The Italian Ministry of Universities and Research has granted Maurizio Prato the prestigious title of Professor Emeritus.

The decree, signed by Minister Anna Maria Bernini on 5th August 2025, recognises Maurizio Prato’s extraordinary academic and scientific career as a former full professor of Organic Chemistry at the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Trieste.

The Emeritus Professorship is the crowning achievement of an extremely successful career full of awards. Prof. Prato began his career in 1983 at the University of Padua and continued from 1992 at the University of Trieste, first as an associate professor and, from 2000, as a full professor, until his retirement in 2023.

A member of the Accademia dei Lincei and Ikerbasque Research Professor at CIC biomaGUNE in San Sebastián (Spain), Maurizio Prato has made fundamental and interdisciplinary contributions to the field of nanoscience, particularly in the design and synthesis of carbon nanostructures for applications in bio-nanotechnology and in the conversion and storage of solar energy. 

His research has become an important point of reference for the scientific community thanks to his work on innovative, controlled and reproducible synthetic protocols and analytical methods for the functionalisation and design of carbon nanostructures – an area of research which, in recent years, has also been extended to include graphene and carbon dots. His contributions have significantly advanced the understanding and control of the chemistry of carbon nanostructures, placing them at the centre of a number of developments in technology.

Prof. Prato has received numerous national and international awards, including the prestigious Raffaele Piria Medal awarded in 2024 by the Italian Chemistry Society, reserved for scholars who have honoured Italian organic chemistry and represent a continuation of its distinguished traditions. He has also obtained significant research funding, including two ERC Advanced Grants, in 2008 and 2020, and was appointed a member of the Accademia dei Lincei in 2010, a member of the European Academy of Sciences in 2013, the Academia Europaea in 2015, the Venetian Academy of Sciences, Letters and Arts in 2018, the National Academy of Inventors (USA) in 2021 and the Royal Academy of Sciences of Spain in 2022. He is an honorary professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China.

Over the years, Prof. Prato has formed a veritable school. His research group at the University of Trieste has trained over 230 students, PhD students, post-docs and visiting professors, many of whom come from abroad. Numerous former members of his group have embarked on successful scientific careers and now hold prestigious positions in high profile universities and research centres. The success of his colleagues and students is a testament to his ability to inspire and guide young scientists towards innovative and unexplored paths.

His intense research activity has led him to publish over 800 articles in high-impact international journals, with a total of over 82,000 citations and an h-index of 132 (Scopus). He has conducted research at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, USA (1980), University College, Dublin, Ireland (1983), Yale University, New Haven, USA (1986-87), and the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA (1991-92). He was a visiting professor at the Chemistry Departments of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris in 2001, the University of Namur, Belgium, in 2010, the University of Strasbourg in 2014 and the University of Mons (Belgium) in 2018. 

Maurizio Prato has also contributed to the community at the University of Trieste by holding important institutional roles. He was Head of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, leading the merge with the Department of Chemistry in 2010, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy from 2002 to 2013, PhD Coordinator for the Pharmaceutical Sciences programme for two three-year periods, and Vice PhD Coordinator for the Chemistry programme for an additional two three-year periods.

A chemist and scientist of the highest calibre, Maurizio Prato is internationally recognised for his scientific contributions, but also for his humanity and kindness. The ministerial conferral of the title of Professor Emeritus is a well-deserved recognition of an extraordinary career which has contributed significantly to strengthening the prestige of the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and our university, both nationally and internationally.

Rector Donata Vianelli congratulates Prof. Prato on this important recognition, expressing gratitude for his contribution to the scientific prestige, internationalisation and, more generally, growth of the University of Trieste on behalf of the entire academic community.

On August 10, Pio Nodari passed away. He was a former Full Professor of Economic and Political Geography and Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Trieste from 2000 to 2003.

The Department of Economics, Business, Mathematics and Statistics "Bruno de Finetti" (DEAMS) remembers him for his academic work, carried out with great passion and dedication, and for his political commitment, which made him a leading figure in the civic and political life of Trieste.

Professor Nodari’s teaching activity was primarily dedicated to undergraduate and doctoral degree courses within the Faculty of Economics.

