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133 PhDs toss their caps to the sky!

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The University of Trieste today proclaimed 133 new PhDs, the highest number ever, during the Graduation Day ceremony held in the Main Hall of Building A in Piazzale Europa.

The 36th-cycle PhDs, who celebrated their proclamation with the traditional ‘tossing of the academic cap’, registered a further increase in the international presence – one in five is in fact from abroad – and witnessed the perfect gender balance achieved among PhD students. 

‘Graduation Day,’ says Prof. Alessandro Baraldi, Deputy for scientific research and Doctorates at the University of Trieste, ‘does not only celebrate the achievement of an extraordinary milestone for our young researchers, but it is also the moment when the University wishes to express its gratitude to the PhD students, who represent a fundamental part of our research activity. 

It is a recognition,' Baraldi concludes, ’that will culminate on 2nd December, with the awarding of the PhD Innovation Awards in the centenary year.’

The University of Trieste's initiative – an absolute novelty – will celebrate through the awarding of five prizes to young scholars a century of research, excellence, creativity and ingenuity, rewarding innovation in thought, knowledge, research methodologies and technologies.

The guest of honour at Graduation Day was Marco Gori, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Siena, who delivered a lectio magistralis entitled ‘Intelligent Machines that do not Accumulate Data’, in which he proposed a new approach to artificial intelligence and machine learning that is not based on the massive accumulation of data. 

Gori suggested that, as happens in nature, machines can develop cognitive skills through interactions with the environment, thus avoiding the centralisation of large collections of data. This approach would reduce privacy risks and concentration of power.

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Graduation Day with a record number of PhDs. International attendance also grows, rising to 20 percent
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THE 2025 Ranking: UniTS confirms its position

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The University of Trieste ranks once again in the 501-600 range among the world’s top universities according to the prestigious THE 2025 ranking published by Times Higher Education.

The ranking evaluates universities based on five main indicators, each with a specific weight: teaching quality (29.5%), research environment (29%), research quality (30%), knowledge transfer to industry (4%), and international outlook (7.5%).

Compared to the previous year, the University of Trieste achieved higher scores in teaching quality and research environment, two key areas that together represent 60% of the overall evaluation. Specifically, the teaching quality score rose from 31.9 to 33, while the research environment score increased from 25.1 to 26.4.

This achievement reflects the university's strength in the global academic landscape, placing it in the top 28% of the world’s best universities ranked by THE, which reviews only 2,092 institutions among over 20,000 worldwide.

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Teaching quality and research environment ratings are rising
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Why humans and animals prefer consonant sounds: biological roots discovered

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Researchers from the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste, in collaboration with the Sapienza University of Rome, have discovered that the preference of animal species, both human and non-human, for consonant sounds would be partly physiologically determined. The hypothesis at the origin of the study, conducted on one hundred and thirty hatchling chicks, is that the constituent elements of musical abilities - of humans and animals - have a biological root, shared between species that are also phylogenetically distant, and do not depend solely on culture and musical experience.

‘Previous research by the University of Trieste had already led to the discovery that chicks, like other species, prefer so-called consonant musical intervals. The latter, in fact, are those that most resemble the sound produced by living beings, while the dissonant ones recall the lesser harmony of environmental sounds,’ explains Andrea Ravignani, professor of general psychology at the Department of Human Neuroscience at the Sapienza University of Rome. ‘At the time, we did not know the reasons for this; today, however, we know – thanks to studies conducted together, the University of Trieste and the Sapienza University of Rome - that consonant intervals are produced in acoustic social signals.’

The research was carried out on one hundred and thirty hatchling chicks; once hatched, the chicks – which do not require any parental care, neither to develop their vocal repertoire nor to walk – were reared for four days, in pairs, in rectangular cages at controlled room temperature. 

The following calls were recorded for each chick in soundproof pens: contact calls emitted by the chick when it feels discomfort because, for example, it is separated from the hen, brooding calls emitted in pleasant situations and food calls emitted when the chick identifies a profitable food source. These calls are part of a complex vocal code that chicks develop from hatching to adulthood to communicate their needs to other conspecifics and to express the positive or negative nature of a situation they are experiencing. 

The researchers stimulated the production of each type of call by the chicks by gradually recreating the natural situation associated with each one. Specifically, they recorded: contact calls, leaving the chicks alone in the empty pen after separating them from their rearing mate and the imprinting object; brood calls, placing an imprinting object in the centre of the pen after initial isolation; food calls, placing a dish of food in the centre of the pen after removing the imprinting object.

