Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Issue 19 of Focus Unimore

Issue 19 of Focus Unimore - the university periodical for the academic community and for dialogue with institutions, bodies and associations - is now online. The ninth of 2021, this edition provides a detailed report of European projects and research activities involving Unimore researchers.

A number of important European projects are described.

A first example is represented by Borges, acronym of " Biosensing with organic electronics ", a consortium of 12 European partners coordinated by Professor Carlo Augusto Bortolotti of the Department of Life Sciences of Unimore, which combines expertise of the academic world, research institutions and companies linked to organic bioelectronics.

Part of the Marie Curie Skłodowska European Training Network (MSCA-ITN-ETN) programme, the project was funded by the EU with nearly EUR 4 million (including EUR 522,000 to Unimore).

Another example of important project to which FocusUnimore gives account is Eclips, an action aimed at fighting domestic violence in younger victims, funded by the programme "Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC)" of the European Union under the Grant Agreement No. 101005642.

The project involves Unimore, coordinated by Professor Laura De Fazio, together with Professor Tindara Addabbo and Professor Silvia Ferrari - with the "Centre Dardedze" (Latvia), Leuven-Limburg University (Belgium) and Pressley Ridge (Hungary).

An important study is dedicated to "Ride 2 Autonomy", a project created within the European work programme 2020 "Communications Networks, Content and Technology" and sees the Enzo Ferrari Department of Engineering of Unimore as the only Italian partner of the international consortium that is beneficiary of the funding.

The objective is to test - for a period of about 2 months and in Reggio Emilia - a mobility service designed for urban commuting, by public road, with the vehicle "Olli", an 8-seater self-driving shuttle, built by the American company Local Motors.

An innovative study carried by a team of researchers of the Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Science, led by Professor Marco Vinceti, is the topic of an extensive article: the study is investigating the correlations between increased risk of dementia and air pollution. The first author of the research is the twenty-four-year-old Erica Balboni from Modena, who graduated in Physics at Unimore, currently specialising in Health Physics at the Polyclinic of Modena and a research fellow at DSBMN.

Surely a relevant contribution comes from the Department of Education and Human Sciences of Reggio Emilia, where in November 2021 the third edition of the International Industrial PhD in Reggio Childhood Studies - From early childhood to lifelong learning will officially begin.  

The programme aims to offer resources useful to address and tackle the new challenges of the world of education, starting from the educational philosophy linked to early childhood born in Reggio Emilia, which represents a heritage of great international importance.

As part of the activities of the Department of Language and Cultural Studies, a key role is played by translation in its many forms: The October issue of FocusUnimore explores the main topics of the seminar “Rewriting theatre". Promoted as part of the European Day of Languages, it hosted the best-known living translator of Russian literature (and not only) into French, André Markowicz, who has been working for years in the field of theatrical translation and who, thanks to the availability and collaboration between the professors of the Department, was able to share his decades of experience with students, actors and actresses, translators, as well as Italian specialists. 

Among the central points of the recently approved Strategic Plan, this issue of FocusUnimore devotes a large amount of space to the management of the University’s IT services, with an editorial by Professor Sonia Bergamaschi, Delegate of the Rector for Computer Science.

The topic, which has become a major part of the public debate due to the emergency situation dictated by the Covid-19 pandemic, has given a significant boost to the digital transition by accelerating the digitisation of numerous management procedures, with the aim of making the services more accessible to different users.

"The response of our University, in the difficult months of social distancing - says Professor Sonia Bergamaschi -, was unanimous and marked to know how to grasp, in a timely manner, the needs of those who and how many were faced with unprecedented and certainly unexpected situations".

"The projects and the challenges to ensure the continuity and sustainability of responses outside the purely emergency context - continues professor Bergamaschi - are many and require the support of all players involved: I am sure that the collective vision of an academic community will be able to project us into a future made of connections of ideas, projects and experiences".

The issue of the magazine - directed by Professor Thomas Casadei, Delegate for University Communication - ends with an article on the former Episcopal Seminary of Reggio Emilia, which this year hosts the Department of Education and Human Sciences (DESU) and the University e-learning centre. The campus is the "Third University Pole" of Reggio (after the headquarters of Palazzo Dossetti and the San Lazzaro Campus) and is an important part of the construction strategy of Unimore for the six-year period 2020-2025.

A fundamental contribution to the arrangement of the areas, which will allow to accommodate 3 thousand students once ready, came from the funds collected by Unimore with the of “5x1000” subscriptions.

The issue of FocusUnimore is available for consultation on www.focus.unimore.it

Categorie: International - english