Giovanni Comelli, Full Professor of Experimental Physics of Matter and Applications at University of Trieste, is the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., the non-profit company of national interest that manages one of the world’s most advanced research infrastructures based on the use of synchrotron light and free-electron lasers for the characterization and development of new materials, biomaterials, pharmaceuticals, and chemical and biochemical processes.

A deep expert on Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Prof. Comelli is the author of more than 250 scientific publications and is actively involved in numerous national and European research programs and scientific infrastructures. He served on Elettra’s Board of Directors from 2005 to 2014, also holding the position of Vice Chairman from 2006 to 2014, and was again appointed board member from 2023 to 2026. Throughout his career, he has also held numerous positions of scientific and organizational responsibility at both national and international levels, including Director of the Department of Physics at the University of Trieste and member of scientific evaluation and advisory bodies promoted by Italian and European institutions.

The second edition of the “Administrative Moot Court: A Training Ground for Justice” has come to an end. The initiative offers UniTS Law students a fully immersive experience in applied administrative law. The aim of the project — which, starting from the next academic year, will become an independent program separate from the Administrative Law chair — is to provide students with the key skills needed for drafting procedural documents, preparing future professionals for the challenges of real courtrooms.

“The project has grown stronger thanks also to the interinstitutional collaboration between UniTS and the leading figures of the administrative judiciary. I would especially like to thank the President of the Regional Administrative Court of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Counsel Avv. Carlo Modica de Mohac di Grisì, Judge Dr. Manuela Sinigoi, and the Secretary General of the Court, Dr. Paola Barzanti,” emphasized Edoardo N. Fragale, lecturer in Administrative Law and creator of the laboratory.

This year once again, the initiative recorded significant participation: 60 students attended the seminar led by Manuela Sinigoi, focused on the functioning of the Court and the analysis of specific cases. Participants then had the opportunity to observe firsthand the discussion of real appeals during the public hearing held last May 6 at the headquarters of the Regional Administrative Court. The laboratory concluded in the University’s Bachelet classroom, where 27 participants competed in an actual moot competition (a simulated trial), taking on the roles of judges and legal counsels for the different parties.

This high-level educational experience aims to bridge the gap between university textbooks and the workings of the judicial system.

The 2027 National University Championships (CNU) will take place in Friuli Venezia Giulia thanks to the joint project submitted by the University Sports Centers (CUS) of Trieste and Udine. The event was awarded by the Federal Council of FederCUSI – the Italian University Sports Federation – following an evaluation process in which the bid from the CUS organizations of our region competed against that of CUS Turin. The project promoted by the CUS of Trieste and Udine was developed in collaboration with the regional CONI committee and the Universities of Trieste and Udine, and received strong support from the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region.

The first steps toward 2027

The Championships will take place between late spring and early summer next year. The main hub of the event will be the Bella Italia Efa Village in Lignano Sabbiadoro (Udine), one of the most important sports accommodation facilities in northeastern Italy. It was selected by the two CUS organizations due to its proven experience in hosting events involving thousands of participants, including student-athletes, technical staff, and accompanying personnel. The various sports disciplines included in the program will take place in facilities located in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Trieste, Udine, and other locations across the region, selected according to the specific needs of each sport. In this regard, the contribution of local authorities, associations, and representatives of the regional sports movement will be essential in supporting the event.

The Championships will feature an especially wide range of optional sports in addition to the mandatory disciplines. The goal is to enhance the unique characteristics of the territory and the region’s sporting vocation by introducing, for the first time within the framework of the CNU, competitions dedicated to Paralympic disciplines as well. The organizers aim to create inclusive National University Championships open to all Italian university students.

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“The awarding of the 2027 National University Championships to Friuli Venezia Giulia,” stated the President of the Region, Massimiliano Fedriga, “is a highly significant achievement and a source of pride for the entire region. Hosting an event of this scale, centered at the Bella Italia Efa Village in Lignano Sabbiadoro, confirms the quality of our facilities and the territory’s ability to work together as a system. I would like to thank the University Sports Centers of the Universities of Trieste and Udine and CONI Friuli Venezia Giulia for the work carried out with commitment, passion, expertise, and vision. The Championships will represent a major opportunity to promote the entire Friuli Venezia Giulia region and the values of sport, inclusion, and youth participation.”

“This is a historic result for our territory and for the regional university sports movement,” explained Michele Pipan, President of CUS Trieste. “The 2027 National University Championships will be a great celebration of sport, but also an opportunity to showcase the quality of our universities, our Region, and a sports system capable of working together as a team.”

“Trieste and Udine are joining forces for an event of national importance,” emphasized Gian Luca Bianchi, President of CUS Udine, “thanks to a broad institutional and technical network that made it possible to build a solid proposal from an organizational, sporting, and logistical perspective. The collaboration between the CUS organizations, universities, and institutions is the key to a project that aims to leave a lasting legacy for university sports and for the entire regional territory.”

“The National University Championships represent far more than a sporting competition: they are unique and unrepeatable opportunities to connect students, universities, territories, and institutions through sharing, inclusion, and collective growth,” stated Donata Vianelli, Rector of the University of Trieste. “The University of Trieste believed from the very beginning in the value of a joint bid developed together with Udine, because dialogue and collaboration between different realities are an integral part of our identity. This event will be an extraordinary opportunity to promote Friuli Venezia Giulia both within and beyond the academic world.”