After analysing the minimum and maximum peaks of the fundamental frequencies and calculating their ratio, the study revealed a prevalence of perfect consonance in all types of calls, confirming the idea that consonant sounds are intrinsically present in animal communication. The only recorded dissonances were found in situations of particular distress, such as isolation contexts.

‘This research could open up promising applications: a chick that emits a sound with a certain frequency is probably indicating a certain type of situation, and we now know that the most harmonious calls are those emitted in the most pleasant situations,’ explains Cinzia Chiandetti, associate professor of psychobiology at the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste. ‘Depending on the dominance of consonances or dissonances, we will be able to understand the emotional status of the animal associated with the context in which it finds itself: we are not so far from being able to imagine devices capable of recording the calls and returning the level of comfort or stress of the animal in front of us, even of chickens that, as the writer Andrew Lawler would say, are the birds that have nurtured civilisation’ concludes the expert.

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Full study published in Biology Letters

Chicks produce consonant, sometimes jazzy, sounds

Gianmarco Maldarelli1,2, Andrea Dissegna1, Andrea Ravignani3,4,5 and Cinzia Chiandetti1

1Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy

2Department of Biopsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Ruhr-Universitat

Bochum, Bochum, Germany

3Comparative Bioacoustics Group, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

4Center for Music in the Brain, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

5Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

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A study coordinated by the University of Trieste in collaboration with the Sapienza University of Rome
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Sport, culture, innovation, society: UniTS returns to the Barcolana

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A one hundred square metre stand, as blue as the jerseys of the athletes who have made the history of Italian sport, will be the ‘branch’ of the University of Trieste in the prestigious setting of Piazza Unità d'Italia, on the occasion of the 56th edition of the Barcolana.

From 5th to 13th October, the University of Trieste, as part of the celebrations linked to the 100th Anniversary of its foundation, will once again take part in what has become one of the world's greatest sporting events and will open ‘Casa UniTS’ in the Barcolana Village to meet the world of sport and citizenship through a series of events, talks and presentations that will deal with some of the key themes of the university world in an original and light-hearted way.

In particular, within a daily appointment open to the public, researchers, alumni, students, athletes, journalists and sports managers will discuss scientific and technological innovation, phenomena affecting society, sustainability, social inclusion, culture and the challenges of the future.

Guests will include athletes such as Paralympic gold medallist Matteo Parenzan, Jana Germani, Francesca Genzo, Stefania Buttignon, Ilaria Corazza and Giorgia Marchi, Marcell Jacobs' former coach in Tokyo Paolo Camossi, journalists Paolo Condò, Sergio Tavčar and Giovanni Marzini, Trieste basketball star Daniele Cavaliero and swimming champion Novella Calligaris. The latter, on Saturday 12th October, will talk, in her capacity as president of the Associazione Nazionale Atleti Olimpici e Azzurri d'Italia (National Association of Olympic Athletes and Italian National Team members), about the emotions aroused by the travelling photographic exhibition ‘Tutte le sfumature dell'azzurro’ (All shades of blue), which can be visited in Trieste at the Sala Fittke in those days.

The stand will be inaugurated on Saturday 5th October with the presentation of Aura, the electric racing car of the UniTS Racing Team, the result of a project of technological excellence and innovation in the field of sustainable mobility, on which around sixty students from the University are working to take part in Formula SAE competitions.

Aura will be on display in front of the UniTS stand for the entire opening period of the Barcolana Village and will be accompanied by Bai-Flying Lina, the world's first moth-class boat equipped with terraces composed of a core and linen fibre sandwich, a jewel of technology and sustainability designed by the students of the Audace Sailing Team.

Among the highlights, the 100UniTS Barcolana Dragon Boat Race ‘Rowing for the Future, organised by Trieste University Sports Centre, is scheduled for Thursday 10th October: two characteristic dragon-headed canoes, made available by Venice University Sports Centre, will be steered by crews of UniTS students.

The non-competitive performance will see the two boats take to the water at the entrance to the Grand Canal to reach the Old Sea Wall. The initiative will see the participation of students from different cultures and countries to promote peace, coexistence and social inclusion through sport.

The activities of the University of Trieste at the Barcolana see the contributions of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and Io Sono Friuli Venezia Giulia and the technical partnership of Illy caffè.

