The University of Trieste celebrates the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development: in an international and deeply open environment such as UniTS, which welcomes a significant community of students from all over the world every year, this occasion represents a valuable opportunity to reflect on the central role of dialogue in mutual enrichment and exchange.

Diversity is not only a reality to be acknowledged, but also a resource to be cultivated: it is through the encounter of different experiences, perspectives and cultural identities that dynamic, inclusive and innovation-driven academic communities are built.

In line with the spirit of the international campaign promoted by UNESCO and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, “Do One Thing for Diversity and Inclusion”, UniTS renews its commitment to:
raising awareness within the academic community about the importance of intercultural dialogue, inclusion and the enhancement of differences; fostering a sense of belonging to an international community that is open to dialogue and conflict resolution; combating stereotypes and prejudice by encouraging cooperation among people from different cultural backgrounds.

The Day also recalls the principles of UNESCO’s Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001), which reaffirm that cultural rights are an integral part of human rights: universal, indivisible and interdependent. Every individual has the right to freely express their cultural and linguistic identity and to have its value recognized.

In a city like Trieste, historically a meeting point between different cultures, and within a University that embodies this heritage and international vocation, 21 May represents not only a celebration, but also a concrete commitment: to continue building an open and inclusive academic space capable of transforming diversity into a driver of growth, dialogue and development.

UniTS welcomed Sandra Sharry, Director of the National Research System of Panama’s National Secretariat for Science, Technology and Innovation (SENACYT).

The meeting was attended by Mauro Tretiach, Deputy Rector, and Erik Vesselli, Delegate for Technology Transfer and Relations with Research Institutions.

During the discussion, participants explored the role of SENACYT and presented Panama’s national strategy in the field of bioeconomy, aimed at economic diversification, the creation of green jobs and the strengthening of climate resilience through the development of strategic sectors such as sustainable agro-industry, bioenergy, biotechnology and innovative materials.

The possibility of funding PhD positions at UniTS reserved for Panamanian students was also discussed.

Silvia Palmisano, Director of the UniTS School of Specialization in General Surgery, has been appointed member of the European Surgical Association (ESA).

The appointment confirms the value and visibility of the Trieste surgical school within the European context, further strengthening the role of the University as a centre of excellence in medical and surgical education and research.

Founded in 1993, the European Surgical Association is one of the most prestigious surgical organizations in Europe and serves as a leading reference point for the promotion of science and research in the field of surgery. ESA plays a central role as an international forum for presenting state-of-the-art developments and the most advanced innovations in both general and specialist surgery, contributing to the continuous improvement of professional standards.

Its members come from leading European academic and medical institutions and represent excellence in the field, sharing knowledge, experience and research outcomes at an international level.

A day dedicated to togetherness and to the inclusive power of sport, in a fascinating setting where the value of teamwork was cultivated and strengthened paddle stroke after paddle stroke.

On Saturday 15 May, in the Venetian waters facing San Giobbe, with snow-capped mountains in the background, the second edition of Lion Explorer took place: an initiative dedicated to dragon boating and organised by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, in collaboration with Iuav University of Venice and CUS Venezia.

Among the nine University Sports Centres taking part was also CUS Trieste. The participating universities competed on a 150-metre racecourse aboard dragon boats, vessels with a dragon-shaped head and tail, crewed by teams of 12 members each.

After the Dragon Eye Dotting Ceremony, a traditional Chinese ritual performed to bring good fortune to the boats, the competition got underway. In the first round, Trieste finished in second place, behind Insubria and ahead of Udine, while in the second round CUS Trieste had to give way to Padua and Trento. In Final C, Trieste finished second behind Bari, but ahead of Tirana.

The final ranking saw CUS Venezia take first place, followed by Padua, Vienna, Trento, Insubria, Udine, Bari, Trieste and Tirana.

The CUS Trieste team, largely made up of athletes from the volleyball teams and all experiencing a dragon boat for the first time, was composed of:

Viviana Boria (Psychological Sciences and Techniques), Giacomo Camata (Computer Engineering), Stefano Cardu (Electronic and Computer Engineering), Chiara De Vidovich (Primary Education Sciences), Claudio Ellero (Geosciences), Gianmaria Palma (Physics), Tommaso Piscitelli (Mathematics), Isabella Ramani (Mathematics), Marco Stevanella (Civil and Environmental Engineering), Marta Tomasella (Psychological Sciences and Techniques), Michela Sofia Venerus (Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Technologies) and Anna Zanardi (Economics, Business and Management).

