The role of science and culture is to address, deepen and illustrate the complexity of phenomena, including immigration and, in particular, the problems related to researchers in exile.
This is one of the key messages that emerged on 17 September during the event held in the Budinich Lecture Hall at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding focused on scientists displaced by war. The agreement was ratified by ten high-level science institutions in Friuli Venezia Giulia, 3 universities and 7 international centers, to provide study and research opportunities for scholars forced to leave their countries of origin due to conflicts.
The document reports that the ten institutions "will offer opportunities to affected scientists to enrich their professional skills, to foster their human and professional development and integration, and encourage their reintegration in their country of origin once conditions allow".
The presentation of the agreement preceded by one day the 80-year remembrance of the racial laws that excluded Jewish students, teachers and researchers from all schools and institutes. On Thursday 20 September, the Cerimonia del ricordo e delle scuse was held in Pisa. All Italian universities took part to ask forgiveness of the Jewish community and the oppressed people for the racial laws.
The temporal and symbolic coincidence of the initiatives confirms the commitment of the universities of Friuli Venezia Giulia to reaffirm the need for a science without frontiers and to underline the value of collective memory in education for the promotion of an open knowledge.