The Wastereduce project, which involves Croatia and Italy as part of the VI European Territorial Cooperation Program Interreg 2021-2027, was presented at the University of Trieste.

The green project, lasting two and a half years, involves collaboration between research institutes, local administrations, environmental protection and resource management agencies, non-governmental organizations, and service companies. The goal is to improve waste management in protected areas and Natura 2000 Network sites. The initiative aims to implement joint actions to combat waste abandonment using innovative detection and intervention methods.

Eight partners from the regions of Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, and Istria are participating in the project: the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism of Poreč, the consortium leader, the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste, the Istrian Region, the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection of Veneto, the managing body of the natural reserves of the Istrian region "Natura Histrica", the Association for Nature, Environment, and Sustainable Development "Sunce" based in Croatia, ETRA SpA - a benefit company based in Bassano del Grappa (Treviso), and Etifor – Valuing Nature, a spin-off of the University of Padua.

Wastereduce, funded with over 1.6 million euros by the European Union, was created in response to recent alarming data provided by the European Community. This data predicts that, in a "business-as-usual" scenario, the amount of plastic waste entering aquatic ecosystems will nearly triple by 2040, rising from the current 9-14 million tons per year (2016 data) to a forecast of 23-37 million tons per year.

It is estimated that about 80% of this marine debris comes from land-based sources: waste inadequately managed in landfills, litter left on beaches and coastal areas, river runoff, coastal tourism, and waste directly disposed of at sea (e.g., illegal dumping or accidental release from ships).

These materials, especially plastics, cause severe economic damage, impacting coastal communities, tourism, navigation, and fishing. They also pose health risks to humans and biodiversity, affecting public health and resources like drinking water.

The project's approach aims to minimize human activities' pressure on protected areas and Natura 2000 sites by proposing solutions to reduce waste dispersal and developing cross-border cooperation mechanisms to monitor and identify critical areas where waste accumulation requires targeted management efforts. Complementary studies in behavioral psychology will be conducted to understand how to promote habit changes among those who use protected areas and may unknowingly contribute to environmentally harmful actions.

According to Dr. Barbara Sladonja of the Institute of Agriculture and Tourism of Poreč, the project coordinator, "Wastereduce aims to involve as many local entities, institutions, and individual citizens as possible from the outset, who can actively support societal change towards a more sustainable and low-impact future."

The use of advanced technologies, including satellite imagery, will be crucial for necessary territorial analysis to optimize waste collection points. "An important challenge we will face is understanding how the development of artificial intelligence can support remote monitoring systems to control waste accumulation in areas of natural value," says Professor Giovanni Bacaro, Professor of Environmental and Applied Botany at the University of Trieste and project referent for the Department of Life Sciences.

Finally, citizen involvement at various levels will be essential for the project's success. Education and awareness actions will focus on citizens, whose feedback will guide new waste management policies by the project partners. These policies are expected to translate into concrete actions to reduce, mitigate, and prevent pollution from waste in our natural reserves, rivers, and seas. Another result will be increased attractiveness for visitors to natural reserves, thereby enhancing the tourism value of the involved territories.

Political Science and Administration student Ilaria Corazza won a gold medal at the World University Rowing Championships hosted in Rotterdam, bringing UniTS to the top step of the podium.

The young athlete, together with Gaia Colasante of the University of Turin, triumphed in the women's doubles final, which took place in the Willem-Alexander Baan lake, thanks to a resounding stretch that started around 1,000 meters, first putting the Lithuanian crew behind and then overtaking the Polish team.

In the third leg of the race, the Italian pair increased the gap, holding the lead until the finish line with a 1.19-second advantage over the Polish team.

Ilaria Corazza adds this world championship title to an already rich record of achievements that counts an overall World title in the Lightweight four pair, a world title and an under-23 European title in the same speciality, as well as the recent victory at the University Games 2023 in the women's doubles.

Ilaria, who once again carried the colours of the Italian Rowing Federation and the University of Trieste, receives compliments from the entire academic community for the extraordinary talents she continues to demonstrate as an athlete and for the consistency and determination with which she reconciles her sporting and university commitments.

This morning saw the start of the first session of the 2024 Summer Training Modules, the orientation initiative aimed at students who have completed their third and fourth year of 'high school'.

This year's edition opens with record numbers, starting with an even broader (18 modules compared to last July's 12) and more multidisciplinary training offer, but above all for the number of school students involved: 702 enrolled, almost 200 more than the first 2023 session, with a 40% increase.

