Federico Becca, associate professor in Condensed Matter Theory at the Physics Department of the University of Trieste, has been nominated Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), through the Division of Condensed Matter Physics.

The APS Fellowship Program was created to recognize members who have made advances in physics through original research, making outstanding contributions in the field. In particular, Federico Becca has been selected for his ``fundamental contributions to the understanding of strongly correlated systems, including spin liquid states and doped Mott superconductors, and for developments in variational quantum Monte Carlo methods''. 

The number of recommended nominees in each year may not exceed one-half percent of the current membership of the Society, excluding student members. This recognition by the American Physical Society underscores Professor Becca's achievements as a world-renowned leading scientist in the field. The fact that very few Fellows are affiliated outside the U.S. further reinforces the significance of this honor.

In 2022, the University of Trieste and the Italian league for the fight against cancer (LILT) signed a three-year memorandum of understanding to promote cancer prevention and healthy lifestyles among students, university staff and citizens.

The agreement, renewed by Rector Donata Vianelli and LILT President Francesco Schittulli, stems from a shared desire to develop joint initiatives in the fields of research, training, information and awareness-raising on health and cancer prevention issues, especially by promoting a culture of health care among young people.

In particular, the two institutions will collaborate to:

•   implement educational programmes and projects aimed at promoting primary, secondary and tertiary cancer prevention;

•   organise training events, conferences, information campaigns and educational materials;

•   encourage the active participation of the University community in awareness-raising initiatives and promote a culture of health among the younger generation;

•   support university master degrees, calls for proposals and research projects dedicated to prevention issues, with the patronage of LILT.

The coordination of activities will be entrusted to a Joint Committee composed of representatives from both institutions, which will periodically evaluate the results and prospects for collaboration.

The University will implement the initiatives mainly through the Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health Sciences.

With this agreement, the University of Trieste and LILT are strengthening their joint commitment to promoting cancer prevention as a cultural and social value, focusing on people's well-being and the dissemination of scientific and supportive awareness.

As part of the international Pink October and Blue November campaigns, two joint events are already underway at UniTS to raise awareness of women's and men's health issues, with particular reference to cancer prevention: on  Wednesday 29th October 2025, ‘Breast cancer and young people: understanding the risk and protecting the future’ and on Monday 10th November 2025, 'Movember UniTs: focusing on men's health'. More information will be available shortly on UniTS website (www.units.it). 

Sixty-five UniTS researchers appear in the latest annual survey, ‘World's 2% Top Scientists,’ compiled by Stanford University in collaboration with the publisher Elsevier. The ranking, which considers a total of approximately 9 million scholars included in the Scopus database in 2024, identifies the most cited scientific researchers in the world, including 22 scientific fields and 174 subfields according to the standard Science-Metrix classification.

Let's take a closer look at the ranking.

The list for the “single year 2024” includes 19 UniTS researchers in the top 100,000.

The overall value of the University is constantly growing compared to previous years: in 2023 there were 13 researchers, in 2024 there were 16.

The calculation that takes into account the entire duration of researchers' careers is slightly different. In this case, the long-career list includes 15 professors and researchers affiliated with the University of Trieste among the top 100,000, a number that rises to a total of 65 UniTS scholars among the top 500,000.

These are the UniTS names mentioned in the ranking for “single year 2024” (researchers among the top 100,000 in the world are in bold) and/or in the long-career list:

DF: Angelo Bassi, Federico Becca, Fabio Benatti, Pierre Thibault 

DEAMS: Giuseppe Borruso

DSV: Alberta Bergamo, Marco del Giudice, Lucia Muggia, Andrea Nardini, Monia Renzi, Alessandro Tossi, Mauro Tretiach, Aurelia Tubaro

Sixty-five UniTS researchers appear in the latest annual survey, ‘World's 2% Top Scientists,’ compiled by Stanford University in collaboration with the publisher Elsevier. The ranking, which considers a total of approximately 9 million scholars included in the Scopus database in 2024, identifies the most cited scientific researchers in the world, including 22 scientific fields and 174 subfields according to the standard Science-Metrix classification.

