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You have until 30^th May 2017 at 12 a.m. to take part in the announcement of selection by which the University of Turin allocates and gives 150,000€ to be used for tutoring activities for the future freshmen who will enrol in the academic year 2017/2018.

All the students who are enrolled full-time in one of the three-year degree courses (students enrolled in the second year) or in one of the five-year degree courses specified in the announcement of selection can take part in it. They have to submit their application online on www.unito.it, log in with their username and password and access the “Collaborazioni 200 h” menu. Every student can only apply for the tutoring activity concerning the degree course he/she is enrolled in.

The scholarships offered will be 105, and they include 200, 100 or 50 hours of tutoring activities that will have to be carried out over 8-12 months, starting from the first week of September, 2017.

The selections, that are going to take place between the end of June and mid-July, will be carried out by specific Commissions, that will assess the candidates according to criteria based on the weighted average, on the number of the credits achieved and on the outcome of the interview.

The selected students will attend a training course and will receive 9€ per hour for the tutoring activity: if it is a 200-hour tutoring activity they will receive about 1,800€, if it is a 100-hour tutoring activity they will receive about 900€, and if it is a 50-hour tutoring activity they will receive 450€.

After the first announcement of selection in the academic year 2015/2016, for the students of the Departments of Historical Studies, Humanistic Studies, Philosophy, Education Sciences, Psychology, Foreign Languages and Literatures and Modern Cultures, the second and the third announcements of selection have been extended to the students of almost all the courses of the University of Turin, in order to emphasize the attention given to the future freshmen and with the aim of preventing, from the first moments in the university world, the dispersal and the delay of the students in the studies, and to promote a more fruitful active participation of the freshmen in the university life in all its forms, according to the purposes of the tutoring activity.

For further information:

Bando per collaborazioni a tempo parziale per attività di tutorato – Anno 2017

https://www.unito.it/universita-e-lavoro/opportunita-ed-esperienze-di-lavoro/chi-studia/collaborazioni-tempo-parziale

Quotidiano Piemontese – Yesterday, Monday 29^th May, at 11 a.m., in the Aula Magna della Cavallerizza Reale (Via Verdi 8, Turin), the Atlante del Cibo di Torino Metropolitana (Atlas of Food of Turin) was presented. This is a project promoted by the University of Turin, the Polytechnic and the University of Gastronomic Sciences in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce of Turin, and it is a one-of-a-kind cross-disciplinary research because it collects a catalogue of representations, graphic pieces of information, videos, texts, researches and articles which are available to the public and useful for an analysis and a representation of the “food system” of Turin and of the Province of Turin.

The aim of this project is to give people information about the food system of Turin, collecting and arranging the existing pieces of information and to offer a vision of growth that confirms the potential of the area.

To this purpose, it is necessary to identify and to define the players, the resources, the flows of matter, energy and knowledge, the areas and the relationships that make up this system we know little about. As the coordinator of the project, Professor Egidio Dansero of the University of Turin, highlights quoting the renowned Italian economist Luigi Einaudi, “we must know in order to decide”. We can therefore start from food to reinterpret a series of big or small, institutional or not policies, actions and projects in the area of Turin that can contribute to defining the future of local policies.

Therefore, the five-year research that aspires to become a replicate in other contexts, aims to give a response to the need of knowing more (that not only is in the local areas, but also in the international areas) and of having players, subtended by the will of supporting the planning of food policies of Turin and of improving the day-to-day management of the production and distribution system.

The Atlas is an instrument of narration, analysis and monitoring, through mapping processes and functions that enable the connection of existing pieces of information with the possibility of carrying out thematic, geographical and cultural detailed studies, in order to reflect on the food regional system. The Atlas also aims to increasing the awareness among citizens and decision-makers, creating new opportunities for dialogue, discussions and for the sharing of the objectives for a widespread well-being.

In the morning the First Report on the situation of the food system of Turin was presented. This is a document that will become a real observatory for the regional dynamics related to the food in Turin, with periodic reports and thematic detailed studies.

The first issue of the Report contains reflections on different topics that are in 37 specific sheets (accompanied by maps and graphic pieces of information), from agricultural products to breeding, from school canteens to the typical products and the food and wine top quality products, whose aim is to describe and explain the most significant elements of the current situation of the food system of Turin on variable scale, from district level to regional level.

Professor Franco Fassio of the University of Gastronomic Sciences and National Councillor for Slow Food Italia says that: “The database of knowledge that makes up the Atlas presents us a situation full of pieces of information about the flows and the dynamics of the local food system, a vision of the whole system instead of the analysis of the single components that can lead us to the planning of valuable relationships that are an example of the quality of the system”.

In addition, a website section gives the opportunity to have access to a shared mapping process that uses the civic social network called “First Life”, that has been developed by the Department of Computer Science of the University of Turin.

