by a notebook open to visitors’ contributions, inviting them to leave thoughts or proposals for shared action to counter violence. The collected materials will feed into a forward‑looking manifesto, to be presented in March 2026.

To express solidarity with women who are victims of violence and to reaffirm its commitment to raising awareness among young people and the wider community, on Tuesday 25 November the University of Trieste will light the façade of Building A in red.

For information on how to take part in the scheduled activities, please write to: presidenza.comitato.garanzia@units.it

FULL PROGRAMME OF INITIATIVES 

The Silver Plaque for the ‘Chini Memorial Lecture 2025’ was awarded to Paolo Fornasiero, professor in the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Vice-Rector for Research at UniTS, for his ‘fundamental contribution to the study of the relationships between the structure and properties of inorganic materials and their impact on energy and heterogeneous catalysis’.

The award was presented in Pisa during the 23rd National Congress of the Industrial Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society.

Previous award winners include Nobel Prize winners Jean-Marie Lehn (Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France), Ernst Otto Fischer (Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany) and Geoffrey Wilkinson (Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, UK).

At the congress, Paolo Fornasiero presented a plenary lecture entitled “The criticality of metal particle size speciation in sustainable catalysis”.

The Precious Papers exhibition promoted by the University Museum Services of the University of Trieste (SmaTS) will start on Thursday 13th November at Stazione Rogers at 18:00.  The initiative, carried out as part of the agreement between Stazione Rogers and the University of Trieste, will propose five weekly meetings until11th December to discover treasures from the libraries of the University Library Services and works of art from the collection of the University Museum Services.

The exhibition will start with a speech by Cristina Cocever and Elisa Zilli, librarians of the University of Trieste, who will present the book Keika Zuan, by Keika Hasegawa, an important Japanese artist of the nineteenth century, belonging to the Library of the Institute for the Promotion of Small Enterprises in Trieste.

The second event will be held by Maria Rosa Mezzi, a librarian at the University of Trieste, and Zeno Saracino, a historian and journalist, who will talk about the Library of the German Gymnasium in Trieste, using Michelangelo Rustia’s 1864 Schiarimenti sull’arte della ginnastica con un avviamento agli esercizi elementari (handbook on the physical education as an art starting from basic exercises).

The following week it will be the turn of Rossella Fabiani, art historian, who, together with Cristina Cocever, will illustrate the drawing book by Sant’Antonio Nuovo di Pietro Nobile kept by the Writers’ Archive of the University of Trieste.

Walter Gerbino, professor at the University of Trieste, will focus on the graphic and pictorial works of Gaetano Kanizsa in the collections of the University Museum Services.

At the end of the exhibition, Massimo De Grassi, a professor at the University of Trieste, and Serena Paganini, an art historian, will present the fund of the artist Dino Predonzani, donated by his heirs to the University of Trieste.

Free entry

PROGRAMME

Thursday 13 November, 6 p.m.

‘The library of the Institute for the Promotion of Small Enterprises and its treasures’

Cristina Cocever and Elisa Zilli  

Thursday 20 November, 6 p.m.

‘Ding physical education in 19th-century Trieste: between SGT and German Gymnasium’

Maria Rosa Mezzi, Zeno Saracino

Thursday 27 November, 6 p.m.

‘The drawing book by Sant’Antonio Nuovo di Pietro Nobile in the Fonda Savio Archive’

Rossella Fabiani, Cristina Cocever

Thursday 4 December, 6 p.m.

‘Gaetano Kanizsa and the practice of self-organisation’

Walter Gerbino

Thursday 11 December, 6 p.m.

‘The Predonzani donation to the University of Trieste’

Massimo Degrassi, Serena Paganini

The number of newly enrolled students in bachelor’s and integrated master’s degrees at the University of Trieste has grown by more than 13%, with 4,441 students enrolling this year, compared to 3,920 last year. These numbers confirm that the University is attracting more students than ever. 

Moreover, the figures do not include students who have enrolled in the so-called ‘filter semester’ for access to medicine and dentistry courses. Any students who are not awarded one of the 240 places available will still be able to register for related degree courses on offer at UniTS. Degree courses leading to health professions have also had a high number of enrolments, filling almost all the places on offer. 

‘In addition to the excellent work carried out in Italy and abroad by our Prospective Student Support Office, this fantastic result also comes down to the excellence and innovation of our course catalogue and the extraordinary employment rate of our master’s graduates, which also naturally has an effect on the bachelor’s degree courses, as master’s degree courses are their natural completion,’ points out Rector Donata Vianelli, recalling the recent UniTS success in the Talents Venture Observatory analysis of 2024/2025 AlmaLaurea data.

Here are some of this academic year’s macro trends. 

The bachelor’s or integrated master’s degree courses with the most enrolments are: Physics, Industrial Engineering, Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics, Law, International Relations and Diplomatic Sciences, Political and Administrative Sciences, Psychology, History and Philosophy, International Economics and Financial Markets and Education. The Business Administration and Management course has been exceptionally popular with 583 students and a high growth rate compared to last year. 

The university maintains its predominance of women students. The courses which had more female than male enrolments are: Architecture, Mathematics, Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Medical and Diagnostic Biotechnologies, Neuroscience, Business Administration and Management, Marketing and Management, Interlinguistic Communication, Law, International Relations and Diplomatic Sciences, Political and Administrative Sciences, Psychology and Education. Female enrolments are also growing in STEM degrees (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), thanks in part to the outreach initiatives organised with the science-degrees project (Progetto Lauree Scientifiche – PLS).

The University of Trieste is also attracting more students from abroad, with 875 international students enrolling to bachelor’s degree courses, compared to 700 last year. The most represented communities are Iran, Turkey, Pakistan and Tunisia.

The most represented Italian regions outside FVG are Veneto, Puglia, Lombardy and Sicily.

Enrolments for bachelor’s degrees are now closed, but there is still time to enrol to a master’s degree course. There are various registration deadlines between December 2025 and March 2026. https://portale.units.it/en/study/degree-courses/masters-degrees