His scientific production focused mainly on the study of migration phenomena, but also addressed a wide range of themes and disciplines, such as territorial planning, sustainable economic and tourism development, economic and political dynamics in the north-eastern border area of Italy and the Balkans, political-economic territorial organization processes of the European Union, and the study and development of cartography and Geographic Information Systems applied to economic decision-making and territorial planning. In this context, it is worth recalling his promotion of the interdepartmental centre of excellence in telegeomatics “GeoNetLab.”

For many years, he led the working group of the Association of Italian Academic Geographers (A.Ge.I.) on foreign immigration to Italy, effectively coordinating the national inter-university research on the subject, benefiting over the years from PRIN funding—reserved for projects of significant national interest—and from CNR grants.

He was an tireless promoter of initiatives aimed at enhancing research activities, with particular attention to involving and supporting young emerging scholars. In this spirit, in addition to creating the Laboratory of Economic and Political Geography—still active at DEAMS—he was among the founders of the “Ezio Vanoni” Centre for Economic and Political Studies in Trieste and the “Giorgio Valussi” Centre for Tourism Studies in Gorizia.

He was a mentor to more than one generation of students, many of whom have gone on to hold academic positions at the University of Trieste and other universities.

Pio Nodari was also the organizer of many national and international seminars, meetings and conferences, including the Italian–Romanian Colloquia, and numerous events held as part of Interreg Italy–Slovenia projects.

His commitment and the esteem he enjoyed within the Italian academic geography community are also evidenced by the fact that he served for many years as an elected member of the A.Ge.I. Governing Council.

Those who worked with him remember him with respect, affection and gratitude.

The Department of Life Sciences (DSV) at the University of Trieste is a partner in a project that uses cutting-edge technology to reconstruct the environmental evolution of the Venice lagoon through the analysis of historical and contemporary macroalgae. 

Coordinated by Professor Stefano Loppi of the University of Siena in an Italian first, the initiative involves use of a new high-precision X-ray instrument, recently acquired with NRRP funds by the University of Siena. The instrument allows metal content in samples to be detected without damaging them.

The University of Trieste working group is made up of Professors Annalisa Falace (Environmental and Applied Botany) and Stefano Martellos (Systematic Botany), with the collaboration of PhD students Alessandra Metalli and Linda Seggi (PhD programme in Environment and Life). 

The UniTS team's activity focuses on three main areas: collecting the macroalgae currently present in the lagoon (already carried out in June), providing specialist expertise in algae taxonomy and biology, and scientifically enhancing particularly historical museum collections.

The study will focus on over 200 algae samples dating back to the 1930s, kept in the Vatova-Schiffner algae collection at the Natural History Museum of Venice under the care of Raffaella Trabucco, which will be compared with current specimens collected by the Trieste research group.

‘This is the first time in Italy that this technology has been applied to herbarium samples of macroalgae,’ emphasises Professor Stefano Martellos. ‘The analyses are completely non-invasive and allow unique and irreplaceable museum collections to be preserved, expanding their research potential.’

‘Macroalgae are excellent bioindicators,’ adds Martellos, ‘and analysing their chemical composition over a period of almost a century allows us to accurately reconstruct the impact of human activity on the lagoon ecosystem, providing valuable data for more informed environmental management.’

‘The potential is enormous,’ comments Professor Loppi, project coordinator. ‘We can rewrite the environmental history of these areas, making a scientific heritage that has been little explored until now accessible to the public.’

The project will be completed by the end of the year and the results will be presented at two important international scientific events: the 9th International Plant Science Conference and the 3rd Conference of the International Association for Biomonitoring of Environmental Pollution.

On 8th August, the University of Trieste celebrates the National Day of Remembrance for Italian Workers Abroad, established in memory of the 136 Italian workers who died in 1956 in Belgium in the Marcinelle coal mine, commemorating these victims along with the many other Italian emigrants who died at work.

This anniversary calls for reflection on the central role that our Constitution has assigned to work, starting with Article 1, recognising its role as the foundation of our Republic, and assuring that in all contexts workers both male and female may be guaranteed respect for their dignity and protection.