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From 5th to 13th October, the University will meet the world of sport at its stand in Piazza Unità. The programme will involve researchers, students, athletes and journalists
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Relazioni d'Arte at UniTS: Elisa Vladilo and Antonio Sofianopulo's exhibitions inaugurated at San Giovanni Park

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The Art Relations project, inaugurated in June 2024 with the exhibitions of Serse and Manuela Sedmach, is completed with the two exhibition points dedicated to the artists Elisa Vladilo and Antonio Sofianopulo set up in two different UniTS locations in the San Giovanni Campus on Via Weiss 6.

The two exhibitions, curated by Lorenzo Michelli, are the final point of a collaboration agreement signed on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the University of Trieste with ERPAC – Friuli Venezia Giulia Cultural Heritage Agency, which has given rise to a series of exhibition initiatives culminating in Art Relations.

Elisa Vladilo has come into contact with the structure of the San Giovanni Theatre, reinterpreting it in its historical, identity and architectural components to offer a contemporary reinterpretation of a positive nature. The installation Funny Reflections finds its place on the facade of the building, in particular in the glass parts of the windows and doors that are reinterpreted thanks to warm block colours.

‘Imagining that these coloured panes of glass could ideally project the light, obviously of the same colour, onto the asphalt in front, we can create a further imaginary game, where skewed rectangles and ovoid circles are created on the ground that precisely reflect what exists on the facade – explains Vladilo herself – All this is part of the usual path of Public Art, in particular of Ambient Painting, that I have been carrying forward for years, where colour relates to space in a dialogue that enhances and reanimates places.’

Antonio Sofianopulo, on the other hand, exhibits an apparently light painting and sarcastic in which elements of the natural appear in extremely complex counterpoints.

The collection of his paintings RiConoscenza’ is exhibited in the Museum of Mineralogy and Petrography of the University of Trieste, in Building O of the San Giovanni Campus.

 ‘The salient features of the narrative poetics of Sofianopulo's paintings are discretion, gentleness, tact, subtlety, readiness, elegance, diplomacy, irony. Implied Irony is an obvious value, since the combinations on the canvases can not only hide a criticism and generate a smile, but invite us to think of a craftsman/carver who carries out his work with an infinite series of small touches in order to make it full of indecipherable details and not recognizable at first glance,’ we read in The ethics of the image by Roberto Vidali.

The four exhibition points inaugurated between June and October have allowed these spaces to be regenerated thanks to the artists who, through their works, have expanded themes and suggestions linked to the university institution.

More info at https://100anni.units.it/index.php/home/relazioni-darte/ 

Art Relations is an initiative organized on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the University of Trieste in collaboration with the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, ERPAC FVG, ARDIS and SMATS – University Museum Services.

Biography Elisa Vladilo

She studied at the Art Institute of Trieste, and at the Academy of Fine Arts, Scenography, in Venice and Milan.

Her work is based on installations and site specifics in public and private spaces, through the use of colour in various modalities.

She has held various exhibitions in Italy and abroad, and has created various permanent and temporary projects in various spaces including public spaces, gardens, schools, streets, squares, and train stations.

She collaborates with various cultural associations and professional studios.

She lived in London for 3 years (1997-2000), where she came into contact with some aspects of Public Art; During that period she also participated in Whitechapel Open in London, and the Billboard Site Project in Belfast.

She won a grant from the Pollock- Krasner Foundation in New York in 1998, and participated in a residency in Berlin as part of a European project (2001).

Echo Surrounding, The Old Port, Trieste (2020), Rhyme of Origin, Cambridge – UK (2014), Melting Street, Pula – Croatia (2013), Melting tower, Villach – Austria (2011), I take the landscape and bring it with me, Nervesa della Battaglia (2010).

Biography Antonio Sofianopulo

Antonio Sofianopulo was born in Trieste in 1955, the city where he lives and works. 
He studied art, but his education mainly took place in the family with his mother Renata, a painter and advertiser, and with his great-uncle Cesare, a symbolist painter and student of von Stuck. He 
began exhibiting in 1977. Among his solo exhibitions, we will remember those held at the ‘M. Merkouri’ in Athens in 1997, in Trieste at the ‘Palazzo Gopcevich’ for the Revoltella museum in 2003, at the Juliet space in Casier, at the Galleria Victor Saavedra in Barcelona in 2006 and at the Franco Toselli gallery in Milan in 2008 and at the Duetart in Varese in 2009, Bocconi University, Milan in 2010, at the Maniero gallery in Rome in 2011, and at the Revoltella Museum in Trieste in 2015, in 2021 at the Duetart in Varese, in 2022 at the Medusa gallery in Koper and in 2023 at the Studio Vigato in Alessandria.

