Established by the Conference of Italian University Rectors - CRUI and with the patronage of the Ministry of University and Research, the first National Day of Italian Universities will be celebrated on 20 March.
Università Svelate (i.e. Unveiled Universities) is the title chosen for this initiative that sees the participation of around 70 universities, including SISSA. The celebration falls within Minerva Week, a period dedicated to the celebration of knowledge and education.
'Università Svelate' wants to be a moment to share the scientific and cultural heritage that the academic community produces for the society that supports it. A day of events to participate in the life that takes place in universities and observe it from the inside. SISSA will participate with a special session of SISSA for Schools, the programme of school visits that has been welcoming hundreds of primary and secondary school students to SISSA every year for more than 10 years.
The programme for 20 March includes an interactive seminar and a discussion game, as well as an introduction to what SISSA is and what a PhD is. The interactive seminar, entitled 'What do we have in our heads?', will take students on a reflection on the methods that neuroscience has developed to study the brain in a non-invasive way, starting from the scientific method and the process that leads an idea or a question to become real scientific knowledge. Presenting the topic will be Marco Zanon, a laboratory technician who assists cognitive neuroscience groups in experimental design, data analysis and computer programming. The discussion game, entitled 'Possible and/or Desirable?' and run by the facilitators of SISSA Medialab, will instead explore how scientific and technological advances influence daily life, society, the economy and the environment, and will involve the active participation of girls and boys who, starting from some cards, will be able to discuss and compare the opportunities offered by science and its limits.