'It is precisely the sacrifice of our emigrants of yesterday that dissuades us from turning a blind eye to the many situations of exploitation and violations of rights suffered by today's migrants, if we do not want memory to be merely a rhetorical exercise,' comments Roberta Nunin, UniTS Vice-Rector for HR, Trade Unions and Equal Opportunities. 'Swiss writer Max Frisch’s warning in the mid-1960s, who looking at the condition of Italian immigrants in Switzerland wrote, “We asked for workers, we got people instead” still seems valid today. He highlighted the paradox of socio-economic systems which, on the one hand, cannot do without immigrant labour, but on the other, try to shirk their duty to help the integration and reception of these people. This perspective is unfortunately still relevant today and requires us, as a scientific community, to continue to focus our attention on migration phenomena, social cohesion objectives and the tools to pursue them, in order to honour the memory of so many of our compatriots who perished while seeking a better life far from their own country.’

Refining our understanding of the evolutionary mechanisms of different types of cancer in order to achieve increasingly targeted diagnoses and therapies is the objective of the new RESOLVE method, based on a study of ‘mutational signatures’, i.e. recurrent patterns of mutations in DNA that tell the story of the damage suffered by cancer cells and help identify their origin and mechanisms of development. 

The study presents a new computational tool to analyse the mutational mechanisms underlying cancer. By applying this method to approximately 20,000 adult and paediatric cancer genomes, the researchers were able to accurately identify a small number of dominant mutational signatures, associated with both known biological mechanisms (such as aging, smoking exposure, or defects in DNA repair) and different clinical prognoses. 

‘The problem of identifying processes that generate mutations in DNA is crucial to understanding what damages the genome and can accelerate tumour transformation. The tools we create in our laboratories are able to extract these signals thanks to machine learning techniques. This area of research sees us directly involved with several projects, such as this one in collaboration with Milano-Bicocca and others that we coordinate within our group,’ says Giulio Caravagna, professor of Computer Science at UniTS involved in the study. 

Mutation signature analysis is an established practice in cancer genomics but presents several challenges. Compared to existing methods, RESOLVE (Robust EStimation Of mutationaL signatures Via rEgularization) allows a more precise detection of mutation signatures, a more reliable estimate of their relevance in individual patients and the possibility of distinguishing tumours into molecular subtypes, with promising repercussions for personalised medicine.

This innovative method, illustrated in the article ‘Comprehensive analysis of mutational processes across 20 000 adult and pediatric tumors’ published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research, was developed by a multidisciplinary group of the University of Milan-Bicocca, coordinated by Daniele Ramazzotti (Department of Medicine and Surgery and Foundation of the Research Hospital San Gerardo dei Tintori). Researchers from the Department of Computer Science Marco Antoniotti and Alex Graudenzi, from the Department of Medicine Rocco Piazza and Luca Mologni, and Giulio Caravagna from the University of Trieste also participated in the project. The team also includes Matteo Villa, Federica Malighetti, Luca De Sano, Alberto Maria Villa, Nicoletta Cordani and Andrea Aroldi.

Gold shines bright in Piazzale Europa thanks to Tommaso Vianello!

On the final day of competition at the FISU World University Games, held in Germany’s Rhine-Ruhr region, Tommaso Vianello, a student at the University of Trieste, claimed the top step of the podium in rowing.

Enrolled in the Master’s degree program in Strategy, Consulting and Business Logistics (DEAMS), Vianello secured the gold medal in the mixed quadruple sculls, competing alongside Martina Fanfani and Alice Ramella (University of Genoa), and Lorenzo Baldo (University of Padua).

The Italian crew led the race from the very start, setting a pace that no opponent could match. With a time of 6:38.39, the quartet crossed the finish line nearly two seconds ahead of Germany (6:40.12) and more than eight seconds ahead of Lithuania (6:46.41): a commanding margin, highlighting their undisputed technical and athletic superiority.

The victory by Tommaso Vianello and his teammates contributes to the outstanding performance of the Italian delegation, which closed this edition of the Games with 43 total medals (14 gold, 10 silver, 19 bronze), placing fifth in the global medal table behind Japan, China, the United States, and South Korea, and first among European nations.

The entire academic community proudly celebrates Tommaso Vianello’s exceptional achievement, recognizing the dedication and commitment required to balance academic studies with high-level competitive sport.