Among the collective exhibitions we will remember in 1993 ‘La montagna Dipinta’ at Castel Tevlana and Raffaelli gallery in Trento, ’Equinozio’ at Rivara Castle in 1994, ‘Va' pensiero…’ at the Promotrice alle Belle Arti in Turin in 1997, ‘Bel tempo’ Ludwig ,museum in Budapest in 1999, ‘Mediterranea’ in Dubrovnik in 2001, ‘Da de Chirico a Leonor Fini’ at the Museo Revoltella in Trieste in 2002, ‘A ruota libera’ in the spaces of the Fiera di Milano in 2004, in 2016 ‘Corrispondenze d'Arte’ at the Revoltella museum in Trieste, in 2017 Sala 1 – Rome, in 2018 ‘Soft Revolution ‘ at the Triennale – Milan/ in 2019 Hotel Aquerello Toselli Museo city Milan.

The main reference galleries in Italy are: Studio Vigato in Alessandria, Toselli in Milan and in Spain the Galeria Saavedra in Barcelona. 
His work appears in Germano Celant's latest book +Spazi. One of his works was featured on the 
Luc Orient music CD ‘La Vie À Grand Vitesse’ from 2012

Among others, the following have written about him: Roberto Vidali, Maria Masau Dan, Valerio Dehò, Vittorio Sgarbi, Alessandra Tiddia, Elena Pontiggia and Franco Toselli, Ivan Quaroni, and Francesca Liotta.

Antonio Sofianopulo was among the founders of the international contemporary art magazine Juliet, and is the curator of the ‘Costantino e Mafalda Pisani’ museum of the Eastern Greek Community of Trieste. His works are found at the Paolo Pini museum in Milan, at the ‘P. Revoltella’ museum in Trieste and in various private collections in Italy and abroad.

 

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Can be visited for free until 15 december
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Antibiotic resistant bacterial infections: a promising approach developed in UniTS

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An international study co-ordinated by the Interdisciplinary Centre of Nanoscience of Marseille, with the collaboration of organisations and research centres of excellence, including the Biology and Nanotechnology Laboratory of the Department of Engineering and Architecture at the University of Trieste, has synthesised a new antibacterial compound that promises to be an excellent candidate for the fight against antibiotic resistance, a growing global public health problem that still causes millions of deaths worldwide.

‘The main threat is posed by the eskape group of bacteria - comprising the genera Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter species - because they are particularly virulent and resistant to antibiotics introduced with treatment” explains Sabrina Pricl, one of the study's researchers and associate professor of chemical engineering at the Department of Engineering and Architecture at the University of Trieste. “Hence the need to develop new antibacterial agents that, on the one hand, are able to kill bacteria, on the other, are not toxic to the organisms that take them in and, above all, do not induce the appearance of further drug resistance.’

The molecule synthesised by the researchers - an amphiphilic dendrimer called AD1b - proved highly efficient against all Gram-negative bacteria, including drug-resistant strains such as Escherichia coli and Acinetobacter baumannii.

The compound interacts with the bacterium by an innovative mechanism of action: it binds to the phospholipids of the bacterial membrane, such as phosphatidylglycerol and cardiolipin, causing the destruction of the membrane itself and the consequent collapse of cell metabolism, leading to the death of the bacterium, without damaging healthy cells - even in vivo - and minimising the risk of developing new resistance, a problem that otherwise plagues traditional antibiotics.

In preclinical tests, the molecule demonstrated strong antibacterial activity as well as great safety, with very low toxicity and no haemolytic effect - results later confirmed in in vivo tests. Moreover, after thirty days of exposure to the compound, no resistance was observed; on the contrary, a drastic reduction in the bacterial load in infected animals was observed.

‘This molecule could pave the way for safer and more targeted therapies and thus give an impetus to the treatment of resistant infections: together with its efficacy, in fact, the ability to not induce resistance puts it in pole position to be further developed at the clinical translational level’ explains Professor Sabrina Pricl.

Researchers from the University of Trieste worked on the design of the AD1 molecule and took part in the computational study, using molecular dynamics simulations to study the interaction between AD1b and the bacterial membrane, applying advanced methodologies supported by CINECA's supercomputing resources.

