Posts by Michele Covolan

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Seminar on URBAN FOOD POLICIES

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23 December 2016 / in Events, News / by

A seminar on “Urban Food Policies: research and cooper-action between North and South” is scheduled for Thursday, December 15, 2016, from 3.00 pm to 7.00 pm, in the Room B3 of Campus Luigi Einaudi. The event is organized by the General Direction of development cooperation (MAECI) and the University of Turin as an initiative on the occasion of the World Food Day.

Urban food policies are a new possibility of development cooperation, of thought and political action, also in Italy, thanks to the incentive of international experiences and initiatives, as well as the launch and the spread of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. Talk about urban food policies means connecting and stimulating a systemic vision of a plurality of actions and projects towards a more sustainable horizon. The seminar is an occasion to inform people about initiatives on this theme, which are organized by the Italian cooperation and by the most important international organizations, that deal with nutrition, confronting them with experiences and initiatives in Turin and Milan, with a view of local partnerships between North and South of the world.

Representatives of DGCS, FAO, World Food Program, CIHEAM of Bari, Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, University of Turin and institutional and social actors of food system in Turin and of development cooperation will speak during the meeting.

MobilitaUniTO – The survey on university mobility

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16 December 2016 / in News / by

The community of the University of Turin, both students and staff, is invited to participate in MobilitaUniTO, the first survey on home-university trips. The survey, which involves most of the Italian university realities, aims to provide an overview of the ways in which users of the University move from home to the place of study or work.

The aim of the survey will be then to encourage and facilitate future choices related to the mobility, in order to make the university a sustainable place that is also easy to reach by public transport, bike sharing, car pooling, etc.

The questionnaire is organized by UniToGO, the Green Office of the University of Turin, the new coordination structure and project on environmental policies in collaboration with the National Coordination of Mobility Manager of Italian Universities.

If you want to participate in this survey, you can fill in the questionnaire until 27th January 2017.

DEGREE PRIZE for Master’s Thesis on the City of Turin

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16 December 2016 / in News / by

Last call to submit your applications for the Degree Prize for Master’s Thesis concerning the City of Turin. There’s 3.000 euros up for grabs: 1.500 for the winner, 1.000 for the second place and 500 for the third place.

You can partecipate in the contest – organised by the Association Emeritus Advisors of the City of Turin – if you are born after 1st January 1986 and if you have never participated in previous editions.

The application deadline is scheduled on 19th December 2016, at 3.00 pm.

If you want to know more, please check this website.

UNITO is the only Italian university in the EIT Food for the transformation of food industry

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16 December 2016 / in News / by

The University of Turin strengthens its efforts to revolutionize the food industry: it’s the only Italian institution among the founders of the European consortium EIT Food, and also the winner of the Food4Future competition.

The promoter of the competition, the European Institute for Technological Innovation (EIT), has selected the best proposal for the creation of a scientific and technological reference community on diet, which will create sustainable food supply chains through revolutionary initiatives of business innovation and of university and vocational training.

The result is the consortium EIT Food, made up of 50 members of the European Union and associated countries, in a partnership of leading companies of this sector, universities and research institutions, that will work together for 7 years with an investment of 1.2 billion euros, in addition to 400 million euros from funds that the European Commission allocated for the initiative.

The goal of the consortium is to transform the way we produce, distribute and consume, thus creating a sustainable ecosystem that protects consumers’ right to a healthy diet and, at the same time, takes care of the environmental sustainability; all this should also have positive effects on the competition of European economy on global scale.

The project concerns the university and not only in the research field.
Among the EIT FOOD objectives there are:

  • The creation of curricula for students and professionals in the food manufacturing sector
  • The implementation of international exchange programs for students in the sector
  • The launch of a Master of Science in Food Systems (Food Systems)
  • Activation of interactive courses, workshops, as well as MOOCs SPOCS online
  • Incentives to new businesses (startups)

The University of Turin, as member of EIT FOOD, will play an active role in shaping the future of nutrition, which is a priority in the agenda of the European Commission. It will deliver cutting-edge European skills to reshape the European food industry in terms of health benefits and sustainability, in order to transform the “produce-use-throw” system into a new circular bio-economy model.