Alongside the team, among the accompanying staff, was also the Vice-President of CUS Trieste, Renato Pelessoni, who commented on the day as follows:

“For the second time, we took part in Lion Explorer with great enthusiasm, with a team of six female and six male students from the University of Trieste, who competed in dragon boat races for the first time. For our student-athletes, it was a wonderful opportunity to get to know other universities, share experiences and build new relationships. At CUS Trieste, we strongly believe in the value of days like these, where sport proves once again to be an ideal tool for personal growth. I would also like to highlight the warm welcome and excellent organisation provided by the nautical section of CUS Venezia and by all the organisers: as CUS Trieste, we will draw inspiration from this experience to further improve the Dragon Boat event that we organise every October during Barcolana week in Trieste.”

The two-day Lion Explorer event concluded on Sunday 17 May, with students exploring Venice and its lagoon aboard the dragon boats, including a stop and visit to the island of Burano.

Dr Antonella Muzzo, research fellow at the University of Trieste, has received the ASCPT Presidential Trainee Award, a prestigious recognition granted by the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT) to early-career researchers who have distinguished themselves for scientific excellence.

Each year, the Scientific Program Committee selects the highest-scoring abstracts submitted by clinical pharmacologists and translational researchers in training, granting them special recognition as part of the Society’s Annual Meeting.

The award was granted for the doctoral research project carried out at the Department of Medical, Surgical and Health Sciences of the University of Trieste and at IRCCS Burlo Garofolo, under the supervision of Professors Marianna Lucafò, Giuliana Decorti and Gabriele Stocco.

The work was presented as a poster entitled “Thiopurine treatment responses in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease are determined by a newly identified TRIM32-cGAS-STING pathway: a pharmacokinetic study in organoids”.

The project also involved the Department of Life Sciences, with which Professors Lucafò and Meroni and Dr Lazzari are affiliated.

The study provides an integrated analysis of the molecular and pharmacokinetic mechanisms that regulate the response to thiopurines in paediatric patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), using an innovative, patient-specific preclinical model: intestinal organoids derived from patients affected by IBD.

For the first time, the research demonstrates that thiopurines exert direct pharmacological effects on intestinal epithelial cells, in addition to their well-known systemic immunosuppressive actions. The findings also highlight significant interindividual variability in treatment response, mainly determined by pharmacokinetic factors.

At the intestinal cell level, thiopurines show an anti-inflammatory effect by acting on specific molecular mechanisms involved in inflammation, including the TRIM32-cGAS-STING and NF-κB/p65 pathways.

Overall, these findings contribute to the development of personalised therapeutic strategies and to the identification of new potential therapeutic approaches in the paediatric field.

From May 15 to June 4, 2026, the Municipal Art Hall of Trieste, located in Piazza Unità d’Italia 4, will host the exhibition “Measured Utopias. Aldo Aymonino and Giuseppe Caldarola”, promoted by Stazione Rogers, the Municipality of Trieste, and the University of Trieste – Department of Engineering and Architecture, in collaboration with the RRRLab research unit of the Department of Engineering and Architecture.

The exhibition will be open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The exhibition presents a research project by Aldo Aymonino and Giuseppe Caldarola dedicated to the relationship between architecture, the city, and utopian design. At the core of the investigation lies a simple yet decisive question for architectural thought: what is the purpose of measuring that which, by its very nature, tends to escape measurement?

“Measured Utopias” compares twenty-three urban utopias developed between the 18th and 20th centuries, from Claude-Nicolas Ledoux to Ildefons Cerdà, from Ebenezer Howard to Le Corbusier, from Frank Lloyd Wright to Archigram, from Aldo Rossi and Giorgio Grassi to Buckminster Fuller and Burning Man. These models are redrawn, reconstructed, and compared through shared dimensions, and then extensively applied to a specific site: the industrial area of Porto Marghera.

The project constructs a critical sequence of reflections on the role that urban utopia can still play in contemporary architectural practice and thought. Redrawing becomes an analytical tool: a way to read, dissect, compare, and reassemble urban visions that are distant from one another, yet united by the desire to imagine a different city.

The choice of Porto Marghera as the field of application carries strategic significance. It is a rarefied, infrastructural, and productive territory, situated in relation to one of the most recognizable historic centers in the world, Venice. This context makes it possible to test the utopian models under examination, highlighting their scale, density, territorial impact, and figurative potential.

The exhibition proposes an exercise in comparison between measurement and form, between desire and possibility, between urban imagination and design. The utopias under analysis become critical devices through which to question, even today, the meaning of the city, urban form, and architecture.

The exhibition is curated by:

Thomas Bisiani
Stazione Rogers

Eddi Dalla Betta
Municipality of Trieste, Territorial Planning Service

Adriano Venudo
University of Trieste, Department of Engineering and Architecture

Electric boating is today an increasingly strategic meeting point for engineering expertise, sustainability and industrial innovation.

Against this backdrop, the University of Trieste took part in the sixth edition of Villa d’Este Style Electric Yachting in Cernobbio, on Lake Como, an event dedicated to the development of electric technologies applied to sustainable navigation.

