Posts by Michele Covolan

Home/Articles Posted by Michele Covolan (Page 52)

23 DEPARTMENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TURIN OUT OF 27 ARE AMONG THE 350 BEST DEPARTMENTS IN ITALY

0
18 May 2017 / in News / by

MIUR (Ministero dell’Istruzione, dell’Università e della Ricerca), the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, has issued the ranking list of the Italian University Departments that will have access to the Financing Fund for the Top Quality Departments, based on the results obtained from the VQR 2011-2014 (Evaluation of Research Quality).

In the list of the 350 Italian Departments selected by the Ministry for the allocation of 271 million euros per year provided for by the 2017 Budget Law, there are 23 Departments of the University of Turin out of 27, that account for the 85% of the total, among which 13 have the highest evaluation score of 100 out of 100.

The five-year funding (2018-2022) aims to boost the work of the University Departments that stand out thanks to their top quality research, scientific projects and organisation of teaching.

The 350 Departments can present their departmental or development project to have access to the Fund, and the 180 best Departments will receive funding, with a maximum of 15 applications for each University.

A commission in charge of the evaluation, established with a decree by MIUR, will evaluate the applications submitted and will give a score: 70% of it will be based on the evaluation score and 30% of it will be based on the departmental or development project presented. The total amount of the five-year funding (2018-2022) will be about 7 million euros for each Department, which makes 1.350 million euros per year.

Gianmaria Ajani, the dean of the University of Turin, says that: “It’s thanks to the excellent work of our researchers in the Departments that our University is so successful. The University of Turin strengthens the positive trend of the great results obtained from the VQR (Evaluation of Research Quality) issued in February by ANVUR (National Agency for the Evaluation of the University and Research Systems), and proves to be one of best Italian Universities. In fact, the Universities of Turin, Padova and Bologna are the only Italian Universities to appear in the ranking list with more than 20 Departments”.

Sixty years ago the association AIDIA was created.

1
18 May 2017 / in News / by

In honour of the 60th anniversary of the Association AIDIA (Associazione Italiana Donne Ingegneri e Architetti), the Italian Association of Women Engineers and Architects, there will be the conference entitled “Donne che costruiscono” (“Women who build”). The Association AIDIA was founded in Turin 1957 by a group of women with a degree in engineering and architecture with the aim of upgrading women’s work in the field of profession and technique.

On 19th May 2017, in Salone d’Onore of the Castle of Valentino, at the Polytechnic University of Turin, “Women who build” will celebrate history and will pay tribute to this important anniversary, taking stock of the evolution and the social and cultural situation of our Country.

This day will also be the opportunity to present the book “AIDIA 60 – I primi 60 anni di qualità al femminile”, which was written in order to preserve the memory of what has been made, reminding us that in the past everything was more difficult and exhausting without the right tools, but above all without the cultural freedom and the freedom of action that we have today.

The Department of Economics won’t have limited enrolment.

4
18 May 2017 / in News / by

According to the latest news published on the website repubblica.it, this year the Department of Economics won’t have limited enrolment.

Yesterday afternoon the university’s senate of the University of Turin decided that there won’t be an entrance exam to enrol in the Economics and Business Studies Department, as these two Departments had requested because they were worried about the limited number of professors and the lack of lecture rooms.

Limited enrolment was removed just over a year ago and led to a peak in the number of students enrolled, with 30% more of enrolled students. In February the two Departments, the Esomas (Department of Economic, Social, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences) and the Department of Management that have replaced the former Department of Economics and Business, proposed to impose a maximum of 350 students for the Department of Economics and 1.100 students for the Department of Business. The dean of the University of Turin Gianmaria Ajani, who launched a policy for the removal of limited enrolment, created a control room in order to avoid this possibility and managed to find 16 professors for the courses where there was a lack of them. “It hasn’t even been necessary to vote because the Department has removed the proposal. We have done a long analytical work in order to reach this solution. As regards the space problem, there will be some operations to build new lecture rooms in the medium term, and if in Autumn there won’t be enough of them, we will rent some buildings nearby”, explains Elisabetta Barberis, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Turin.