The initiative confirms its attractiveness for high school students not only from our area: almost 40% of those enrolled come from outside Trieste and 10% from outside the region. Boys and girls from Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Lombardy, Apulia, Sardinia, Sicily, Tuscany, Umbria and Veneto, as well as from abroad (Argentina, Ethiopia, India and Venezuela) will also be getting to know UniTS.

The opening ceremony took place in the Aula Magna of the H3 building with the participation of Giulio Xhaet, partner and digital strategist at Newton S.p.A, with an interactive speech entitled 'Da grande' (When I grow up).

During his speech, Xhaet touched on several topics, including what questions to ask yourself to find your career path and how to increase your skills through personal passions.

Almost 5.5 million euros of cascade funding was announced today at the University of Trieste. The funding is promoted by the iNEST programme, financed by the European Union - Next Generation EU from NRRP funds. 

Recipients of this initiative are micro, small, medium and large enterprises.

Following on from the first round in August 2023, this year, the calls for proposals issued by the 9 Spokes of the iNEST ecosystem targeting the North-East and the South of Italy are once again aimed at stimulating research, development and technology transfer initiatives, and at developing innovative procedures or increasing their maturity for full exploitation by enterprises.

Project proposals must be received by midnight on 8 July 2024. The calls for proposals in Spokes 8 and 9 of iNEST located in the Trieste area have two project themes: Maritime, marine and inland water technologies: towards the Digital Twin of the Upper Adriatic, and Models, Methods, Computing Technologies for Digital Twin. These themes are represented, respectively, by the University of Trieste and the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA).

As in the first round of funding, in this second round, both Spokes envisage a budget of €1,732,090 for the Triveneto (Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto and Trentino-alto Adige regions) call for applications and €979,141 for the Mezzogiorno (southern regions of Italy) call for applications. Over the two-year period 2023-24, a total of 5,422,462 euros will be allocated by each Spoke to companies.

The calls for tenders offer a great opportunity, in particular for the development of technology and materials that will benefit hi-tech and digital economy companies. The component and sensor sectors could equally benefit from the creation of digital 3D models or augmented reality applications which require data monitoring, collection, storage and analysis.

‘The regional university system,’ says Pierluigi Barbieri, Professor at UniTS and Coordinator of Spoke 8, ‘is working in synergy to create opportunities for collaboration between the public and private sectors that can guarantee and improve the attractiveness and competitiveness of our region.’

‘The project follows an innovation model which aims to use research as a base to modernise and grow the production system. This model thrives thanks to the partnership of the nine universities in the Triveneto area and thanks to the institutions of excellence in Trieste.’

‘There are, therefore, all the conditions,’ Barbieri concludes, ‘for the iNEST project to reach its potential and become a real activator of economic wellbeing and improved quality of life.’

‘Our main objective is to bring together expertise and trade associations. This is a great opportunity to boost and enhance the projects within enterprises. We hope that as many companies as possible will pay attention to this opportunity,' says René Buttò, head of SISSA's Enhancement and Innovation Office.

Franco Scolari, Director of the Polo Tecnologico Alto Adriatico, emphasised the Polo's role in translating research expertise into results for companies. Stefano Querin (OGS), representative for Spoke 8, also spoke at the press conference. 

The calls for cascade funding are available on the iNEST website  

Yesterday, Thomas Parisini, Full Professor of Automation at the Department of Engineering and Architecture at the University of Trieste, was dubbed a Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Cavaliere al Merito della Repubblica Italiana).

The honour was awarded to the UniTS professor on 2 June in Piazza dell'Unità d'Italia, during the official ceremony marking the 78th anniversary of the founding of the Republic. The insignia was presented by the Prefect of Trieste Pietro Signoriello and UniTS Rector Roberto Di Lenarda.

The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (OMRI), established in 1951, is the highest of the orders of the Italian Republic and is intended to ‘reward merits acquired on behalf of the Nation in the field of literature, the arts, economics and in the performance of public service and activities carried out for social, philanthropic and humanitarian purposes, as well as for long and distinguished civil or military service’.

This prestigious civil award sits alongside a number of other awards that have characterised Thomas Parisini's academic career, which began at the University of Genoa, where he graduated with honours in Electronic Engineering (1988) and a PhD in Electronic and Computer Engineering (1993).

He subsequently became Associate Professor at the Politecnico di Milano and is currently Full Professor of Automation at the University of Trieste, a position affiliated with the Danieli Group. He is also holds positions as the Chair of Industrial Control, and as the Head of the Control and Power Group at Imperial College London (UK).