The research project was funded with NRRP funds and was supported by ICSC, the National Research Centre in High-Performance Computing, Big Data and Quantum Computing.

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Intellectual property and exploitation of research results

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As part of the activities of SiS FVG, the Scientific and Innovation System of Friuli Venezia Giulia, which coordinates 17 regional research and innovation entities, Area Science Park in collaboration with the University of Trieste is promoting for the second year a series of seminars on the topics of intellectual property and the exploitation of research results, making use of the experience of expert speakers in technical and legal aspects from the GLP group.

The initiative, created to disseminate knowledge of intellectual property to students, faculty and researchers at the University, is open to all interested parties.

The seminars will be held at the UniTS CLab, 40 F. Severo Street (Former Military Hospital), in Trieste.

Participation in the seminars is free of charge, after registering at the following link   

PROGRAM:

  • Module 1 - Overview of Intellectual Property Rights - Patent Focus

    September 26, 2024 from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

    Speaker: Stefano Ligi

  • Module 2 - New discipline of inventions in the academic field (art.65 C.P.I.)

    October 9, 2024 from 16:00 to 18:00 hours

    Speaker: Lorenzo Fabro

  • Module 3 – NDA e Licensing

      October 14, 2024 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

      Speaker: Lawyer Erika Poletti

  • Module 4 - Copyright e Creative Commons

      November 13, 2024 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

      Speaker: Lawyer Carmela Barilà

For information:  clab@units.it 

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Seminar series at CLab
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UniTS participates in the EAIE Conference - European Association for International Education

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The University of Trieste is currently participating in the EAIE (European Association for International Education) Conference, Europe's most important fair dedicated to international education. The event, which takes place in Toulouse, France, is a meeting point for academic professionals from all over Europe and beyond.

With a dedicated stand, UniTS has the opportunity to strengthen relations with existing partner universities and initiate new international collaborations.

EAIE represents a strength and a necessity in the education of the future ruling class. Thanks to various international education programmes students come into contact with different cultures and different countries, strengthening their awareness as citizens of the world. And the strengthening of international education programmes is one of the goals of UniTS!’ These were the words of Prof. Barbara Milani, Deputy Rector for International Relations and Mobility, who attended the event.

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UniTS will have a stand at Europe's most important fair dedicated to international education
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Contrasto dei crimini informatici: firmato accordo con la Polizia di Stato

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E’ stato rinnovato oggi alla presenza del Questore di Trieste, Pietro Ostuni, l’accordo tra la Polizia di Stato e l’Università degli Studi di Trieste per la prevenzione e il contrasto dei crimini informatici che hanno per oggetto i sistemi e i servizi informativi delle Piccole e Medie Imprese e Pubbliche Amministrazioni Locali.

La convenzione, firmata dal rettore UniTS Roberto Di Lenarda e dal Dirigente del C.O.S.C. - Polizia Postale e delle Comunicazioni per il Friuli Venezia Giulia Assunta Esposito rientra nell’ambito delle direttive impartite dal Ministro dell’Interno per il potenziamento dell’attività di prevenzione alla criminalità informatica attraverso la stipula di accordi con enti, operatori e amministrazioni che forniscono prestazioni essenziali.

Il protocollo continuerà a garantire la condivisione di analisi di informazioni idonee a prevenire attacchi o danneggiamenti che possano pregiudicare la sicurezza delle infrastrutture informatiche dell’Università degli Studi di Trieste, facilitando la tempestiva gestione di emergenze relative a vulnerabilità, minacce ed incidenti in danno della regolarità dei servizi di comunicazione.

In caso di incidente informatico, poi, il Centro Operativo e l’Università collaboreranno per l’identificazione dell’origine dell’attacco, realizzando altresì attività di comunicazione reciproca per fronteggiare la contingente situazione di crisi. 

Il rinnovo è stato anche occasione per implementare un’ulteriore forma di collaborazione, vale a dire la possibilità, per le Parti, che il proprio personale frequenti reciprocamente corsi di formazione nelle materie di specifico interesse. 

Nello specifico, alcuni operatori della Polizia Postale frequenteranno l'insegnamento “cybersecurity” della Laurea magistrale in Ingegneria elettronica e informatica, tenuto da Alberto BARTOLI, Professore ordinario di Cybersecurity e reti di calcolatori al Dipartimento di Ingegneria e Architettura dell’Università di Trieste.