DIA: Fulvio Babich, Sylvio Barbon Junior, Chiara Bedon, Alois Bonifacio, Gabriele Bulian, Alberto Carini, Natalino Gattesco, Mario Grassi, Vanni Lughi, Alessandro Massi Pavan, Thomas Parisini, Gianni Pedrizzetti, Sabrina Pricl, Valter Sergo, Giorgio Sulligoi, Alberto Tessarolo

DSCF: Enzo Alessio, Massimiliano Pio Di Cagno, Paolo Fornasiero, Jan Kaspar, Silvia Marchesan, Michele Melchionna, Tiziano Montini, Federico Rosei

DSM: Rocco Barazzoni, Michele Bertolotto, Gianni Biolo, Paolo Boscolo Rizzo, Rossana Bussani, Milena Cadenaro, Luca Cegolon, Marco Confalonieri, Adamo Pio D'Adamo, Mario D'Oria, Stefano D'Errico, Stefano di Bella, Giacomo Emmi, Paolo Gasparini, Daniele Generali, Francesca Larese Filon, Paolo Manganotti, Marco Merlo, Giuseppe Ricci, Gianfranco Sinagra, Claudio Stacchi, Giancarlo Tirelli, Iris Zalaudek

MiGe: Giovanni Alessandrini, Luca Bortolussi, Alberto D'Onofrio, Stefano Parolai, Alex Rodríguez

Among the Emeritus, Honorary or UniTS-affiliated professors included in the ranking are Maurizio Prato, Igor Marchetti, Francesca Matteucci, Massimo Bovenzi, Gianni Sava and Fulvio Parmigiani.

 “Internationally competitive research activities can only be based on a strong focus on investment in research infrastructure. In this regard, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region which, in synergy with the strategic vision of the University of Trieste, has invested heavily in the modernisation and implementation of new scientific instruments, particularly in the fields of quantum physics, biomedicine, alternative fuels and decarbonisation," commented the Vice-Rector for Research, Paolo Fornasiero.

The complete ranking can be viewed here August 2025 data update for ‘Updated science-wide author databases of standardised citation indicators’ - Elsevier BV

History in the City, a series of university lectures open to the public organised by the Regional Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Age in Friuli Venezia Giulia (Irsrec FVG) in partnership with UniTS Department of Political and Social Sciences, returns from Wednesday 22th October at the Museo civico Sartorio in Largo Papa Giovanni XXIII No 1, Trieste.

The lectures will continue until 17th December.

All meetings will be held from 18:00 to 19:00 in Sala Costantinides, as well as live Zoom https://shorturl.at/ECSXD

The Organising Committee is composed of Giulia Caccamo, Patrick Karlsen, Gabriele Mastrolillo and Raoul Pupo.

The first event on the programme will feature Patrick Karlsen (University of Trieste – Irsrec FVG) on the theme ‘Who betrayed Luigi Frausin? The lie of “Slavic Delation” in Cold War Trieste’.

The 2025 edition, entitled ‘A Story of Lies. Fake news in the contemporary age’, investigates the role of lies, disinformation and propaganda in contemporary history. 
The common thread between the various events is fake news as tools of power, control and collective manipulation. The topics covered during the conferences will range from the political and military events of the twentieth century to the most recent dynamics of communication that affect the phenomenon of climate denialism. The meetings will seek to demonstrate how fake news has always shaped public opinion, legitimising regimes, nurturing stereotypes and justifying political choices.

The exhibition, organised by Irsrec and UniTS since 2013, has always been a great success for the public. The aim of the initiative, since its inception, has been to transfer part of its teaching activity off campus and, together with other prestigious scientific institutions in the city, to organise open, accessible and rigorous debates on different themes of contemporary history. Meetings with historians who combine rigor and clarity, designed to share up-to-date knowledge, feed public discussion and bring research, school and community closer together.