In fact, the University has approved a 4 million operation that should lead to the creation of 4.000 square meters of new lecture rooms within the end of 2018. “Our policy is to ensure high quality services and teaching without limited enrolment wherever possible”. However, the expectations approved today in the guidelines show that in 2017 there will be fewer enrolled students compared to last year. Valter Cantino, the head of the Department of Management, ensures that: “The Departments and the control room worked a lot to reach this solution, but whatever the number of students who want to enrol in the Department of Economics, we will ensure that they will all have the opportunity to do it”.

 

CHINA AND THE NEW URBAN WORLD

2
12 May 2017 / in Events, News / by

Today, Thursday 4th May 2017, at MAO Museo d’Arte Orientale (Museum of Oriental Art), the series of meetings organized on the occasion of the exhibition Dall’antica alla nuova Via della Seta (From the ancient to the new Silk Road) continues. Taking the cue from the exhibition and the permanent collections of the museum, the speakers who will take part in the event will offer a precious opportunity to think about the new cultural challenges of the Eurasian vision that the New Silk Road wants to offer. The cooperation with Il Mulino, ToChina and the Polytechnic University of Turin gives the opportunity to talk about this topic under different points of view, with an interdisciplinary approach and with high-profile international speakers.

Today, talking about China often means facing the unprecedented process of urbanisation which is currently taking place, and not only as architects or city planners. For this reason, the percentage of the urban population went from 18% in 1978 to more than 55% in 2017, and every year more than 16 million people who live in rural areas move to the cities.

The Nuova Via della Seta (New Silk Road) is the latest important government project that wants to support the central role of the Country on a global scale, a position that our country had many times in the past, for example from the mercantile point of view, and that now it is forcefully reaffirmed thanks to the fundamental role given to urbanisation.

Different levels of government, driven by the thriving real estate market and by the profits coming from the right to build, have defined new development areas, scientific parks and industrial areas in ambitious plans for new developments and new towns. This is a strategic tool by which local governments increase their local revenues, attract companies and business activities and, more generally, spread the Chinese “urban dream”.

A special and symbolic example of the Nuova Via della Seta ambitions is the newly founded city of Lanzhou, built by the Government in the North central China as the focal point and the hub of the new expansion towards the West. Lanzhou has been recently visited by the Polytechnic University of Turin, the first western university to carry out field studies in this Chinese city.

Free entry to the conferences until all available seats are taken.

Free tickets will be distributed from half an hour before the beginning of the conference.

 

“Vie dell’Amianto” exhibition

1
12 May 2017 / in Events, News / by

Wednesday 10th May 2017, at 12:30pm, at Salone del Rettorato of the University of Turin (Via Verdi 8 – Turin) there will be the presentation to the press of Le Vie dell’Amianto, an exhibition organized on the initiative of the Interdepartmental Centre for Studies on Asbestos and Other Toxic Particulates “G. Scansetti” of the University of Turin, the RSA – the Environmental Rehabilitation and Development Society of the former asbestos mine in Balangero e Corio – and the Regional Museum of Natural Sciences of Turin, with the support of the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, Agorà Scienza and Sistema Museale e Archivio Storico of Ateneo.

“Open Science” at the 2017 International Book Fair

5
12 May 2017 / in Events, News / by

Thanks to the agreement between the Book, Music and Culture Foundation and the University of Turin, at the 2017 International Book Fair which will take place from 18th to 22nd May, in Pavilion 3 of the historical headquarters of Lingotto (Via Nizza 294, Turin), there will be an exhibition space called “Open Science” dedicated to science and its role in contemporary societies.

This space will be divided into the event space “Talking About: science to understand the world”, and the exhibition space “Science with and for Society”.

“Our presence at the International Book Fair underlines the role of University in the creation and promotion of culture in the territory”, says the dean of the University of Turin Gianmaria Ajani. “Thanks to the contribution of the professors and the cooperation of the students we will present the value of research, and we will shed light on the most crucial current problems, correcting the fake news and promoting accurate information on topics that too often are responsible for the spreading of misleading news”.

