The University of Trieste, with Prof. Claudia Cherubini, is the only Italian university invited to take part in the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) ‘Governance Day - Inclusive, equitable, and responsible land governance for awareness raising, legal and policy frameworks, partnership building and resource mobilisation.’ of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 2nd to 13th December 2024 on the theme ‘Our Earth. Our Future'.

The UN Convention to Combat Desertification is the global reference for soil protection and one of the three major UN conventions together with those on climate and biodiversity. In this context, the COP is the annual summit of countries that have ratified the Convention, as well as the main decision-making body of the UNCCD.

Specifically, the UNCCD COP16 will be an important opportunity to strengthen global commitment and accelerate action to make land and communities more resilient to drought. Coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the UNCCD, COP16 will also be the largest UN conference ever held and the first UNCCD COP to take place in the Middle East and North Africa region, which is intimately familiar with the impacts of desertification, land degradation and drought.

Claudia Cherubini is Associate Professor at the University of Trieste, Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland (Australia) and Adjunct Professor at the National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics (OGS). With a degree and PhD in Civil Hydraulic Engineering and a fluent knowledge of four foreign languages, she has collaborated on research projects at the Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum der Universität Göttingen, the US Geological Survey and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She has held tenured positions at several universities in France, the UK and Australia. During her career, she has received numerous awards, including the Division Outstanding Young Scientists Award at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) and the XXIII edition of the Marisa Bellisario Prize in the category ‘Young Researchers and Innovation Talents.’ She has served as referee of the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR) (France) and has been referee of the US Department of Defense for several years.

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, which falls on 25th November, the Equal Opportunities Committee (CUG) of the University of Trieste is promoting a Focus Week to involve the university community and citizenship, with the aim of investigating the phenomenon from different perspectives and offering tools to know, train and inform.

According to the data of the Department of Public Security of the Ministry of the Interior in the first half of 2024, out of the total number of murders, 65% of the victims are men, but focusing the analysis on murders occurring in the family/relational sphere, the figure is reversed, since 65% of the victims are women; of these, 85% are at the hands of their partner or ex-partner.

The invitation to all women is not to underestimate any sign of psychological, economic or physical violence of which they are victims and to ask for help to get out of the condition of isolation and subjection in which they find themselves.

The young and very young are unfortunately involved in this phenomenon: the age of those who commit violence is low and a dramatic example of this is the case of group sexual violence, in which, in 2023, 65% of the alleged perpetrators were under 35 years of age: of these, about 25% were minors (14-17 years old), while a further 50% were in the still young 18-24 age bracket.

The Know, Train and Inform to Eliminate Violence Against Women Focus Week therefore intends to address young people such as university students at an early stage. Professors and lecturers from the University of Trieste's departments will explore themes such as violence against women, stereotypes, and inequalities during seminars. Once again this year, they will host the Seat Taken (Posto Occupato) initiative in UniTS classrooms, reaffirming the University's commitment to this cause.

‘Seat Taken’ symbolizes the remembrance of women who were victims of violence. Through the symbolic occupation of seats in lecture halls, it honours the memory of women who, before being killed by a husband, ex-partner, or lover, once occupied a seat in theatres, on trams, in schools, universities, and throughout society.

The Equal Opportunities Committee of the University of Trieste also promotes, in cooperation with other bodies and institutions in the area, a calendar of awareness-raising initiatives aimed at citizens, including

Stopping violence against women. Slovenia and Italy: comparing experiences

25th November 2024 at 11:00, Androna Baciocchi, Room B.

Speakers: 

Anna Campanile, VoceDonna Anti-Violence Centre, Pordenone, 

Delfina Di Stefano, Trieste Police Headquarters, 

Natalina Folla, University of Trieste, 

Jasna Podreka, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Patrizia Romito, University of Trieste

What ‘genre’ of violence?

27th November 2024 at 10:00, Bachelet Room, Building A, Piazzale Europa Campus.

Informative meeting for the student body organised in collaboration with the Student Council of the University of Trieste. 

Speakers:

Imma Tromba, President of the GOAP Anti-Violence Centre of Trieste

Francesca Pidone, counsellor at the University of Trieste. 

Introduced and coordinated by Maria Dolores Ferrara, President of the Equal Opportunities Committee of the University of Trieste

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

The University of Trieste, in order to express its solidarity with women victims of violence and to testify its commitment to raising awareness among young people and citizens on these issues, will illuminate the façade of Building A in red on Monday 25th November.