Parisini was also Deputy Rector for Business Relations at the University of Trieste from 2009 to 2013.

In 2018, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Aalborg University (Denmark).

Some of the main positions held by Parisini include President of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Control Systems Society in 2021-2022 and Chairman of the Editorial Board (Editor in Chief) of the international journal IEEE Trans. on Control Systems Technology.

He has also received several scientific awards such as IEEE Fellow, IFAC Fellow, the 2007 IEEE Distinguished Member Award, the IFAC Best Application Paper Prize from the Journal of Process Control, Elsevier, and the 2004 Outstanding Paper Award from the IEEE Trans. on Neural Networks.

Federico Rosei, full professor of Industrial Chemistry at the Department of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Trieste, has received two important international awards.

Rosei has been appointed Materials Research Society (MRS) Fellow 2024 for ‘his leadership in the nanomaterials synthesis and characterization, in particular multifunctional materials and their integration in optoelectronic devices, and for his sustained international efforts in service, mentoring and outreach in the field.’

The UniTS lecturer was also presented with the 2024 Fellowship Awards by the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) ‘in recognition of his remarkable achievements in materials physics, particularly multiferroic materials and quantum dots, coupled with outstanding mentorship of trainees, and for international leadership which promotes the excellence of Canadian physics on a global scale’.

Now that the Italy-Austria Interreg project SENSHOME has come to an end, the University of Trieste has obtained new funding from the European Union, enabling the university to continue its studies. The funding will strengthen research and innovation and help to introduce advanced technology, more know-how and the best practices regarding architecture for people with cognitive disabilities.

This is the specific objective of the new Italy-Austria Interreg project "BeSENSHome: Sensors in sensitive environments. Inclusive spaces which accommodate the needs of those with cognitive disabilities".

As part of the BeSENSHome project, advanced systems and smart sensor networks will be specially installed into residences, day-care centres, workplaces and facilities hosting people with neurocognitive disabilities, in order to enhance environmental comfort for occupants. To achieve this innovative goal, these systems must be customisable in order to accommodate the needs of the residents, providing individuals with the maximum level of agency possible over their built environment. Thanks to artificial intelligence coupled with the sensor network, the environment will be able to learn the preferences or requirements of the occupant, identifying stressful triggers and adjusting environmental conditions. It will also be able to alert assistants if intervention is needed, pre-emptively preventing any potentially dangerous conditions from arising. The insertion of these sensor networks into people’s environments will be implemented to the finest detail to ensure optimal integration into existing contexts. To achieve these goals and make the system as useful and user-friendly as possible, a collaborative research and design approach will be adopted throughout the project.

The developed system will then be put to the test, implementing the technologies discreetly and unobtrusively in environments where neurodivergent people and their family members/caregivers need support in their daily lives.

This support will be enhanced by the study of architectural solutions for the spaces. For example, the appropriate choice of materials for furniture and upholstery, lights and light dimming devices will facilitate sight, tactility and comfort within the various environments. The chosen spaces will also be investigated from an acoustic, visual and thermo-hygrometric point of view. This is both in order to optimise the operation of environmental sensors and to study their appropriate positioning to ensure privacy, increase autonomy, and render everyday environments more inclusive and safe.

The UniTS scientific coordinator is Giuseppina Scavuzzo, Associate Professor in Architectural and Urban Composition, Coordinator of the Architectural Studies Course of the Department of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Trieste.

Project partners include: Free University of Bozen-Bolzano (lead partner), the University of Trieste, Kärnten University of Applied Sciences, Eureka system s.r.l., Fondazione Progettoautismo FVG onlus, MCI Management Center Innsbruck GmbH.

 BeSENSHome   

Eugenio Fornasiero of the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste has been awarded € 248,000 by the Telethon-Cariplo Call for Proposals to fund a research project on neurodevelopmental disorders.

The initiative, which the two Foundations commit to continuing into the future, is dedicated to clarifying those still obscure aspects of the human genome potentially responsible for rare diseases.

Now in its third year, the Fondazione Cariplo and Fondazione Telethon call for proposals has led to the selection of 14 new research projects, for a total of € 3.2 million and 22 research groups involved.

In Friuli-Venezia Giulia, € 248,000 have been allocated to fund a project of the University of Trieste.

This brings the total joint investment by the two Foundations to almost € 14 million, which has led to the funding of 59 research projects involving 90 Italian research centres.