Mario Montalcini, the Vice President of the Foundation who last December signed the agreement, adds: “We are very proud of this cooperation that has set in motion experiences and experimentations that will be the lifeblood also for the next International Book Fairs. The University of Turin is an institution of the highest calibre, that will collaborate with the Foundation so that it can achieve its goals. The University has educated many experts and young people in different areas of knowledge, who are enthusiastic about what they do and want to get very positive results”.

 

During the eventful programme proposed by “Talking About: science to understand the world”, some experts of the University of Turin will rotate themselves in order to face some of the most significant topics about which too often fake news originate: these are incorrect and misleading pieces of information that are spread in order to manipulate public opinion.

 

In particular, from Thursday 18th May to Sunday 21st May at 12pm, you will have the opportunity to attend an event whose aim is to make people understand the most frequent manipulation of information and data in the different areas of policy, health, economy and work.

 

In addition, individual events taking place all the days will give the opportunity to shed light on crucial topics such as vaccinations, migrants, ethics and journalism, populism, Europe and post-truth.

Università di Torino will be a partner for a national project on asbestos cancer research.

4
4 May 2017 / in Events / by

As reported by torinoggi.it newsroom, at the Health Regional Department of Comitato Strategico Amianto (Asbestos Strategic Committee) there has been a meeting with the aim of starting a national and European project, that can serve as a model for the study of mesothelioma, thanks to investments on preclinical research that allow to learn what causes this cancer and to identify new drugs and new treatments. At the meeting there were the Health Regional Councillor Antonio Saitta, the Environment Regional Councillor Alberto Valmaggia, the Director of the Hospital of Alessandria Giovanna Baraldi, the Director of the Local Health Unit of Alessandria Gilberto Gentili, the head of the Piedmont Asbestos Health Centre Massimo D’Angelo, the Mayor of Casale Monferrato Titti Palazzetti as the President of the Centre, and the representatives of the asbestos victims’ associations, of ARPA (Regional Environment Protection Agency) and of the trade unions.

The project, proposed by Associazione Familiari Vittime Amianto (Association of Asbestos Victims Families) that can count on a 3,8 million euro funding and will be lead by the Hospital of Alessandria, will involve the University of Turin and in particular the Department of Oncology, to which the research institutes of San Luigi di Orbassando, Candiolo and Le Molinette belong. The University of Turin will collaborate with these research institutes, as well as with the Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research, the Scientific Institute of Romagna for the Study and Treatment of Cancer, the Department of Translational Medicine and the Department of Health Sciences of the University of Eastern Piedmont. In this project revision, the Region of Piedmont will appoint a research scientific guarantor, whose task will be to ensure the functioning and the consistency of all the activities.

“We are putting in place the best skills at our disposal, to ensure high-quality work that can serve as a model not only at local level but also at national level. The institutions involved will be treated “on an equal footing”, and each of them will provide its knowledge and its skills. As a Region, we are gearing up to ensure the achievement of these goals”, said the Health Regional Councillor Saitta.

“It will be a broad-based work, but it will keep on having the Piedmont Asbestos Health Centre of Casale Monferrato and the Hospital of Alessandria as the reference point through the UFIM (Unità Funzionale Interaziendale Mesotelioma Ospedali di Alessandria e Casale Monferrato), that will be strengthened in order to ensure its efficiency over time. In this context, the appointment of the scientific guarantor as an example of trust, unity and feasibility will be extremely important”, points out the Director of the Hospital of Alessandria Baraldi.

Università di Torino. The Department of Economics won’t have limited enrolment anymore!

0
4 May 2017 / in News / by

As reported by “moleventiquattro” newsroom, the Department of Economics, one of the most popular departments of the University of Turin, won’t have limited enrolment anymore.

This is what the university assessment commission, an internal technical body that gives non-bonding opinions, decided. The request of introducing limited enrolment again, with an entrance exam, had been made official some time ago. The well-known problem of the lack of professors had been pointed out. In fact, the number of enrolled students keeps growing, while the number of professors is constantly decreasing. This is a negative trend that has been going on for years and that forces the university leaders to think up a solution in order to band-aid the situation.

At the Università di Torino the Department of Economics hasn’t had limited enrolment for only a year. This means that there would have been immediately an about-face.

