Paolo Fornasiero, professor of General and Inorganic Chemistry at the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Trieste, has been elected member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, in the Technical and Environmental Sciences class.

The election of Prof. Fornasiero recognises his pioneering contribution in the field of nanomaterials for environmental catalysis and energy, as well as his international leadership in research, innovation and the education of young people.

This recognition by the European Academy of Sciences and Arts further highlights Prof. Fornasiero's achievements as a world-renowned scientist.

The European Academy of Sciences and Arts is a European non-governmental association committed to promoting scientific and social progress. The Academy brings together 1,900 eminent scholars and professionals from across Europe, including 38 Nobel Prize winners. They are divided into seven classes: Humanities, Medicine, Arts, Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Law and Economics, Technical and Environmental Sciences, and World Religions. Academy members are elected for their outstanding achievements in the fields of science, the arts and governance. 

Prof. Fornasiero is one of the few scientists to have been elected to the Academia Europaea, the European Academy of Sciences and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts.

UniTS, in collaboration with OGS, hosted a delegation from the Municipality of Yalova (Turkey) composed of the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Director of Gebze Technical University’s Civil Protection.

The meeting marked the start of a new scientific collaboration between UniTS, OGS, Gebze Technical University and the Municipality of Yalova with the aim of contributing to the reduction of seismic risk in Yalova through joint research, exchange of expertise and shared initiatives.

We are excited to embark on this joint journey to strengthen resilience and promote a lasting partnership,’ said Stefano Parolai, Head of the Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Geosciences.

Three UniTS projects have received funding of over 5 million euros from the Italian Science Fund (Fondo Italiano per la Scienza – FIS). This is an excellent achievement that consolidates the University’s role in innovative and quality research. 

Two projects were presented as Advanced Grants by the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, respectively by Paolo Fornasiero, full professor of General and Inorganic Chemistry and Vice-Rector for Research and by Federico Rosei, full professor of Industrial Chemistry. The third project, funded by the Starting Grant line, was presented by Matteo Marinelli of the Department of Physics. 

Rector Donata Vianelli pointed out: ‘These results confirm the quality of recruitment at our university and the commitment of researchers to attract funds that will bring innovation to our research facilities and enable quality research to be conducted internationally.’

The FIS finances research projects of high scientific value conducted by junior researchers (Starting Grant), senior researchers (Consolidator Grant) and established researchers (Advanced Grant) within the ERC (European Research Council) sectors. 

The main objective is to promote the development of fundamental research as established at European level along the lines of the European Research Council (ERC).

The third edition of this programme had a budget of 475 million euros and has allocated significant funding, between 1 and 2.4 million euros, to projects presented by Italian public and private universities and academic institutions, by special-law advanced schools, public research bodies, research hospitals (IRCCS) and legal entities with research purposes. Approximately 325 projects have been funded. 

Here are the winning UniTS projects:

Prof. Paolo Fornasiero’s project (PhotoElectrocatalytic smart Systems for CHEmicals and FUels production) will receive funding of € 2.3 million to tackle an innovative study aimed at developing a  tandem catalytic system in which the photocatalytic conversion of biomass derivatives into industrially useful products is coupled with an electrocatalytic process that can be tuned to the evolution of H2 or the hydrogenation of unsaturated organic molecules.

Prof. Federico Rosei’s project (Study of model photocatalysts to optimize water splitting) will receive € 1.9 million in funding to study model systems that make it possible to understand the mechanisms of photocatalytic water splitting.

Prof. Marinelli Matteo’s project (Tweezer-based quantum Repeater InterConnection) will receive € 1.1 million to develop a new experimental platform dedicated to next generation quantum networks. The project aims to create a modular architecture based on ytterbium atoms trapped in optical tweezers interfaced with an optical resonator for the creation of entanglement states between atoms and photons, a key element for the future quantum internet. 

Photo: prof. Fornasiero, Marinelli and Rosei

From Thursday 27th November to Tuesday 9th December 2025, the Gorizia Campus library of the University of Trieste hosts the travelling exhibition The Garden of the (In)visibles, an international project that invites us to look at European borders as places of stories, passages and rights. 

The set-up stems from the collaboration between the University of Trieste and the Primorska University of Koper (Slovenia), which was launched as part of the Transform4Europe University Alliance: a joint work that exposes objects abandoned by people moving along the routes between Croatia, Slovenia and Italy and transforms them into traces of a shared European heritage.