This initiative, inspired by a programme of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), aims precisely to ‘illuminate the darkest portion of the human genome’, inviting researchers to study genetic aspects and molecular mechanisms that are still largely unknown or poorly understood, but which represent potential for the development of new therapies for rare diseases. In particular, projects were to focus on the study of so-called T-dark targets, for which information on structure, function and interaction with molecules and drugs is unknown. Although the human genome has been completely sequenced, we still know very little about many genes and the proteins they encode. Suffice it to say that of the 4500 human proteins considered to be possible pharmacological targets, only 700 are currently in the crosshairs of approved drugs: this means that of all the others, more than 80 per cent, there could be proteins that are suitable to be studied in order to develop new therapies, but for several reasons are not being studied.

Eugenio Fornasiero from the Department of Life Sciences at the University of Trieste will coordinate a study on neurodevelopmental disorders. In particular, the project focuses on a specific gene called CCDC32, classified as TDark of which we have very limited knowledge. The loss of function of CCDC32 is the direct cause of a rare and non-specific syndromic intellectual disability,

often accompanied by physical abnormalities. By delving into its function, the fundamental basis for understanding not only this specific gene, but also the more general mechanisms underlying rare intellectual disabilities and associated physical malformations will be provided.

As far as the geographical distribution of the research centres involved is concerned, most - 14 out of 22 - are located in Lombardy; the others are in Emilia-Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Marche, Piedmont and Tuscany. Among the pathologies under study are certain forms of muscular dystrophy such as Duchenne’s and facio-scapulo-humeral dystrophy, blood diseases such as haemochromatosis, haemorrhagic telangiectasia and thalassaemia, but also neurodevelopmental disorders and rare tumours.

A total of 77 project proposals were submitted by Italian non-profit, public or private research organisations. Of these, 69 were deemed suitable and submitted to the evaluation process, entrusted to a medical-scientific commission of 15 internationally renowned scientists from all over the world and chaired by Dr. Massimo Pandolfo of Mc Gill University in Montreal (Canada). For the evaluation of the projects, the peer-review method was used, which indicates the critical assessment that a work or publication receives from specialists with similar skills to those of the person submitting it, guaranteeing the transparency and fairness of the evaluation.

The University of Trieste and the Municipality of Trieste are inaugurating a multi-documental exhibition today at the Bastione Fiorito of the San Giusto Castle, recalling the salient moments and personalities of Trieste’s university century. The exhibition will be open to the public from 15th March to 1st September 2024.

EXHIBITION CATALOGUE 

To mark the University's Centenary celebrations, the University of Trieste and the Municipality of Trieste are to open the exhibition entitled ‘1924 - 2024. A century of history of the University of Trieste. Images and documents’. Proposed and coordinated by the University museum services (SMATS), the exhibition is brought into being with the contribution of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region of. 

‘With this exhibition,’ says municipal councillor Giorgio Rossi, ‘the new exhibition season at the Pomis Bastion continues, put together by the curator of the San Giusto Castle. An exhibition season that began last September and is aimed at exploring the history and excellence of Trieste in various ways. The exhibition that opens today, celebrating the Centenary of the University of Trieste, seals the fruitful collaboration between the University of Trieste and the Municipality of Trieste on the San Giusto hill.’

‘Visitors to the exhibition will have a clear perception of the historical, architectural and cultural heritage of which we are proud custodians,’ says Rector Roberto Di Lenarda. ‘Many will have the opportunity to recognise themselves and travel through glimpses of the past and discover anecdotes and aspects of our university that are perhaps still little known.’

‘With the exhibition, the University intends to place itself at the heart of the cultural and economic history of the city, to strengthen its ties to Trieste as a university city, thus opening up to the swirling change in communication, research, and the interconnections between education and the world of work in which we are all protagonists and participants’ - explains Tullia Catalan, curator of the exhibition and associate professor of contemporary history at the Department of Humanities at the University of Trieste.

The general coordination of the exhibition was supervised by Anna Krekic, the curator of San Giusto Castle, and Laura Sartori, the Centenary activities coordinator.

In a narrative between history, architecture and art, the exhibition itinerary - set up by Lorenzo Michelli – is made up of four distinct sections, balancing historical sources and aesthetic references.

The first historical section, curated by Tullia Catalan and Lorenzo Ielen, retraces the history of the 100th anniversary of the University of Trieste through a selection of images, documents and videos taken from the University's Historical Archive and from numerous public and private, local and regional archives.