FULL PROGRAMME OF INITIATIVES

From 25th to 30th November Vitiligo Week, an initiative promoted by SIDeMaST to raise awareness and support people affected by this disease, will be held throughout Italy. During the week more than a thousand free consultations will be available in 40 dermatological centres in Italy, including the Dermatology Clinic and STD Centres of the University of Trieste and local healthcare provider ASUGI. 

In Trieste the consultations will be held on 26th and 28th November from 9:00 to 11:00 in the outpatient clinics of the Dermatology Clinic and STD Centres of the Ospedale Maggiore, Palazzina Infettivi, 4th floor. 

To book a free visit during Vitiligo Week, please contact the freephone number 800226466, open Monday to Saturday, from 9:00 to 13:00 and 14:00 to 18:00.

Professor Iris Zalaudek, Professor of Cutaneous and Venereal Diseases at UniTS and Director of the Dermatological Clinic and STD Centres, emphasises the importance of the initiative: ‘Vitiligo is a chronic, non-infectious skin disease characterised by white patches often located on visible areas such as the face or hands. The very visibility of the disease often causes feelings of stigmatisation, shame, depression, anxiety or social withdrawal in sufferers. As a university centre, we are very pleased to join this initiative, promoted by SIDeMaST and APIAFCO, to ensure that people affected by vitiligo in our region have access to a free, simple and quick dermatological consultation with the aim of informing them about the various consolidated treatment options and the new treatments recently approved in Italy’. 

The initiative, sponsored by the Patients’ Association APIAFCO (Italian Psoriatic Patients Association Friends of the Corazza Foundation) and supported by Sintesi Education with the contribution of Incyte, was created with the aim of offering concrete support to patients and combating misinformation on vitiligo. ‘Vitiligo is a chronic autoimmune disease, often associated with other disorders such as thyroid dysfunction, diabetes mellitus and alopecia areata. It is essential that patients meet with a dermatologist to understand their condition and discuss how best to manage it, especially now that research has opened up new therapeutic possibilities,' says Giuseppe Argenziano, President of SIDeMaST. 

About 330,000 people in Italy live with vitiligo. 

APIAFCO has long been committed to the fight against stigma and misinformation: 'Vitiligo forces sufferers to constantly challenge their ability to accept themselves. It often induces insecurity, closure, anxiety and depression. Talking to a specialist is essential to support patients in a conscious management of their condition and, above all, to fight misinformation,' explains Valeria Corazza, President of APIAFCO. 

Once again this year, the University of Trieste will participate in World Diabetes Day, which is celebrated on 14th November, by lighting its façade blue. The theme chosen for 2024 is ‘Diabetes and Wellbeing’, which emphasises the importance of a holistic approach to health that is not limited to glycaemic control, but also includes improving patients' physical and mental wellbeing. 

World Diabetes Day was established in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in response to the rising number of diabetes cases worldwide. The choice of 14th November is not random: it is the anniversary of the birth of Fredrick Grant Banting, the Canadian physiologist who, together with his colleague Charles Best, discovered insulin in 1921, revolutionising the treatment of the disease. 

Diabetes is one of the major health emergencies of the 21st century. According to IDF estimates, in 2021, more than 530 million people between the ages of 20 and 79 years were living with diabetes globally, a figure that could rise to 783 million by 2045 if preventative action and awareness are not taken. In Europe, the number of people with diabetes exceeds 62 million, and is also growing among children and adolescents due to poor dietary habits and lack of physical activity. 

In Italy, according to ISTAT data, more than 4 million people are affected by diabetes, equal to about 6% of the population. Type 2 diabetes, often associated with risk factors such as obesity and a sedentary lifestyle, accounts for 90 per cent of cases, while type 1 diabetes, of autoimmune origin, is less frequent but constantly increasing among young people. 

By lighting up its historic main building in blue, UniTS wants to remind people of the importance of collective action in the fight against diabetes and reaffirm its commitment to scientific research and public awareness.

UniTS has never registered such a high number of students for its bachelor's degrees: 3,920 students have started the 2024-2025 academic year.

Numbers that testify to a growth of 15% compared to last year and 40% compared to pre-pandemic (2019-2020).

And it is still possible to enrol in History and Philosophy, Humanities and Foreign Languages, and Literature by 11th November, in Political and Administrative Sciences by 30th November.