At the moment, 24 courses have the entrance exam. The Department of Community Services has unlimited enrolment for aspiring students. Last year 120 students enrolled, and it is expected that this year the number will be even higher. The hope is that there won’t be such an overcrowded number of students that the entrance exam will have to be introduced again.

Therefore, the Università di Torino made a request to the Ministry of Education in Rome. There is a need for new and many recruitments in order to solve this problem. It is no longer possible to deny students the right of attending a university department, and not even to keep on exchanging professors in order to carry on a course. We are waiting for news updates to understand what the future of many courses at the Università di Torino will be like.

BETTING ON PEOPLE: THE STRENGTH OF THE DISTRIBUTED LEADERSHIP

1
27 April 2017 / in News / by

On April 27th 2017 at 6 p.m. there is a meeting in Circolo dei Lettori (Via Bogino, 9 – Turin) about the topic “Betting on people. The strength of the distributed leadership”. Roberto Di Monaco and Silvia Pilutti will present their book (published by Egea).

During this presentation they will also talk about the many strategic initiatives the University of Turin is promoting to support the innovation 4.0 of the businesses: the high demand of research and education goes beyond the technical aspects of innovation – the business performance must be improved and, to do this, all the disciplinary competence is required.

Introduction

Silvio Aime, vice-dean for the scientific research at the University of Turin

Sergio Scamuzzi, vice-dean for communication at the University of Turin

Others will take the floor:

Marcello Bogetti, director of LABNET

Marcello Bugari, responsible for ACADEMY Reale Mutua Group

Andrea Franco, vice-president of HR Magneti Marelli Spa

Maurizio Gattiglio, Gruppo Prima Industrie

Guido Stratta, vice-president of HR Enel Spa.

How to promote innovation today in the small- and medium-sized enterprises?

Which cultural initiatives can optimise the impact on the competitiveness of the technologies 4.0?

 This book is about research, experience and discussion of the most recent contributes to the international literature and suggests a management and leadership model which focuses on the creation of cultural and social bases for innovation. The technological investments are important but are not enough to create innovative business models. To be competitive, it is necessary to invest in people, improve their expertise, the quality of the social processes in the business and the cooperation levels. For this reason, the leadership model must be modernized.

The theory of the “distributed” leadership could make the business give value to the knowledge of its talented people and could improve the practicality of the instruments used to cooperate and to manage knowledge.

In this book other traditional business strategies are suggested: performance, expertise, motivation, monitoring activities, education, avoiding hierarchies and charismatic leaders. At the end of the book you can find a guide for the evaluation of the processes carried out to improve the organisation of the share capital in favour of innovation.

 

UNITO: THE ONLY ITALIAN PARTNER IN THE EUROPEAN PROJECT “LIFECYCLE”

1
27 April 2017 / in News / by

The European project LifeCycle is financed with 10,4 million euros and is part of the activities Horizon 2020: 250 thousand children and parents will be the object of the first European network of studies and innovative research on the respiratory and mental health of the new-born. The results of the research will be translated into new prevention and intervention policies which focus on the first years of life.

LifeCycle is based on an innovative research method which analyses the causes of premature stress (lifestyle, diseases, exposure to drugs or other substances etc.), starting from the embryonic phase, which will influence the health during the whole life, to the birth, until the adult age.

The University of Turin is the only Italian partner in the international and multidisciplinary Consortium which gathers 18 partners coming from 10 European countries and Australia. It will be financed with more than 500 thousand euros in order to develop methods, create the indicators to evaluate the socio-economic impact on the mental and respiratory health and contribute to the specific studies of the cohort NINFEA on the effects and the involved procedure.

The objective of this project is to enrich the figures which are already available in the single cohorts thanks to new indicators of environmental exposure (air pollution, noise, urban elements), socio-economic conditions (economic situation of the family, study level, first- or second-generation migrants) and lifestyle (diet, physical activity, smoking, alcohol, sleeping patterns). The factors that influence the risk of developing non-transmitted diseases will be identified and there will be the promotion of intervention and prevention policies also through apps about the premature exposure.

Prev1…5051525354…82Next

Events

  • Non ci sono eventi