The project takes the form of field research activities conducted jointly by professors, researchers and students of the two universities. The objects collected along the migratory paths are goods of daily use necessary for eating, sleeping, covering or caring, but also elements related to the intimate and spiritual sphere. Snatched away from the invisibility they are often surrounded by, these materials are recontextualised as ‘talking artifacts’: small physical elements that refer to identities, memories and belongings, opening a bridge between material heritage and intangible heritage, between what remains and the lives that have gone through it.

‘Ourtask as a university, as researchers, as students is above all to stimulate social but also political reflection on what is happening at European borders, not only in our own country, with regard to migratory mobility,’ emphasises Professor Roberta Altin, UniTS Rector’s Delegate for Development Cooperation and scientific coordinator of the exhibition. 

The Garden of the (In)visibles not only exhibitssome objects, but questions visitors and institutions about the materiality of a phenomenon that might remain abstract and calls for a responsible look at what is happening at Europe’s borders.

Conceived as T4E’s Common Cultural Activity of Work Package 7 (Common Heritage & Multilingualism), the exhibition is an evolving project that, step by step, is enriched with local contributions, artistic installations, oral stories and moments of public debate. After its debut at the University of Saarland, the exhibition will cover a total of seven out of ten T4E universities, including Italy, Slovenia, Germany, Portugal, Bulgaria, Spain and Poland. The Gorizia stage has a particularly symbolic value because it brings the project back to the border from which it started, rooting the European dialogue in the territory that inspired it.

The opening is scheduled for Thursday 27th November at 17:00 in the Gorizia Campus library of the University of Trieste (via Alviano 18, first floor). Prof. Roberta Altin from UniTS, Prof. Katja Hrobat Virloget from Primorska University, Prof. Jure Gombač from the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and Giuseppe Grimaldi of the University of Trieste. The event will also be actively attended by students from UniTS, UP and Collegio Fonda; The ‘Fonda for Others’ working group will gather visitors’ impressions and reflections during the visit.

The exhibition will be open and freely accessible until 9th December 2025. The library will be open from Monday to Thursday from 9:00 to 18.30 and on Fridays from 9:00 to 13:00; the venue will be closed on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

The exhibition will end with a T4EU International Conference entitled ‘Standing up for Higher Education in Times of Global Crises’, scheduled for Tuesday 9th December 2025 at 15:00 in the Main Hall of the Gorizia Campus (via Alviano 18).

For information about the project and the exhibition: t4eu.heritage@units.it.

Researchers from the ArQuS Laboratory at the University of Trieste managed to trap and photograph individual ytterbium atoms for the first time in Italy. They extended imaging techniques to new regimens: by observing the light emitted with a microscope, the researchers were able to clearly distinguish each individual atom and accurately count the number contained in a single trap, a capability lacking in existing techniques, where measurements were so far limited to distinguishing only between zero and an atom.  

The results, published in the two prestigious international journals Quantum Science Technology and Physical Review Letters, offer important perspectives for the development of sciences and technologies based on quantum bits (or qubits), such as computers and quantum clocks: The ability to observe every single atom with great precision is, in fact, a fundamental element for the realisation of a system of atomic qubits.  

Francesco Scazza, associate professor of Physics of Matter at the University of Trieste and head of the ArQuS Laboratory, explains: ‘To photograph very dim light sources, such as celestial bodies or, indeed, individual atoms, long exposures are usually used in order to collect a fairly large signal (i.e. a large number of photons) and to be able to distinguish the objects photographed from the background. In our work we have used an alternative approach, similar to using a camera flash: by illuminating the atoms with a lot of light for a very short period of time, it is possible to obtain a signal sufficient to distinguish each atom very clearly, reducing the duration of the detection without compromising its performance.’ 

In the technique devised by the ArQuS Laboratory, the atoms, cooled to almost absolute zero (-273 °C) by a laser light and then captured in ‘optical tweezers’ are illuminated with a second laser, of which they absorb and re-emit part of the light thanks to the fluorescence phenomenon.  

Omar Abdel Karim, a researcher at the ArQuS Laboratory, explains: ‘One of the main challenges in observing individual atoms is not losing atoms during image acquisition. Because of the absorption and re-emission of light, atoms acquire energy and can escape the trap. We were able to compensate for this effect by using an additional laser to cool the atoms during the image’. 
 
This solution is based on a delicate balance between the fluorescence light and the cooling light to ensure that the atoms remain trapped, allowing them to clearly distinguish their presence and reuse them for subsequent experiments. Another important element of the measurements conducted is the speed of execution.  