The first wonderful medals for student-athletes from the University of Trieste have arrived at the FISU World University Games Rhine-Ruhr 2025!

After a top-level tournament, the Italian women's university water polo team won the bronze medal, with three UniTS students celebrating on the podium.

Giorgia Klatowski (Law), Emma De March (Environmental and Nature Sciences and Technologies), and Guya Zizza (Psychological Sciences and Techniques), key players for both the university national team and Pallanuoto Trieste, fulfilled their dream of winning a medal that rewards a path marked by great commitment and dedication.

In Duisburg, during the third-place final won 10–5 against New Zealand, the Azzurre, coached by Maurizio Mirarchi, showed determination and quality, redeeming themselves after a hard-fought semifinal defeat against the United States, which ended only in a penalty shootout after a very balanced match.

In the bronze medal final, Giorgia Klatowski scored a hat trick, and Emma De March also netted a goal.

This marks the third consecutive Universiade podium for the university version of the Setterosa, while at the Piazzale Europa campus, there is great celebration for an extraordinary result that reflects the strength of the dual career model — a model the University of Trieste actively promotes, supporting students who strive for excellence both in sports and in academics.

In the photo on the homepage, from left to right: Giorgia Klatowski, Emma De March, and Guya Zizza.

The project Compassionate Leadership – CompAct has been officially launched. Promoted and funded by the Veneto Region, it is part of a strategic intervention plan aimed at addressing the increasingly alarming rise in unplanned resignations. The project seeks to adapt the compassionate leadership model to the Italian healthcare context, proposing a leadership style capable of recognizing workplace distress, understanding its causes, and intervening to foster a more sustainable work organization — one that is centered on the idea of “caring for those who care.”

The University of Trieste is a key scientific partner in the adaptation and validation phase of the international model to the Italian context, alongside the Universities of Milan, Padua, and Verona. Representing UniTS are Prof. Sara Cervai (Work and Organizational Psychology) and Prof. Gabriele Blasutig (Organizational Sociology), both from the Department of Political and Social Sciences.

The project addresses the challenges posed by the so-called “Great Resignation” and the growing unease among healthcare workers, by promoting an approach based on mutual care, relational responsibility, and organizational wellbeing.

Developed with the scientific contributions of Michael West (King’s Fund UK), compassionate leadership is a model already successfully tested in several European countries, particularly in the United Kingdom. It has proven effective in improving workplace climate, reducing burnout, and increasing satisfaction among both healthcare professionals and patients — especially in emotionally demanding environments like healthcare settings.

“At the international level, results are promising,” said Prof. Sara Cervai. “We need to understand how this model can work in the Italian context, within a public healthcare system where people are experiencing alarming levels of distress. We are aware of the impact that leadership roles can have on staff wellbeing, and we aim to support both leaders and collaborators in regaining motivation and wellbeing in their professional practice, through a scientific approach.”

CompAct is a two-year action-research project, with field trials conducted in two Venetian Local Health Units (ULSS 3 Serenissima and ULSS 4 Veneto Orientale), involving both top and middle management in three operational units (internal medicine, emergency services, and primary care).

Within this framework, the University of Trieste is responsible for the cultural adaptation of the model, through translation, reworking, and comparison with existing best practices, in close dialogue with the professionals involved. The following stages will include implementation within healthcare organizations, scientific validation, and dissemination of results.
“There are many cultural and linguistic challenges ahead,” Cervai explained, “starting with the very meaning of the word compassionate, which in Italian must be understood as empathy and support, not as pity or sentimentality.”

The other academic partners will be in charge of quantitative validation (Prof. Paolo Gubitta, University of Padua), qualitative validation (Prof. Elisa Ambrosi, University of Verona), and dissemination (Prof. Federico Lega, University of Milan). The Veneto Region will oversee both the coordination and the implementation within the participating healthcare organizations.

The project’s kick-off meeting was held in Venice, at the Scuola Grande di San Marco Evangelista, in the presence of the Regional Minister of Health and the General Director for Health of the Veneto Region, the General Directors of the two participating ULSS units, and university representatives.