Programme

22th October, Patrick Karlsen (University of Trieste – Irsrec FVG): Who betrayed Luigi Frausin? The Lie of ‘Slavic Delation’ in Cold War Trieste

30th October, Mirco Carrattieri (Liberation Route Italy): ‘The order has already been executed’. The Resistance and False News

5th November, Giuseppe Ieraci (University of Trieste): Trilussa's chicken. Data manipulation and interpretation in politics

13th November, Raoul Pupo (University of Trieste – Irsrec FVG): The ‘Crippled Victory’

19th November, Gustavo Corni (University of Trento): The Reichstag fire in Berlin, 1933. An unresolved political mystery?

26th November, Silvia Inaudi (University of Trieste – Irsrec FVG): Did Mussolini do good things? The social policies of fascism between propaganda and reality

3rd December, Tullia Catalan (University of Trieste): The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Their Contribution to the Spread of Antisemitism from the Twentieth Century to the Present

10th December, Antonella Salomoni (Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna): Katyn’ – A State Lie

17th December, Giovanni Carrosio (University of Trieste): Climate denial: history, controversies and logic of a socio-political phenomenon

Teachers will be issued with a certificate of participation at the end of each meeting.

The Institute is recognised by the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit as an accredited training agency.[1]

[1] The Regional Institute for the History of the Resistance and Contemporary Age in Friuli Venezia Giulia is part of the network of institutes associated with the Ferruccio Parri National Institute (formerly Insmli). It has obtained recognition as an accredited training agency by the Italian Ministry of Education and Merit, by Ministerial Decree of 25 May 2001, ref. 802 of 19 June 2001, renewed by Decree No 10962 of 8 June 2005. Accreditation is carried out in accordance with Directive 170/2016 with approval of 1 December 2016 of request No 872 and is included in the list of accredited bodies.

When it comes to cardiac arrest, every second counts, and it is the speed with which cardiopulmonary resuscitation is started that makes the real difference, not so much who performs it. This is what emerges from an important study presented at the ESC Acute CardioVascular Care 2025 congress.

The research is the result of the work of a team coordinated by Prof. Aneta Aleksova, cardiologist and lecturer at the Department of Medical Sciences of the University of Trieste and the local health authority (ASUGI). The study group is an integral part of the Department of Cardiology, headed by Prof. Gianfranco Sinagra, and included the contribution of Dr Alessandra Lucia Fluca, research assistant at the Department of Medicine of the University of Trieste, and Dr Andrea Perkan, interventional cardiologist at the Department of Cardiology.

The study analysed 21 years of data (from 2003 to 2024) on 3,315 patients who had suffered a ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a particularly serious form of heart attack in which a major coronary artery is completely blocked, preventing blood flow to part of the heart. Among these patients, 172 suffered out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) and 44 of them received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) from bystanders.

Urgent response is crucial 

The results are clear: every 5 minutes of delay in the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) increases the risk of death in hospital by 38%. Even a slight reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction (an indicator of heart function) or increased age is associated with a significant increase in mortality.

'We observed that, regardless of whether cardiopulmonary resuscitation was performed by a professional rescuer or a bystander, the determining factor was the speed with which resuscitation was started,' explains Prof. Aleksova, emphasising the value of active prevention. ‘It is essential to raise awareness among the population and promote CPR and defibrillator training courses. Even imperfect intervention, if timely, can save a life. It is better to act immediately than to wait for help without doing anything.’

A positive trend, but still insufficient

The study shows a clear improvement over time: the percentage of CPR performed by bystanders rose from 26% in the period 2003-2007 to 69% in the four-year period 2020-2024. However, considering that about 80% of cardiac arrests occur at home, public involvement remains crucial.

Although the average ROSC times are longer for interventions by bystanders (20 minutes compared to 5 minutes in cases handled by healthcare professionals), the chances of long-term survival do not differ. This suggests that even intervention by ordinary people, provided it is timely, can have a life-saving impact comparable to that of professionals.

A call for public training

The survey also reports that those who receive CPR from bystanders are more frequently subjected to endotracheal intubation (91% versus 65%), indicating more intensive clinical management. But the key factor remains time. All other factors being equal, prompt intervention can mean the difference between life and death.