Alessandro Muzi Falconi, researcher at the ArQuS Laboratory, comments: ‘In recent years, one of the industry’s goals has been to develop imaging techniques that can observe atoms faster and faster, and possibly without losing them during imaging. Thanks to a technique based on short and intense fluorescence pulses, we were able to observe the atoms, without inducing losses, in a few millionths of a second, about a thousand times faster than the typical acquisition times. Our technique is based on the fact that atoms acquire energy during the image, but not enough to escape from optical traps. In addition, by means of fast cooling pulses we can remove the excess energy after the image, and repeat the observation of the same atoms for dozens of images in succession’. 

Another important result of the research group is the first observation of individual atoms of the element ytterbium-173, a particular isotope (atom of an element that has different mass numbers and therefore different atomic mass) charactersed by six internal states at its fundamental level, which would allow the development of quantum circuits based on qudits and no longer just qubits, storing and exchanging information more efficiently.  

The ArQuS Laboratory was born in 2022 from a collaboration between the University of Trieste and the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and thanks to an ERC Starting Grant of €1.4 million granted by the European Commission. 

***************************

Comprehensive study published in Quantum Science Technology 

Single-atom imaging of 173Yb in optical tweezers loaded by a five-beam magneto-optical trap 

O. Abdel Karim1,2,4, A. Muzi Falconi3,4, R. Panza3,1, W. Liu1,5 and F. Scazza3,1,∗ 

1. National Institute of Optics of the National Research Council (CNR-INO), 34149 Trieste, Italy 
2. Department of Physics, University of Naples Federico II, 80138 Naples, Italy 
3. Department of Physics, University of Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy 
4. These authors contributed equally to this work. 
5. Present address: Institute of Laser Spectroscopy, Shanxi University, Taiyuan 030006, People’s Republic of China. 

∗ Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. 

Comprehensive study published in Physical Review Letters 

Microsecond-Scale High-Survival and Number-Resolved Detection of Ytterbium Atom Arrays 

A. Muzi Falconi1, R. Panza1,2, S. Sbernardori1,2, R. Forti1,3, R. Klemt4, O. Abdel Karim2, M. Marinelli1,5, and F. Scazza1,2,* 

1. Department of Physics, University of Trieste, 34127 Trieste, Italy 
2. National Institute of Optics of the National Research Council (CNR-INO), 34149 Trieste, Italy 
3. Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., 34149 Trieste, Italy 
4. Physikalisches Institut and Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology, Universität Stuttgart, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany 
5. Institute of materials of the National Research Council (CNR-IOM), 34149 Trieste, Italy 

*Contact author: francesco.scazza@units.it 

A delegation of representatives from the six of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) – TWAS Centres of Excellence https://twas.org/cas-twas-centres-excellence visited UniTS, where they were welcomed by Rector Donata Vianelli, her Delegate for International, Elisabetta De Giorgi, Vice-Rector for Research Paolo Fornasiero, Head of the MIGE Department and Prof. Stefano Di Bella of the Department of Medicine. The delegation was accompanied by Prof. Knobel, Executive Director of TWAS.

The CAS-TWAS CoEs represent an important opportunity for researchers to develop their activity in the laboratories of excellence located in Beijing.

In addition to discussing future goals and possible extensions of their ongoing projects, the delegation was able to learn about the reality and opportunities offered by the University of Trieste and the SiS FVG network.

These are the 16 members of the delegation visiting Trieste:

Dongyao WANG, Deputy Director Division of International Organization Programs, Bureau of International Cooperation, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Zhaohui LIN, Professor & Director CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Climate and Environmental Sciences (ICCES), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Xiaodong ZENG, Professor & Deputy Director, TWAS Young Affiliate Alumni, CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Climate and Environmental Sciences (ICCES), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Chenglai WU, Professor TWAS Young Affiliate, CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Climate and Environmental Sciences (ICCES), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Bo HAO, Program Officer for International Cooperation, CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Climate and Environmental Sciences (ICCES), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Chunshan LI, Professor & Director, TWAS Young Affiliate Alumni, The CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Green Technology (CEGT), Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Yang ZHOU, Program Officer for International Cooperation, The CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Green Technology (CEGT), Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Yanping ZHANG, Professor & Director CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Biotechnology (CoEBio), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Liu HE, Program Officer for International Cooperation, CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Biotechnology (CoEBio), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Likui Wang, Associate Professor CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Emerging Infectious Disease (CEEID), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Science