According to Peter van Bladeren, Vice President Nestec, Global head Regulatory and Scientific Affairs for Nestlé and Chair of the Interim Supervisory Board of EIT Food: “The EIT Food is committed to create the future curriculum for students and food professionals as a driving force for innovation and business creation; this will give the food manufacturing sector, which accounts for 44 million jobs in Europe, a unique competitive edge“.

National Innovation Award 2016: Panoxyvir is the winner

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15 December 2016 / in News / by

The start-ups of the incubator 2i3T of the University of Turin are winners of the 14th edition of the National Award Innovation PNI, the most important Italian business plan competition, that this year was hosted by the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, with the support of Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio Modena.

Panoxyvir, the startup that developed the first antiviral nasal spray to prevent and treat common colds, won the prize of the sector LIFE SCIENCES (25.000 Euros) and the National Innovation Award 2016, selected among the awards of 4 sectors: Life Sciences, Cleantech& Energy, ICT and Industrial.

Panoxyvir also won the Special Award UniCredit Start Lab, thus getting the opportunity to attend the Startup Academy, and the Special Prize “SEUA2016 – Startup Europe Awards 2016 – Italy Edition” , assigned by Startup Europe Alliance, thereby getting direct access to the final #SEUA in Bruxelles in 2017, where the best 8 European start-ups will be chosen.

At the same time, the start-up R3 Cube, set up this year at the Incubator 2i3T for the development of an innovative and ecological IoT device for the management of dangerous medical waste produced by small healthcare facilities involving a risk of infection, won the IREN CLEANTECH & ENERGY Prize (25,000 euros) to improve the environmental sustainability of the sector.

Among the top four finishers in the sector of Life Science, there’s also another project from the incubator 2I3T: NIB BIOTEC, for the identification of biomarkers for the diagnosis of prostate cancer.

“The commitment of our Incubator on business creation extends to all departments of the University to 360 ° according to a widespread incubation model that builds relationships and synergies for our city and our region – said Silvio Aime, President and Vice-Chancellor at the University of 2I3T Research – In the last two years in particular we have expanded our institutional mission of creating culture and entrepreneurial development through projects of higher education and alternation between school and work, and through the development of funded partnerships to attract investment and create jobs for highly skilled labor in the area“.

BEATING THE OUTBREAKS IN A HYPER-CONNECTED WORLD

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14 December 2016 / in News / by

When first signs of a disease outbreak occur, epidemiologists, health workers, politicians and scientists rely on sophisticated forecasting models to determine how the disease is spreading and what should be done to minimize the risk of infection. A collaborative research between Politecnico di Torino and the New York University School of Engineering Tandon is revolutionizing the traditional modeling process, getting forecasts, that are easier to calculate and more effective in a hyper-connected world.

All forecasting models correlate the movement of a disease with the population over time, but current simulations do not always consider effectively a matter of course: the mobility and the activity vary among people and these variations have an impact on chances of contracting or spreading the disease.

A new model has been presented in a paper published in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters by Alessandro Rizzo, associate professor of the Department of Control and Computer Engineering of the Politecnico and visiting professor at New York University School of Engineering Tandon, Lorenzo Zino, PhD student of the Politecnico in pure and applied mathematics, and Maurizio Porfiri, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at New York University School of Engineering Tandon.

In the future, researchers expect this model to help professionals in this sector face an outbreak, also by implementing vaccination strategies, considering risks and benefits arising from travel bans and measuring the effectiveness of disease prevention campaigns.

Official launch AXA Chair “The socio-economic risks of financial markets”

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14 December 2016 / in Events, News / by

The University of Turin, in collaboration with the AXA Research Fund and Collegio Carlo Alberto, organizes the launch event of the AXA Chair on the socio-economic risks of the financial markets on the 6th December 2016. The event will be held in Sala Principi d’Acaja of the Chancellor’s Office (Via Verdi, 8 / Via Po, 17 – Torino), from 9.30 am to 12.00 pm.

The meeting will start with the speech by prof. Bernard Dumas, Chair holder: Is Investment Capital Fast or Slow-moving?. To follow, there will be a round table, where prof. Dumas will discuss the theme with Christian Thimann (Group Head of Regulation, Sustainability and Insurance Foresight, AXA), Elisa Luciano (Professor of Finance at the University of Turin and a fellow of the Collegio Carlo Alberto), Dario Focarelli (Director General of ANIA) and Carla Patrizia Ferrari (Chief Financial Officer of the Compagnia di San Paolo). Luca Fornovo will moderate the debate (La Stampa, Editor in chief Tuttosoldi).