Representing UniTS were Giorgio Sulligoi, Director of the Department of Engineering and Architecture, and Vittorio Bucci, Coordinator of the Degree Programme in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, together with a delegation of students from programmes most closely connected to energy, naval engineering and technologies applied to mobility. Among them were also members of two of the University’s student teams: UniTS Racing Team, engaged in the development of electric car prototypes for university competitions, and Audace Sailing Team, active in the design of innovative and sustainable boats.

The experience is part of UniTS’s broader commitment to enhancing its student teams as spaces for applied learning. It also represents an opportunity to encourage, in the future, the creation of a new student group capable of bringing together the expertise of UniTS Racing Team and Audace Sailing Team.

“Electric boating,” underlines Giorgio Sulligoi, “is a rapidly expanding sector. At UniTS, we have been working for many years on electric applications in the naval and boating fields, integrating multidisciplinary expertise ranging from onboard electrical systems to the design of innovative solutions for the maritime sector.”

In Trieste, the “neverin” arrives suddenly from the sea, shaking the Gulf with wind and rain and transforming the face of the city within just a few minutes. It is precisely from this distinctive local phenomenon that Neverina was born, the new foiling Moth designed and built by the Audace Sailing Team. A name that evokes the territory and the sea, but also the sudden and dynamic energy of the “neverin”: an image the team wanted to embody in the new boat launched on Wednesday, May 13, at the Yacht Club Adriaco in Trieste.

The project involved more than 70 students from six different departments of the University. During the event, the team presented the main innovations introduced in the new boat, developed according to the principle “Sustainable, Reliable, Commercializable.”

Neverina will now represent UniTS at the SuMoth Challenge 2026, the international university competition dedicated to foiling Moths. The boat will be sailed by Leonardo Centuori, Anastasia Mutti, and Carlotta Rizzardi, three student-athletes who, alongside their competitive sailing careers, actively contribute to the project’s development within the team. Centuori has already helmed Audace’s Moths in the 2024 and 2025 editions of the competition and has competed for years in the Waszp class with national and international results. Mutti won the 2025 Youth World Championship in the 420 class in Turkey. Rizzardi, already part of the Under-21 and development squad of the Italian ILCA National Team, achieved third place at the 2023 Under-21 World Championships in Morocco. Before the SuMoth Challenge, the Audace Sailing Team will take part in the Venice Boat Show, scheduled from May 27 to 31, and will later attend MetsTrade in Amsterdam from November 17 to 19.

The new boat builds on the legacy of projects developed by the team over the years, including Dedalo, Lina, BAI-Lina Rossa, BAI-Flying Lina, and BAI-Flax Bandit, further strengthening its research path on sustainability applied to foiling sailing.

Sustainability remains a central focus of the project. Audace Sailing Team integrates LCA (Life-Cycle Assessment) analysis through the MarineShift360 platform, which enables real-time monitoring of the environmental impact of design and construction choices.

The boat was built using circular and low-impact materials, including recycled PET from plastic bottles, 30% bio-based resins, and natural flax and basalt fibers. In addition, the construction of the deck and hull using a single mold significantly reduced waste production and the overall environmental impact.

The new Moth was refined through CFD and FEM simulations, which made it possible to improve both reliability and performance compared to previous models. The optimization of the foil molds — the appendages that allow the boat to “fly” above the water — also resulted in an estimated saving of more than 3,000 kilograms of CO2 equivalent.

The event opened with remarks by the Vice President of the Yacht Club Adriaco, Giovanni Battista Bellis, followed by speeches from the Mayor of Trieste, Roberto Dipiazza; the Commander of the Port Authority of Trieste, Luciano del Prete; UniTS Vice Rector for Public and Social Engagement, Caterina Falbo; and the scientific coordinator of the Audace Sailing Team, Rodolfo Taccani. The project was presented by Pietro Miani, President of the Audace Sailing Team, and helmswoman Carlotta Rizzardi, who illustrated the innovations and objectives of the new boat.

Gold Sponsors of the project include Intesa Sanpaolo and ESTECO. Main partners also include XMTech, Armare Ropes, and Nord Composites.

Monitoring the progression of advanced cutaneous melanoma through a simple blood draw or urine sample, in order to obtain information that can help personalise therapies and make them less invasive for patients. This is the goal of EXOMEL, the new research project coordinated by the University of Trieste, which will study the use of liquid biopsy to monitor a form of cancer in which the ability to observe disease progression accurately can have a significant impact on therapeutic decisions.