Wang Liang, Associate Professor CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Emerging Infectious Disease (CEEID), Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Qihui Wang, Professor CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Emerging Infectious Disease (CEEID)

Deputy Director of the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Fang CHEN, Professor & Director Co-Chair of TWAS Young Affiliates Network, CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Space Technology for Disaster Mitigation (SDIM), Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Lei WANG, Professor CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Space Technology for Disaster Mitigation (SDIM), Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Baiwen Ma, Professor & Director CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Water and Environment (CEWE), Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Jiaoqi Huyan, Program Officer CAS-TWAS Centre of Excellence for Water and Environment (CEWE), Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Friuli Venezia Giulia now has its first specialists in Pharmacology and Clinical Toxicology. Today (Friday 21st November), the final exams of the first course of the School of Specialisation in Pharmacology and Clinical Toxicology at the University of Trieste, promoted in collaboration with the Research Hospital Burlo Garofolo, in partnership with the Pharmacology departments of the Research Hospital and Oncological Reference Centre (CRO) of Aviano, and the local health authorities AsuFc and AsuGi.

This is one of the most prestigious training courses in contemporary pharmacology, at the crossroads between clinical research, drug governance, therapy safety and therapeutic innovation. The specialisation in Pharmacology and Clinical Toxicology qualifies graduates to carry out professional activities in areas crucial to modern healthcare: therapeutic drug monitoring, pharmacogenetics, pharmacovigilance, pharmacoeconomics, clinical trials, appropriate prescriptions, therapeutic innovation management and related clinical and care activities.

The course is open to graduates in Medicine, but also in Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Technology, Biology and other scientific degrees; it is also equivalent to the specialisation in Hospital Pharmacy.

At the end of the exams, the Examination Board – composed of Professors Marianna Lucafò and Raffaella Franca of the University of Trieste, Dr Erika Cecchin of the Oncological Reference Centre in Aviano, Professor Massimo Baraldo of the University of Udine and AsuFc, and chaired by Professor Gabriele Stocco of the University of Trieste and Burlo, who is also the director of the specialisation school – announced the first four specialists trained in our region.

The creation of this specialisation school, strongly supported by Professor Giuliana Decorti and Dr Anna Arbo, who heads the Pharmacy Department at Burlo, represents a significant step forward at a time when the role of the clinical pharmacologist is increasingly central to drug policy and the sustainability of regional and national health systems.

'This is an important milestone for the Department of Medicine, Surgery and Health Sciences (DSM) at the University of Trieste, the result of the University's policy of investing in the growth of the number of specialisation schools, in order to provide the regional healthcare system with key professionals trained in our region,' said Luigi Murena, head of the DSM Department

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, observed on 25 November, the Comitato Unico di Garanzia (CUG) of the University of Trieste is promoting a Focus Week aimed at engaging both the university community and the general public. The initiative seeks to explore the phenomenon from different perspectives and to offer tools to understand it, provide training, and raise awareness.

According to data from the Department of Public Security of the Italian Ministry of the Interior, in the first half of 2025 there was an increase in murders committed by a partner or former partner: compared with the same period in 2024, cases rose from 33 to 40 (+21%). The number of female victims also increased from 28 to 34 (+21%).

This means that, among all murders occurring within family or intimate relationships, 67% of victims are women, and of these, 85% are killed by a partner or former partner. The figures therefore highlight how women are most at risk of violence precisely in contexts where they should feel safest and most protected.

“The Focus Week ‘Knowing, training and informing to end violence against women’,” explains Prof. Maria Dolores Ferrara, Chair of the University’s CUG, “is designed first and foremost for young people such as university students. Through a series of seminars, professors from the University of Trieste’s departments will address issues related to violence against women, gender stereotypes and inequalities.”

As in previous years, several university classrooms will host the Posto Occupato initiative. By symbolically reserving empty seats, the project commemorates all women who were victims of violence—women who, before being killed by a husband, former partner or lover, once occupied a seat in a theatre, on a tram, at school, at university and, more broadly, in society.

In cooperation with other local organisations and institutions, the University’s CUG is also promoting a calendar of awareness‑raising events open to the public, including the following:

Ending violence against women and domestic violence: legislation and field work
Meeting organised by Soroptimist Trieste
25 November 2025, 6.00 pm, Stazione Rogers, Riva Grumula 14

Gender‑based violence between law and lived reality
Natalina Folla and Patrizia Romito, former UniTS professors, interview Paola Di Nicola Travaglini, Justice at the Court of Cassation
16 December 2025, 3.00 pm, Aula Magna, Building A, Piazzale Europa Campus

Notes of light: women’s memories
Concert in memory of femicide victims by the University of Trieste Choir and the Student Council
16 December 2025, 6.00 pm, Aula Magna, Building A, Piazzale Europa Campus

The programme also includes a listening point run by the GOAP Anti‑Violence Centre, which will be available on Thursday 27 November from 4.30 pm to 6.30 pm in Building B of the Piazzale Europa Campus.