The University confirms its ‘pink’ status with 60% of women among those enrolled in the bachelor's degree programmes. In detail, the courses with the largest increase in the female proportion are the degrees in Physics, Chemistry, Statistics and Computer Science for Business, Finance and Insurance, Political and Administrative Sciences, Humanities and Education.

Female students are in the majority in all degree courses in the departments of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences; Life Sciences; Legal, Language, Interpreting and Translation studies; Political and Social Sciences; Humanities (with the exception of the course in History and Philosophy) and the Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences (with the exception of the course in Occupational and Environmental Health and Safety).

The attractiveness of the university has also been confirmed. Since 2019-2020 there has been a steady and significant upward trend, confirmed by the 700 enrolled students from abroad this year.

Taking a look at the numbers of Italian enrolled students, students from Friuli Venezia Giulia constitute a fundamental part of the university community with Trieste the province naturally most represented, with 25% of enrolled students, followed by Udine, Gorizia and Pordenone. Arrivals from other regions (40% of the total) confirm that the most numerous representations come from Veneto, Lombardy, Sicily, Puglia and Emilia Romagna.

These are the degree courses with the most significant increase in enrolments compared to last year: in first place is the Speech Therapy course (+87%), followed by Electronic Engineering and Computer Science (+49%), International Economics and Financial Markets (+40%) and Business Administration and Management (+35%). The latter two courses grow by 80% and 154% respectively compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Also significant is the growth for Psychiatric Rehabilitation (+28%), Humanities (+23%), Civil and Environmental Engineering (+26%), Psychology (+22%) and Physics (+21%).

The courses consolidating a big leap in enrolments compared to academic year 2019-2020 are Chemistry (+104%), History and Philosophy (+59%), Nursing (+57%), Psychology (+44%) and Science and Technology for the Environment and Nature (+43%).

The integrated master’s degree courses, all of which have a competitive admission, saw all available places filled.

For master's degree courses, there is still time: enrolments will close with various deadlines between December 2024 and March 2025.

The University of Trieste joins the project Promemoria_Auschwitz for 2025, promoted by the association Deina APS.

The project offers 48 university students enrolled at the University a training course and a coach trip to the former Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, with the aim of stimulating reflection on the construction of memories and the history of the 20th century from a European perspective. Students from the Universities of Bergamo, Milan Statale, Milan Bicocca, Turin, the Milan Polytechnic, and the Normale University of Pisa are also taking part in the project and the trip.

The project is divided into two distinct phases: the first part is historical training, curated in collaboration with the University of Trieste, which involves attending a series of seminars entitled Building Memory (17th December 2024, 9th and 20th January, 3rd and 17th February 2025); the second part consists of the trip, curated by the Deina association, which will take place from 26th February to 3rd March 2025.

Interested students will be selected based on a letter of motivation (max 2000 characters) that will be assessed by a committee composed of members of Deina APS and UniTS.

To apply, you must fill in the APPLICATION FORM (which includes the letter) by 1st December 2024.

The participation fee is 175 euros to be paid according to the terms that will be communicated at the time of registration. The fee is non-refundable.

Information: https://www.deina.it/promemoria-auschwitz

Contact: info@deina.it

A new start-up from the University of Trieste was presented on 25th October at the University of Verona on the first Demo Day of the iNEST Consortium (Ecosystem of Innovation of the Interconnected Northeast), together with other recently established entrepreneurial projects: namely Nemo.AI. ‘Nemo.AI uses artificial intelligence to make fishing practices more efficient and sustainable’ says Silvio Baratto, Master's graduate in Data Science & Scientific Computing and co-founder of the start-up.

Developed thanks to an iNEST initiative for the generation and development of start-ups and spin-offs from research centres, funded by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan for EUR 4 million, Nemo.AI has had the opportunity to meet with an audience of investors and industry experts in order to receive support in view of its market launch.

Nemo.AI in depth: AI for fishing

To contribute to innovation in the fishing industry, Nemo.AI aims to develop software based on artificial intelligence through predictive analysis and intelligent sensing. ‘The software will predict the abundance, location and market value of fish species,’ Baratto explains. In this way, the start-up will help improve operational efficiency, regulatory adherence and the health of marine ecosystems.

