One year after the beginning of the pandemic, SISSA people gather together virtually to celebrate the new academic year and look ahead. The ceremony will focus on the new work programme of the European Research Council (ERC) and the future perspectives for the scientific world. Guests include Eveline Crone, vice-President of the ERC, and the Minister of University and Research, Maria Cristina Messa. The event will take place on Wednesday 31 March at 11 am on Zoom and will also be live-streamed on Youtube.
“This year's theme, excellence in science, coincides with the start of the new ERC workplan and will also be an opportunity to take stock of SISSA's activity in recent years in view of the investments of Next Generation EU,” states the School’s Director, Stefano Ruffo. The greetings of a former PhD student, Manuela Santo, will follow his welcome addresses. The ceremony will continue with a speech by Maria Cristina Messa, Italian Minister of University and Research, and a talk by Evelin Crone, Professor in Neurocognitive Developmental Psychology at Leiden University and ERC vice-President, entitled “The European Research Council: Crossing Boundaries.” Crone will present the novelties of the new ERC work programme, recently approved under the 2021-2027 European Union Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe.
The event will be an opportunity to award several prizes to the School’s students and staff, including those due to 25 years of service, to the services rendered to SISSA and a special prize from the Director. Prizes for the best PhD theses in Physics and Neuroscience as well as the prizes in memory of Franco Lutman for the best PhD thesis in Mathematics and the best Master thesis in Science Communication will be conferred.
The Opening Ceremony will close with a piece from the play “Paolo Budinich and the paradoxes of adventure” by Diana Hobel, which recalls the endeavours of the farsighted physicist and the origin of SISSA. A leap into the past and a wish for the future.
To attend on Zoom: https://sissa-it.zoom.us/j/81000824353
Live-streaming on the School's Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/wjfx0DErwXQ.