The Atlas of Food can therefore be useful to the people who regulate and promote the regional food system, to those who investigate its sustainability, to those who work in the different stages that range from production to the management of waste and to the people who are simply curious to know the food system of Turin better.

The Atlas provides a first series of pieces of information that are verified, transparent and updated, that can be useful to the design of new products and services and, more generally, to the activation of a cultural innovation project in the region: an area where new ideas and business models oriented to a sustainability of the system can develop, highlights Professor Paolo Tamborrini of the Department of Design of the Polytechnic of Turin.

In the metropolitan area of Turin (with about 1.5 million people living in the restricted metropolitan area), about 1,600 tons of food are consumed every year, of which 600 tons of fruit and vegetables, 400 tons of cereals and cereal-based products, 300 tons of dairy products, 200 tons of meat and 65 tons of fish. Despite a growing demand for organic products, in particular in reference to the demand from school canteens with 8 million meals every year, the percentage of agricultural surface devoted to organic food currently stands at 1,839.31 ha, that account for 0.88% of the total utilised agricultural area (UAA). The distribution of organic food is heterogeneous: in rice production, the organic food production model accounts for 23.6% of the UAA, while in other productions, for example the cereal production, it is limited to 0.5%. However, it is interesting to notice that the current area under conversion, 1,591 ha, is almost the same as the total of the area under cultivation of existing organic methods.

Another particularly significant piece of information is the role of the peri-urban agriculture and of the surrounding zones of the metropolitan area in the alternative sales channels to the large-scale organised distribution which are based on direct sale (farmers’ markets, ethical purchasing groups market, etc.).

In fact, the companies of the metropolitan area that sell directly their products are 36% of the total. This percentage is definitely higher that the regional figure (12%), which reaches 58% if we only consider the companies situated in the Municipality of Turin (figures from the 2010 Agricultural Census).

As regards distribution, the food system of Turin is characterised by the presence of both the traditional channels of the industrialised conventional system (GDA-Grande Distribuzione Organizzata – Large-scale organised distribution, and wholesale markets) and by a number of food markets (about 42 every day), which are also characterised by the direct sell by producers, which is unparalleled in Italy, in relation to the population.

Every day there are more than 40 municipal markets in Turin, where in most of them there are farmers’ stands (more than 300 every day), largely from areas within 50-70 km of the city, who directly sell their products.

In addition, in the Municipality of Turin alone, there are about 70 GAS (Gruppi di Acquisto Solidale – Ethical Purchasing Groups) and 15 farmers’ markets, as well as a dozen of small shops specialized in the sale of the products of the short distribution chain.

On the other side of the food system of Turin there is waste: it is estimated that every Turinese produces 110 kilos of organic waste every year (of which 50% enters the system of separate collection) that come from food consumption, to which we must add packaging waste (figures from the Province of Turin, 2012).

In Turin and in Piedmont food plays a very important and historical role: in fact, the food and wine sector, together with the top quality restaurant industry are a thriving factor of the city, especially in terms of promotion of the territory and tourist development. Just think about the top quality products such as wine, chocolate and baked goods, the big markets such as the Porta Palazzo Market, and the respective responsibilities and knowledge that make up a significant tangible and intangible capital.

The self-recognition process of these instruments can contribute to the definition of the characteristics of the food system of Turin, to the development of its urban and rural components, to the identification of promoting ad hoc routes, to the activation of processes of international visibility if we think about food and, at the same time, cultural events such as Terra Madre Salone del Gusto.

In fact, food is one of the strategic resources on which the role of the post-industrial Turin is redefining, both towards the inside of the city and in the international urban networks, both from a tangible point of view (economic activities, urban transformations, flows, etc.) and in terms of a symbolic and building aspect of a new image of the city.

As reported by lastampa.it website, the University of Turin has a new high-performance instrument that will be used by the researchers of the Department of Biotechnology in Via Nizza: mass spectrometry. This instrument has been bought thanks to the contribution of the Compagnia di San Paolo Foundation in the context of the Open Access Lab.

The researchers of the University of Turin explain that: “Mass spectrometry is a powerful analytical technique used for the quantitative measurement of known chemical compounds and for the detection of unknown compounds. In fact, it tells you how much molecules “weigh” and it has high diagnostic properties which are useful to make the chemical and structural properties of the molecules clear. One of the strong points of mass spectrometry is high sensitivity, thanks to which we can carry out analysis of very small quantities of the substances (we arrive up to the femtogram, which corresponds to a fraction trillion times smaller than a gram). Spectrometers allow the analysis of infinitesimally small concentrations, billionths of grams per solution, also with complex mixtures such as blood”.

The use of spectrometers in the pharmaceutical field is also very important: in fact, mass spectrometry is used to study the effects of drugs in the body. The total amount of the investment has been 750,000 euros.

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”.

In honour of the 60^th 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 19^th 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.

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”.