From 24 to 28 November, the entrance hall of the right wing of Building A will host the exhibition “What Were You Wearing? Toward a Positive Manifesto,” promoted by the Trieste Women’s Council. The display presents clothing worn and excerpts from court statements given by women who have experienced violence. It offers a reflection on misguided interpretations that, in public debate or in investigative settings, may place undue emphasis on clothing and generate forms of secondary victimisation. The exhibition is complemented by QR codes for further information and by a notebook open to visitors’ contributions, inviting them to leave thoughts or proposals for shared action to counter violence. The collected materials will feed into a forward‑looking manifesto, to be presented in March 2026.

To express solidarity with women who are victims of violence and to reaffirm its commitment to raising awareness among young people and the wider community, on Tuesday 25 November the University of Trieste will light the façade of Building A in red.

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

FULL PROGRAMME OF INITIATIVES 

The Silver Plaque for the ‘Chini Memorial Lecture 2025’ was awarded to Paolo Fornasiero, professor in the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Vice-Rector for Research at UniTS, for his ‘fundamental contribution to the study of the relationships between the structure and properties of inorganic materials and their impact on energy and heterogeneous catalysis’.

The award was presented in Pisa during the 23rd National Congress of the Industrial Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society.

Previous award winners include Nobel Prize winners Jean-Marie Lehn (Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg, France), Ernst Otto Fischer (Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany) and Geoffrey Wilkinson (Imperial College of Science and Technology, London, UK).

At the congress, Paolo Fornasiero presented a plenary lecture entitled “The criticality of metal particle size speciation in sustainable catalysis”.

The Precious Papers exhibition promoted by the University Museum Services of the University of Trieste (SmaTS) will start on Thursday 13th November at Stazione Rogers at 18:00.  The initiative, carried out as part of the agreement between Stazione Rogers and the University of Trieste, will propose five weekly meetings until11th December to discover treasures from the libraries of the University Library Services and works of art from the collection of the University Museum Services.

The exhibition will start with a speech by Cristina Cocever and Elisa Zilli, librarians of the University of Trieste, who will present the book Keika Zuan, by Keika Hasegawa, an important Japanese artist of the nineteenth century, belonging to the Library of the Institute for the Promotion of Small Enterprises in Trieste.

The second event will be held by Maria Rosa Mezzi, a librarian at the University of Trieste, and Zeno Saracino, a historian and journalist, who will talk about the Library of the German Gymnasium in Trieste, using Michelangelo Rustia’s 1864 Schiarimenti sull’arte della ginnastica con un avviamento agli esercizi elementari (handbook on the physical education as an art starting from basic exercises).

The following week it will be the turn of Rossella Fabiani, art historian, who, together with Cristina Cocever, will illustrate the drawing book by Sant’Antonio Nuovo di Pietro Nobile kept by the Writers’ Archive of the University of Trieste.

Walter Gerbino, professor at the University of Trieste, will focus on the graphic and pictorial works of Gaetano Kanizsa in the collections of the University Museum Services.

At the end of the exhibition, Massimo De Grassi, a professor at the University of Trieste, and Serena Paganini, an art historian, will present the fund of the artist Dino Predonzani, donated by his heirs to the University of Trieste.

Free entry

PROGRAMME

Thursday 13 November, 6 p.m.

‘The library of the Institute for the Promotion of Small Enterprises and its treasures’

Cristina Cocever and Elisa Zilli  

Thursday 20 November, 6 p.m.

‘Ding physical education in 19th-century Trieste: between SGT and German Gymnasium’

Maria Rosa Mezzi, Zeno Saracino

Thursday 27 November, 6 p.m.

‘The drawing book by Sant’Antonio Nuovo di Pietro Nobile in the Fonda Savio Archive’

Rossella Fabiani, Cristina Cocever

Thursday 4 December, 6 p.m.

‘Gaetano Kanizsa and the practice of self-organisation’

Walter Gerbino

Thursday 11 December, 6 p.m.

‘The Predonzani donation to the University of Trieste’

Massimo Degrassi, Serena Paganini