Collaboration with local fishermen is crucial to the project, as the cofounder says: ‘The integration of broad and varied data - biological, climatic, economic - from local fishermen, combined with the use of state-of-the-art AI techniques, will help reduce overfishing and unwanted catches, promoting a balance between human activities and marine health.’

iNEST's Acceleration Programme promotes new start-ups 

Nemo.AI was selected from over 100 ideas collected from leading universities and research institutes in the Triveneto area. The projects have been developed since last April thanks to the iNEST Acceleration Programme, a structured path aimed at transforming entrepreneurial ideas into sustainable business realities. Having completed this programme, the start-up now enters the fundraising phase, with the aim of launching its innovative service on the market.

Laurel wreath for Elisa Ligas, the first graduate with a Master’s degree in Geophysics and Geodata, awarded with top honors, 110 cum laude and a special mention!

This is an English-taught degree program, closely aligned with industry, and supported by three of our departments: Mathematics, Computer Science and Geosciences; Physics; Engineering and Architecture.

Ligas presented a thesis on applications in the fields of natural resources and natural hazards, using innovative methods for subsurface studies with applications in energy and environmental fields.

Her academic path provided Elisa with training in both scientific and industrial settings, including international experiences such as the Arctic Geophysics School at the University Centre in Svalbard.

Now she is set to begin a PhD in Earth Sciences, Fluid Mechanics, Mathematics, and Applications.

The ‘Maker Faire Rome 2024 - The European Edition’, the twelfth edition of the annual fair open to the public dedicated to innovation, technology and creativity, will take place at the Gazometro Ostiense (Rome) from 25th to 27th October. It brings together innovators, makers, researchers and enthusiasts from all over Europe. In addition to the exhibition of projects and inventions, it offers workshops, lectures and laboratories to acquire technical skills and stimulate collaboration. It attracts students, start-ups, companies and government agencies, families, entrepreneurs and investors, promoting the exchange of ideas and the evolution of technologies.

The University of Trieste is present with a stand curated by the CLab Think Tank - the University's hub supporting the creation of innovative entrepreneurial projects - and two initiatives featuring students from the University: Enactus UniTS and UniTS Racing Team.

Enactus UniTS is exhibiting Hemp-Up, a business idea based on sustainable fashion, with clothes made from hemp. The initiative aims to reduce the environmental impact of the textile industry by using environmentally friendly materials and promoting ethical production. The team will present the project with an interactive workshop that aims to engage participants in their approach to the circular economy and social entrepreneurship.

After winning the SKF ‘Sustainability at 360 degrees’ award for the sustainable approach adopted at every stage of the project, from the choice of natural materials to the optimisation of the vehicle's life cycle, the UniTS Racing Team will present, by means of models, the solutions that led to the realisation of their innovative electric prototype with a flax fibre body, and that were instrumental in achieving this recognition.

Trieste, 23rd October 2024 – Today the University of Trieste awarded degrees to its first 26 graduates in Dentistry and Prosthodontics with concurrent professional certification.

The new graduates discussed their theses in the ‘Rita Levi Montalcini’ Hall of the Cattinara Hospital in front of Rector Roberto Di Lenarda, who awarded them the title.

The vocational degree was established by the Italian Ministry of Universities and Research as of the academic year 2023-2024 and UniTS is among the very first universities in Italy to have implemented the degree, serving as an example for other universities in the future.

‘The transition to this vocational degree is testimony to the excellence of the University of Trieste, which is part of the small group of Italian universities able to implement the new degree right away,’ stressed Rector Roberto Di Lenarda. ‘By the academic year 2027-2028 everyone will be expected to offer the level of training that we have been offering for years. I would also like to emphasise how the clinical activity of the professionals in training (both undergrads and postgrads) provides an extraordinary support to the provision of dental care, in a collaboration between the University and the Regional Health Service.’

Friuli Venezia Giulia, and in particular the area covered by ASUGI (local health authority), represents the area with the widest range of high-quality dental services in Italy.

The Region's public dentistry programme was inaugurated in 2017. It was conceived and coordinated by Roberto Di Lenarda, President of the College of University Lecturers of Odontostomatological Disciplines and Director of ASUGI's Maxillofacial Surgery and Odontostomatology Clinic since 2000.

Since then, in the Trieste area alone, it has provided 500,000 services at the Maxillo facial Surgery and Odontostomatology Clinic in the Ospedale Maggiore (ASUGI) and 60,000 in the Paediatric Odontostomatology Department, directed by Milana Cadenaro, the current coordinator of the Bachelor’s Degree in Dentistry and Dental Prosthetics.