Involved in an initial phase in the delicate vicissitudes arising from the conflicts over a disputed border and then affected by the cultural and sociological transformations of the 1960s and 1970s, the university has found its place in international openness, especially in the field of research and technical-scientific disciplines, which are amongst the most prized of the university’s current educational offerings.

The second architectural section, curated by Paolo Nicoloso and Marko Pogacnik, focuses on the 1938 designing of the university's central body, a building with marked symbolic overtones. Illustrated through the technical drawings of the time and some images, the section renders all the complexity and richness of the solutions devised by the designers. The initial iconographic programme, purged of references to the post-war fascist regime, now boasts the famous Minerva, which has become the university's most recognisable symbol over the years, built in 1956 by sculptor Marcello Mascherini, and two large reliefs on the façades of the left and right wings of the building.

The third section, curated by Massimiliano Spanu and Daniele Terzoli and dedicated to audiovisuals, further expands the contents through the screening of valuable documentaries and a film. Standing out for its importance and beauty is the film which has been unarchived - and thus restored to the history of Italian cinema - Pagine d'Università (University Pages), a 1956 Ferraniacolor (a colour film process developed in Italy by Ferrania.) It was made by Anna Gruber, an actress and director, screenwriter and writer from Trieste of international fame, commissioned by the University Film Centre. The film was found in the A. Hortis Civic Library’s Diplomatic Archive and Archival Funds.

The other films on show in the exhibition are taken from the Istituto Luce Historical Archive and from La Cineteca del Friuli - Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Archive. Archival research was carried out with the collaboration of the research centre La Cappella Underground.

The fourth and last section, curated by Massimo Degrassi and Lorenzo Michelli, is dedicated to art history and includes a selection of works - now preserved in the Rector's Gallery - presented in 1953 as part of the National Exhibition of Contemporary Italian Painting held at the University of Trieste. Finally, the final part of the exhibition offers a selection of the works donated to the University by thirty-five artists and collectors on this centenary, already partly illustrated in the event ‘A Trieste mi piaceva arrivare’ (I liked arriving in Trieste) on 20th December 2023.

The exhibition will be open to the public from 15th March to 1st September 2024. From the opening and until 31st March it will be open from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and from 1st April to 1st September daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

A visit to the exhibition is included in the entrance ticket to the San Giusto Castle (full price 6 euros; reduced price 4 euros).

Info: San Giusto Castle 

M2TEST, a spin-off of the University of Trieste, is once again present this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), the world's most important trade fair dedicated to electronics and technological innovation, currently taking place in Las Vegas (USA).

The CES, held every year in January, attracts the attention of thousands of journalists, analysts and industry experts, is attended by innovation companies and investors, and receives global media coverage. The show is considered the event from which the technology trends that will characterise the new year, from AI to health, from mobility to smart cities, emerge.

M2TEST, born from the research activity of Francesca Cosmi, Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UniTS, and from the patents developed jointly with the Julian University, operates in the Digital Health sector with innovative tools for diagnosing the risk of fragility fractures, which afflict people with osteoporosis (particularly menopausal women), sportsmen and women due to stress or, for example, cancer patients, as a consequence of the therapies they undergo.

Over the past few years, the Trieste-based start-up has patented and initiated the use of the BES TEST (Bone Elastic Structure Test), an examination that is completely different from bone densitometry, which is based on the simulation of the application of forces on what can be considered a virtual biopsy of the patient's bone architecture, obtained from X-ray images.
At this edition of CES, M2TEST is presenting the OTTO (Optimal Test Technology for Osteoporosis) prototype, a new remotely controlled medical device for performing the BES TEST. OTTO, jointly patented in 2023 by the company and the University of Trieste, is being developed at the University of Trieste also thanks to a PhD scholarship co-funded by M2TEST.

It is, therefore, a frontier technology developed at UniTS, which has from the outset made itself available in its work to support business creation, refine the business model and promote start-ups in companies in the sector, and still continues to collaborate with a view to open innovation and technology transfer.

The Digital Health sector is booming, particularly in the US, and we are therefore experiencing great interest," explained Francesca Cosmi, who spoke on the 'Innovation Talk: Diversity and Inclusion' panel. "Our 'booth' is set up in the Italian pavilion, a very well organised and stimulating environment where we are together with the 49 other Italian start-ups and innovative companies selected to participate in the CES.

Visitors to M2TEST's booth also include the Consul General of Italy in Los Angeles, Raffaella Valentini.