The project, entitled “Exosomal microRNA from liquid biopsy for the monitoring and personalisation of treatments for advanced cutaneous melanoma”, aims to develop and validate innovative diagnostic technologies, shared among the clinical centres involved, to make treatments increasingly targeted, effective and tailored to the characteristics of each patient. The most innovative aspect concerns the use of urine samples as a form of liquid biopsy: EXOMEL will study exosomes, small vesicles involved in communication between cells, and the microRNAs they carry, with the aim of identifying a combination of biological signals that may help distinguish patients who respond to immunotherapy from those who do not.

EXOMEL is funded by the Interreg VI-A Italy–Austria 2021–2027 cross-border cooperation programme, with support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), for a total amount of 572,055.59 euros. The project, which will end on 31 March 2028, confirms the value of international cooperation in cancer research, bringing together healthcare institutions, universities and technological expertise from Italy and Austria.

The University of Trieste acts as lead partner and coordinates the project activities through its Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health Sciences, involving a research team composed of Serena Bonin, Iris Zalaudek, Ilaria Gandin and Gabriele Grassi.

The partnership also includes the South Tyrol Health Authority, with the hospitals of Bruneck and Bolzano, an Italian small and medium-sized enterprise, and the University Clinic of Dermatology and Allergology of Paracelsus Medical University in Salzburg.

“At the heart of EXOMEL,” explains Serena Bonin, lecturer in Technical Sciences of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Trieste and principal investigator of the project, “is the development and validation of liquid biopsy, a diagnostic approach that makes it possible to obtain relevant information about the disease from biological samples that are easy to collect, such as blood or urine. Today, plasma liquid biopsy is used mainly in research to detect circulating tumour DNA, that is DNA carrying tumour-specific mutations. However, this approach requires the mutations to be monitored to be already known. With EXOMEL, we instead want to study the microRNAs contained in exosomes, vesicles through which cells communicate with one another, to verify whether a combination of them can help discriminate between patients with advanced cutaneous melanoma who respond to immunotherapy and those who do not.

At present,” Bonin adds, “there are no predictive biomarkers used in hospital practice to systematically guide these therapeutic choices. For this reason, the aim of the project is to contribute to the development of tools that are more accessible, repeatable and potentially useful for the personalisation of treatments.”

During the project, liquid biopsy technology will be extended to the study of urine samples and applied in the clinical centres involved through the development of common and standardised protocols. This step will make it possible to test the robustness of the approach in different clinical settings, harmonise diagnostic practices among the partner healthcare facilities and foster the creation of a stable collaborative network between Italy and Austria.

The expected results may also have an impact beyond the strictly academic and clinical fields. EXOMEL may contribute to the development of new diagnostic tools based on liquid biopsy, opening up possible prospects for technology transfer and industrial valorisation of research, including through the interest of companies active in the biomedical and diagnostic sectors.

“Let’s Change! The Climate Is Changing. Let’s Talk About It” is back — the Public and Social Engagement / Third Mission project of the Department of Engineering and Architecture at the University of Trieste (UniTS). In Trieste too, the effects of climate change are becoming increasingly tangible. Negative impacts on terrestrial and marine ecosystems, along with extreme weather events such as flooding and heatwaves, are causing ever more significant damage to the territory, infrastructure and public facilities, economic activities, and public health. In this context, sharing scientific knowledge about the ongoing transition and promoting awareness and mobilization initiatives involving public administrations and civil society has become increasingly urgent.

In May 2026, three meetings will take place at the Urban Center as part of the series “Adapting Trieste to Climate Change. Towards a Participatory Agenda of Possible Actions”, conceived as moments of collective discussion aimed at identifying concrete proposals to be presented to local institutions by October 2026.

The spring series of events will conclude on May 22 at Cinema Ariston in Trieste with a free screening — premiered in Trieste — of the film Don’t Let the Sun, presented at the 2025 Locarno Film Festival.

PROGRAMME

Greenery, Soil, Water: Rethinking Urban Spaces and Their Transformations

May 14, 2026, 5:30 PM
Urban Center, Corso Cavour 2/2, Trieste

The Sea Is Rising: How Will We Move Around the City?

May 18, 2026, 5:30 PM
Urban Center, Corso Cavour 2/2, Trieste

Sustainable Energy, Collective Energies: Towards New Communities

May 20, 2026, 5:30 PM
Urban Center, Corso Cavour 2/2, Trieste

Don’t Let the Sun

Switzerland, Italy, 2025, 100 min
Directed by Jacqueline Zünd

Starring Levan Gelbakhiani, Maria Pia Pepe, Agnese Claisse, Karidja Touré, Cecilia Bertozzi.

Original version with Italian subtitles

May 22, 2026, 8:00 PM
Cinema Ariston
Viale Romolo Gessi 14, Trieste

In a future made uninhabitable by extreme heat, people live at night and human relationships have all but disappeared. Jonah works for an agency that provides “emotional substitutes.” His emotional detachment begins to crack when he is hired to act as the father of Nika, a withdrawn and distrustful young girl.