The study relaunches a simple but urgent message: training more people in basic life support (BLS) techniques is a public health priority. Because every minute counts. And anyone, with the right training, can make a difference.

Rector Donata Vianelli, together with a delegation comprising Professors Giorgio Sulligoi, Giovanni Longo, Alberto Bartoli, Guido Bortoluzzi and Erik Vesselli, visited HHLA PLT Italy, the southernmost strategic hub of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA).

HHLA PLT is one of Europe’s leading logistics and transport operators, headquartered in Hamburg.

The meeting highlighted the growing collaboration between the academic and port sectors, united by a common goal: to promote technology transfer, digital innovation and sustainable logistics.

The delegation explored the operations and infrastructure of the HHLA PLT terminal, while also discussing future development prospects linked to the Molo VIII project - a strategic site within the Port of Trieste and a key intermodal hub connecting maritime, rail and road networks across Europe.

“Building bridges between research and operations is essential to foster innovation and competitiveness in the port sector,” said Antonio Barbara, CEO of HHLA PLT Italy.

“UniTS is interested in partnerships that allow the development, together with major industrial players, of research projects and activities capable of making a concrete contribution to the growth of the region,” added Vianelli.

Over 16,000 people have registered for the University of Trieste's prospective student events and presentations for first-level courses (bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees), which are taking place from today until Friday 17th October. Open Days 2025 is a prospective student event aimed at students in their final years of secondary school and is designed to support them in choosing their degree course by presenting all the courses offered by UniTS in a clear and comprehensive manner. 

The event will attract students from across the region to Piazzale Europa, but there will also be significant participation from Veneto(Venice, Treviso, Belluno, Verona). Students are also expected to attend from Trentino-Alto Adige (Trento), Lombardy (Pavia), Piedmont (Novara), Marche (Ancona, Pesaro Urbino), Emilia Romagna (Modena), Puglia (Brindisi), Sardinia (Sassari), Sicily (Ragusa) and, as usual, young people from Croatia and Slovenia will also be present, a testament to the cross-border interest in the UniTS course catalogue.

The event will begin on 15th October at 9:00 in the Main Hall of Building A in Piazzale Europa with a welcome address by the Rector, Prof. Donata Vianelli, and the Rector's Delegate for Prospective Student Policies, Prof. Elisabetta Madriz. This will be followed by a presentation of the courses offered in the Social Sciences and Humanities (4,870 enrolments). On 16th October, courses in Technology and Science (4,743 enrolments) will be presented and on 17th October, students can find out about courses in Life and Health Sciences (6,020 enrolments).

Programme and updates: https://portale.units.it/en/studiare/orientarsi/porte-aperte.

In addition to course presentations, each day will feature guided tours of the Piazzale Europa Campus and an afternoon presentation on the University's services with focus on university fees, disabilities and SLDs, UniTS study grants, international mobility (Erasmus), the Career Service. There will also be presentations by ARDiS (scholarships and student halls), the Collegio di merito “Luciano Fonda”, and the University Sports Centre (CUS).

Drop-in sessions at information desks will also be on offer in the lobbies of the Main Building (no booking required).

Each day, a classroom will be dedicated exclusively to informal peer discussions, with testimonials from UniTS students on their choices and university life as well as useful answers to the common uncertainties and questions many prospective students have.

For more info: orientamento@units.it  

This year’s final trip of the Innovators Community Lab (ICLab) at the University of Trieste took participants to Japan: a training itinerary designed to strengthen skills, networks and international vision in the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship.

The initiative involved Valentina Coggiola (Master’s Degree in Marketing & Management) and Romina Doz (PhD student in Applied Data Science and AI), two students who excelled in the UniTS programme dedicated to developing business projects and promoting an entrepreneurial mindset.