Nei mesi a seguire, la Polizia Postale terrà alcuni seminari, rivolti agli studenti e al personale universitario, al fine di arricchire il loro bagaglio culturale  con contributi esperienziali sulle modalità di prevenzione e di contrasto al cybercrime.

 “Per la Polizia Postale e delle Comunicazioni, l’articolazione specialistica della Polizia di Stato che si occupa della prevenzione e repressione del cybercrime in tutte le sue cangianti declinazioni – ha concluso Assunta Esposito, Dirigente del Centro Operativo per la sicurezza cibernetica FVG – il rinnovo del protocollo d’intesa rappresenta la riprova della proficua collaborazione tra Istituzioni nell’ambito di quella sicurezza partecipata che ha come obiettivo comune la tutela della cybersicurezza, nelle sue molteplici sfumature.”

“Oggi rinnoviamo e consolidiamo un accordo a cui l’Università di Trieste tiene in modo particolare – ha sottolineato il rettore Roberto Di Lenarda – il dialogo diretto con la Polizia Postale consente alla comunità UniTS di mettere in campo strategie efficaci per difendersi dagli attacchi informatici, aumentare la consapevolezza delle nuove generazioni ai rischi connessi e, allo stesso tempo, di mettere a disposizione le nostre competenze d’eccellenza a chi ogni giorno combatte il cybercrime, sempre più diffuso”.

Nella foto: il Rettore Roberto Di Lenarda, il Questore di Trieste Pietro Ostuni e la Dirigente del C.O.S.C. - Polizia Postale e delle Comunicazioni per il Friuli Venezia Giulia Assunta Esposito.

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Gli operatori della Polizia Postale frequenteranno l'insegnamento “Cybersecurity” della Laurea magistrale in Ingegneria elettronica e informatica
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A decompression space at the museum by UniTS

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A silent, quiet, protected space: a new museum area dedicated to sensory decompression will be available within the exhibition route at the Science Centre Immaginario Scientifico of Trieste from 10th September.

This innovative space is the result of a collaboration between the Science Centre Immaginario Scientifico and the University of Trieste, with the contribution of Fondosviluppo FVG. It is a refuge area for those who, while visiting such a dynamic and socialising environment as the science centre, may need a break to rebalance their senses.

The space was presented on Tuesday 10th September by Serena Mizzan, president and director of the Science Centre Immaginario Scientifico, Caterina Falbo, Deputy Rector for Third Mission and Knowledge Dissemination at the University of Trieste, Giuseppina Scavuzzo, associate professor in Architectural and Urban Composition at the University of Trieste, and Elena Bulfone, president of the non-profit foundation ProgettoAutismo FVG.

The initiative stems from the need to make the museum more and more inclusive for all visitors, in particular for people with sensory atypicalities, such as those on the autistic spectrum, the elderly, or people with neurodegenerative disorders. The Science Centre Immaginario Scientifico is in fact already accessible to people with motor, visual and hearing disabilities, and works constantly on cognitive and sensory inclusivity, with the aim of being accessible to all and improving the well-being of visitors.

The decompression space includes a special seat, covered in sound-absorbing material, known as the Alone-Together Seat. This innovative piece of furniture, designed as part of the European research project The Sensitive Home Senshome, led by Prof. Giuseppina Scavuzzo of the Department of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Trieste, is intended to promote the sensory well-being of people with autism or other sensory and cognitive disabilities. Originally designed for residential environments, the seat has been adapted for the museum context and can accommodate up to two people, thus providing a quiet space for other needs, such as breastfeeding or for situations where sensory overload is experienced.

Completing the shelter area is an element of separation from the rest of the museum, covered with sound-absorbing material, and two information panels, also made of sound-absorbing material, provided free of charge by Eternoivica s.r.l. of Padua. The information panels offer explanations on topics such as the perception of sound, sensory overload and sensory atypicality, the functioning of sound-absorbing and sound-insulating materials.

The new space is therefore not only a place of rest and refuge, but also a tool for knowledge dissemination. It tells the public about the multidisciplinary research conducted by the University of Trieste, with a focus on the importance of neurodiversity and sensory atypicality. Consolidating the University's existing presence at the Science Centre Immaginario Scientifico, Unidiversitas, the newly inaugurated space testifies to the University's commitment to promoting accessibility and inclusion as well. 

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