The AXA Chair is a prestigious funding for scientific research, promoted by Axa Research Fund, which is a philanthropic initiative of the international insurance leader AXA that supports the excellence in basic research to understand and better prepare against risks related to environment, lifestyle and the socio-economic situation.

New laboratories for the development of nanomaterials at the Politecnico di Torino

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14 December 2016 / in News / by

Two new high-tech laboratories for the development of nanomaterials were inaugurated on 30th November 2016. These materials could help treat serious diseases such as osteoporosis and cancers.

The 2 new structures of the Politecnico di Torino were both financed by funds obtained by 2 researchers of the University, who were awarded the prestigious ERC Grant. Chiara Vitale Brovarone and Valentina Cauda are both winners, the first student won an ERC Consolidator Grant (BOOST – 2 million euros) and the second one got an ERC Starting Grant (TrojaNanoHorse – 1.5 million euros).

The new laboratories will allow to carry out research on 2 projects, which aim to find treatments for diseases with a severe social impact through a highly innovative approach: no drugs, but nanomaterials that affect the behavior of diseased cells, potentially without any side effects.

The Project BOOST (Biomimetic trick to re-balance Osteoblast-Osteoclast loop in osteoporoSis treatment: a Topological and materials driven approach) aims to develop an intelligent scaffold, made of nanomaterials and biomolecules, that is able to “deceive” bone cells, in case of fractures caused by osteoporosis, and to enable them to reactivate the behavior of healthy cells, thus recreating the physiological microenvironment. To carry out this kind of research, researchers need a very innovative instrumentation. The BOOST laboratory is equipped with, among other tools, a scanning electron microscope, which can perform compositional analysis and topographic mappings, and a computerized nanotomografia, with resolution up to 350 nanometers for the analysis of bone tissue and scaffold products.

The TrojaNanoHorse (TNH) project focuses on developing a nanoparticle that acts as a kind of Trojan horse: the aim is to create a nanomaterial, which is lethal for tumor cells, that is able to destroy the target, without toxic effects on healthy tissues. The TNH laboratory is equipped with a fluorescence inverted microscope, which allows to measure living cells in real time and follow them over time, and one EPR spectrometer (Electron Paramagnetic Resonance), that will allow the analysis of free radicals, that are the weapons that the nanomaterial use to kill cancer cells.

The two projects have also led to the creation of research groups: fifteen people including doctoral students and postdocs have already been recruited and there are three temporary employments as researcher, one of which has already been assigned.

Alberto Angela reveals ‘the secret of the Mona Lisa’

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14 December 2016 / in Events, News / by

There will be a meeting with Alberto Angela and ‘the secret of the Mona Lisa’ on Thursday, December 1, at 5.45 pm at Teatro Colosseo.

Charm merges with mystery this Thursday: the most famous palaeontologist, writer and popularizer will deal with the mysteries of the most enigmatic painting by Leonardo. By analysing his work of art, you will understand the mind and the life of the painter.
You can watch the meeting live stream.

The Mona Lisa is a starting point to speak about the incredible inventions and machines designed by Leonardo. The landscape behind the Mona Lisa shows the aerial perspective, conceived by Leonardo, while Mona Lisa’s hands reveal his detailed anatomical studies.

CIRSDe. A project that goes on – The conference on Gender Studies at the University of Turin

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13 December 2016 / in Events, News / by

CIRSDe (Research Center for Women and Gender’s Studies) of the University of Turin organizes a meeting to think about the state of the art of Gender and Women’s Studies.

The Center wants to celebrate its 25th anniversary with the event “CIRSDe. A project that goes on. Considerations and prospects after 25 years of Gender’s Studies”.

The meeting will be held at Campus Luigi Einaudi on 1st and 2nd December.

At the end of the meeting, there will be the projection of “Rebel Menopause”, a documentary film, directed by Adele Tulli, that is about Thérèse Clerc, a feminist activist of Paris.
On. Laura Boldrini, President of the Chamber of Deputies, will take the floor on the 2nd December.

The event Is free, until seats are available.

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