“Together we win. The awarding of next year’s National University Championships to the university sports centers of Trieste and Udine — and therefore to the Friuli Venezia Giulia territory — proves it,” stressed Angelo Montanari, Rector of the University of Udine. “Sport and university study must become an increasingly close combination for our students, because together they improve performance in both areas and promote a healthier and more conscious lifestyle. Thanks to the high standards demonstrated by students from the region’s universities in both academics and sports, Friuli Venezia Giulia can aspire to become a national benchmark, starting with the 2027 Championships.”

“Friuli Venezia Giulia proves once again that it is truly a home of sport,” stated Andrea Marcon, President of CONI FVG. “Hosting an event of this scale by combining the organizational capabilities of our two most important universities is clear recognition of the quality of our territory and a demonstration of the attention and care that regional sports dedicate to major sporting events. Congratulations to the CUS organizations of Trieste and Udine for securing this event. Once again, Friuli Venezia Giulia — characterized by wonderful local differences capable of coming together as a team — expresses an extraordinary, winning, and explosive strength.”

In pursuit of another remarkable achievement. After the unexpected silver medal won in the 2025 edition, the CUS Trieste men’s basketball team returns to the Spring National University Championships (CNU) determined to make its mark and go as far as possible.

The Trieste team, which qualified automatically for the 2026 edition thanks to last year’s second-place finish, will begin its CNU campaign on Tuesday, 26 May at 9:00 a.m. against CUS Basilicata. The Championships are organised by CUS Piemonte Orientale (CUSPO), with the basketball tournament taking place in Novara from 26 to 30 May.

In Group A, alongside CUS Trieste, which this year will field the team that finished third in the Divisione Regionale 2 championship, and CUS Basilicata, there will also be CUS Verona and CUS Firenze.

CUS Trieste will be coached by Alessandro Meden, assisted by Matteo Drioli. The 11 players selected are: Alessandro Ermacora, Umberto Franceschetto, Nicolò Giurgevich, Sebastiano Glerean, Giacomo Icardi, Luca Ladoni, Giacomo Martin, Vittorio Quariglio, Biniam Santucci, Alessandro Tonasso and Luca Trentin.

“This year,” said coach Alessandro Meden, “we are taking part with the same group that represented CUS Trieste throughout the season, without adding any external players. I don’t know whether we will be able to match last year’s great result, but I am sure that these players, who are constantly improving, will make life difficult for every opponent. This is a very close-knit group, made up of friends and teammates. For many of them, it will be their first CNU and, regardless of the final result, I am certain they will make the most of this valuable experience, both from a competitive and personal growth perspective.”

“After last year’s excellent result and an intense winter preparation,” underlined CUS Trieste President Michele Pipan, “we approach the Championships with the desire to give our best and continue to grow. In Novara, the team that has worn the CUS Trieste colours throughout the season will take to the court, having earned the opportunity to enjoy a high-level sporting and human experience. I wish the players and coach Meden, who has always stood out for his professionalism and commitment to the team, the very best for this adventure.”

The men’s basketball tournament will feature the group stage from Tuesday 26 to Thursday 28 May. The semi-finals will take place on Friday 29 May, while the finals will be played on Saturday 30 May.

The other groups are listed below:
Group B: CUS Milano, CUS Bari, CUS Caserta, CUS Camerino
Group C: CUS Lecce, CUS Sassari, CUS Napoli, CUS Palermo
Group D: CUS Genova, CUS Macerata, CUS Cagliari, CUS Piemonte Orientale

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

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.

UniTS celebrates World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day: on May 8, volunteers from the Trieste Committee will be present in the parking area of the Piazzale Europa Campus from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. with an information stand.

The space will offer practical first aid demonstrations, alcohol prevention activities related to safe driving, and awareness initiatives focused on the fundamental principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement: Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary Service, Unity, and Universality.

The campaign “Health Care in Danger / I Am Not a Target,” dedicated to the protection of healthcare and humanitarian personnel in crisis contexts, will also be presented.

The occasion, established to mark the anniversary of the birth of Henry Dunant, founder of the Movement, represents a moment of recognition for the commitment of millions of volunteers and humanitarian workers who, every day, act around the world to prevent and alleviate human suffering, protect human dignity, and support the most vulnerable communities.

Joint second place with Ca' Foscari University of Venice among medium-sized universities in the North-East in the evaluation of scientific publications by researchers who achieved career advancement between 2020 and 2024, and ninth place among Italian universities overall.

Second among all universities in the North-East for knowledge valorization/public and social engagement, and seventh nationally, ahead of even very large universities.

From the first snapshot emerging from the 2020–2024 Research Quality Evaluation (VQR) carried out by ANVUR (National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research System), UniTS stands out as a university with an overall evaluation of publications above the national average, where deserving researchers are promoted and, above all, as a hub of research with a strong impact on society.

This latter indicator, in detail, assesses the value generated “outside the University” in terms of impact on the local area and society: social and territorial projects and lifelong learning, public engagement, research with an impact on health, well-being, sustainability and inclusion, technology transfer, and academic entrepreneurship.

The VQR evaluated articles, monographs, and other research outputs totaling 199,816 products, compared to approximately 182,000 submitted in the previous 2015–2019 assessment. More than 75,800 researchers were accredited. The number of universities considered also increased, reaching 100. The works were divided among 19 Evaluation Expert Panels (GEV), composed overall of 719 disciplinary experts and 37 interdisciplinary experts from Italian and international institutions. In addition, more than 6,740 international external reviewers were involved in the evaluation.