The first stop was Osaka, with visits to the Innovation Hub, which hosts incubation and start-up support projects, and to the Italian Pavilion at the ongoing Expo. In Yokohama, the two UniTS students presented their projects at Yokohama Connéct, the country’s leading venture café, where they met professionals and innovators in a space that brings together digital culture and community building.

The itinerary continued in Tokyo, with meetings at UNIDO and the United Nations University, followed by a visit to the University of Tokyo in a highly innovative interdisciplinary research centre. The programme then included participation in an event organised by the Tokyo AI community, which brings together researchers, professionals and investors in artificial intelligence and machine learning. The mission concluded with a reception at the Embassy of Italy and a meeting with Franco Nori, one of the world’s most cited and influential physicists, at RIKEN, a leading Japanese research centre, where the students had the opportunity to see one of Japan’s first quantum computers.

A laboratory of culture and relationships: this is how Coggiola and Doz describe their experience, where understanding cultural codes proved almost as significant as exploring the new frontiers of technology. ‘In Japan, I realised that every professional interaction is guided by deeply rooted values such as respect, the building of trust and the determination to complete every task flawlessly,’ says Valentina Coggiola. ‘In particular,’ adds Romina Doz, ‘personal and direct contact is essential to build trust before any collaboration can begin.’

The mission to the Land of the Rising Sun reflects the role of ICLab as a bridge between academic expertise and business culture: field experiences, role-modelling with scientists and managers, and connections with innovation ecosystems and international institutions. For the UniTS students, it was an opportunity to validate their projects, to understand how a profoundly different culture approaches business, and to strengthen their global perspective on AI, quantum research and technology transfer.

A study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology clarifies, through clinical, tissue and laboratory data, why the risk of cardiovascular events is so high in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The research was carried out in collaboration between Giacomo Emmi, immunologist and Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Trieste, and the research teams of Matteo Becatti, Claudia Fiorillo and Domenico Prisco at the University of Florence.

SLE is a systemic autoimmune disease that can affect several organs. In Italy it affects more than 60,000 people, mostly women of childbearing age. For those affected, the risk of arterial and venous thrombosis can be two to ten times higher than in the general population. The underlying cause is not limited to cholesterol or blood pressure, but primarily linked to the chronic inflammation characteristic of the disease.

At the centre of this process is oxidative stress, the imbalance between oxidising substances produced by our cells and the antioxidant defences that should neutralise them. In SLE patients, certain immune cells – neutrophils – are abnormally active and fuel this imbalance. In such an oxidative environment, fibrinogen, the protein forming the network of the blood clot, behaves differently: the fibres become denser and less permeable, and the clots harder to dissolve. This mechanism directly connects inflammation to thrombotic risk.

The study involved 144 adult SLE patients and 90 healthy controls. Blood analyses documented higher oxidative stress in patients and its correlation with disease activity. Tissue observations confirmed the picture: in renal biopsies from individuals with active lupus nephritis (inflammation of the kidneys), the same mechanism was evident precisely where inflammation was most intense, demonstrating that it is not only a circulating phenomenon but also causes damage at the organ level.

To confirm the causal link, the team reproduced the phenomenon in the laboratory. When fibrinogen was exposed to an oxidative environment, the clots became more compact and resistant; when a reference antioxidant was added, the effect disappeared. The sequence is thus clear: more inflammation → more oxidative stress → altered fibrinogen → clots harder to dissolve.

‘These results provide a deeper understanding of the connection between autoimmune disease and cardiovascular complications,’ says Professor Giacomo Emmi, who teaches at the Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health Sciences of the University of Trieste and is Head of the Clinical Medicine Unit and Scientific Coordinator of the local health authority (ASUGI).

‘Oxidative stress,’ explains Emmi, ‘emerges as a new potential therapeutic target. Alongside the management of traditional risk factors and disease activity, future therapies could aim to modulate these oxidative circuits to more effectively protect the heart and blood vessels of patients with lupus.’

Reference: ROS-induced modifications of fibrin clots connect immune responses to atherothrombosis in systemic lupus erythematosus, in Arthritis & Rheumatology. DOI: 10.1002/art.43371.