This initiative is part of the strategic actions outlined in Resolution No. 960/2024 of the Veneto Region to tackle the retention crisis in the public healthcare sector and stands as a virtuous example of collaboration between institutions, academia, and the healthcare system.

Promoting innovation, digital and green transition, and cooperation among Italian and Croatian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the blue economy sectors: this is the goal of the LEAP TO BLUE – Unleash the potential for joint transition in the blue economy project, funded by the Interreg Italy–Croatia 2021–2027 Programme and officially launched with the kick-off meeting held at the University of Zadar.

The University of Trieste is a scientific partner in the project through the Department of Economic, Business, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences (DEAMS), with a team coordinated by Professor Rubina Romanello and composed of faculty members, research fellows, and technical-administrative staff: Guido Bortoluzzi, Alberto Dreassi, Chiara Marinelli, Antonio Eusebio Fiori, and Piero Gabrielli. The project, led by the University of Zadar, is expected to last three years, with a total budget of over six million euros, of which nearly one million is allocated to UniTS.

LEAP TO BLUE addresses shared challenges faced by the coastal regions of Italy and Croatia, including the adoption of advanced technologies, the development of digital and environmental skills, access to international markets, and the reduction of territorial disparities. The difficulties many SMEs encounter on the path toward green and digital transition—together with the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation—require integrated responses and a cross-border vision.

The project aims to engage over 150 small and medium-sized enterprises, supporting them in adopting sustainable and innovative practices, creating new jobs, and expanding into new markets. To achieve these goals, LEAP TO BLUE will promote training and mentoring activities, facilitate business collaborations through networking events, and implement a voucher scheme through two calls, allowing SMEs to access specialized services for innovation, growth, and internationalization.

The University of Trieste is actively involved in all phases of the project and will play a key role in two Work Packages. In WP2 – Cross-Border Partnerships and Service Launch for Blue Economy Transformation, UniTS will take part in workshops aimed at promoting the project’s opportunities to service providers and SMEs in both Italy and Croatia, including hosting one of the events in Trieste. In WP3 – Sustainability model for upskilling and reskilling to enable competitive and sustainable cross-border blue economy, UniTS will contribute to the development of a monitoring system for skill and human capital development, a strategic element for ensuring sustainable and long-lasting growth of the blue economy in the Adriatic context.

During the inaugural press conference in Zadar, Professor Romanello stated that the University of Trieste is particularly pleased to play an active role in an initiative aimed at strengthening the blue economy ecosystem in the Adriatic basin through collaboration among academia, businesses, and institutions. The project, she emphasized, represents a concrete opportunity to support SMEs in adopting more sustainable and digital business models, while creating new synergies on both sides of the Adriatic.

LEAP TO BLUE involves six main partners: in addition to the University of Trieste and the University of Zadar, participants include the Croatian Chamber of Economy, the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing at the University of Zagreb, ARTI Puglia, and Unioncamere Veneto. The initiative is also supported by numerous Italian and Croatian institutions, including HAMAG-BICRO, the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Youth, Unioncamere Italy, and ART-ER Emilia-Romagna.

Today, August 1, 2025, marks the beginning of the term of Rector Donata Vianelli, the first woman to lead the University of Trieste.

A Full Professor of Business Economics and Management, Vianelli is the sixteenth person to hold the role of highest academic authority at the University of Trieste since its founding.

She succeeds Roberto Di Lenarda, with whom a formal handover took place today, in a spirit of full cooperation and institutional continuity.

Donata Vianelli previously served as Director of the Department of Economic, Business, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences. From 2013 to 2019, she was the Rector’s Delegate for Student Orientation and Job Placement, representing UniTS in Almalaurea, in the University-Business Observatory, and in the CRUI Ranking Group.

Graduating with honors from the University of Trieste, Vianelli earned her PhD in Business Administration from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. Her research interests include business internationalization, corporate strategy, sustainability, and supply chain management, with over 130 publications and numerous collaborations in Europe, the United States, and China.

Vianelli will be supported by Mauro Tretiach, Full Professor of General Botany and former Director of the Department of Life Sciences, who will serve as Deputy Rector for the next six years, succeeding Professor Valter Sergo.

Her term will conclude on July 31, 2031.