This year again, UniTS is taking part in the AIRCampus project, dedicated to university students with the aim of raising awareness about AIRC (Italian association for research on cancer) and promoting understanding of cancer as a public health issue.

In the 2025/26 academic year, the University will host a series of lectures on topics related to the Foundation’s mission, which are also of interest to students from a variety of degree programmes.

The lectures are divided between the two semesters and will take place within degree courses with at least 40 students. Each session lasts about two hours and features both an AIRC expert (researchers, managers, nonprofit professionals, ambassadors) and a UniTS lecturer.

A unique opportunity for students to explore topics connected to their courses of study, through real-world examples and a multidisciplinary approach offered by professionals in the field.

Lecture schedule for this semester

14th October, 16:00, Room 2_A, Building D, Piazzale Europa
I’ll be brief: three plants, three molecules, three stories
Lecture by Ruggero Rollini, science communicator
Hosted by Fabio Carniel Candotto, lecturer in General Botany, bachelor’s degree in Science and Technology for the Environment and Nature

17th October, 14:30 in person; 21st November, 14:30 (tbc) online; 12th December, 14:30 (tbc) in person, Aula Magna, Via Monfort 3
Health education in primary schools: a UDA workshop with the AIRC in Schools project
Workshop by Alessandra Frittelli, Project Manager, AIRC in Schools
Hosted by Barbara Bocchi, lecturer in Teaching, bachelor’s degree in Education

29th October, 12:00, Room 1B, Building H3, Central Campus
The organisation of AIRC and its social impact
Lecture by Marco Rogledi, Human Resources Manager, AIRC
Hosted by Francesco Venier, lecturer in Business Organisation, bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Management

13th November, 11:00, Aula Grande, Building C6, Via Valerio 8/3
New drugs in a click: strategies to accelerate molecular synthesis
Lecture by Tracey Pirali, AIRC researcher at the University of Eastern Piedmont
Hosted by Tatiana Da Ros, Stephanie Federico and Federico Berti, lecturers in Pharmaceutical Chemistry I and II, Bio-organic Chemistry, degree courses in Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology (CTF) and Chemistry

13th November, 15:00, room tbd
Title to be defined
Lecture by Claudia Borreani, Head of the Clinical Psychology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan
Hosted by Barbara Penolazzi, lecturer in Basic Clinical Skills/Psychology module, bachelor’s degree in Psychology

25th November, 9:00, room tbd
Designing a health communication campaign
Lecture by Sabrina Bonomo, Senior Account, External Communication, AIRC
Hosted by Patrizia De Luca and Giovanna Pegan, lecturers in Marketing and in Communication and Branding, degree courses in Business Administration and Management, and in Marketing and Management

25th November, 16:00, Aula Venezian, Building A, Piazzale Europa
The right to be forgotten: the oncological right to be forgotten becomes law in Italy
Lecture with Giordano Beretta, oncologist, ASL Pescara and Fondazione AIOM
Hosted by Maurizio Barberis, lecturer in Philosophy of Law, integrated master’s degree in Law

11th December, 9:30, room tbd
Title to be defined
Lecture by Francesco Iorio, AIRC researcher at the Human Technopole Foundation, Milan
 Hosted by Giulio Caravagna, lecturer in Introduction to Programming and Laboratory, bachelor’s degree in Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics

15th December, 9:00, room tbd
New strategies in the fight against cancer
 Lecture by Alessandra Raimondi, AIRC researcher at the Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Tumori, Milan
 Hosted by Vanessa Nicolin, lecturer in Human Anatomy, degree courses in Medicine and Surgery and Dentistry

18th December, time and room tbd
DNA damage in cancer and ageing
Lecture by Fabrizio D’Adda di Fagagna, AIRC researcher at IFOM – the AIRC Institute of Molecular Oncology ETS, Milan
Hosted by Stefan Schoeftner, lecturer in Non-coding RNA Biology, degree course in Functional Genomics

All AIRCampus lectures organised in Italian universities and the updated calendar are available at the following link.