In July 2020, two scientific events will be happening at the same time in our region. We will host the 8th European Congress of Mathematics with up to 2,000 researchers and students from various fields of mathematics, while close-by Trieste will host ESOF 2020 – Euroscience Open Forum, where over 5,000 researchers, educators, entrepeneurs, policy makers and journalists from all over Europe are expected to attend.
Organizing committees of both events recognized this overlap as a unique opportunity for cooperation and organized a meeting on Friday, 22 February. Rector of the University of Primorska, prof. dr. Dragan Marušič and rector of the University of Trieste, prof. dr. Maurizio Fermaglia agreed that cooperation will benefit both events and enrich the scientific beat in the region.
Prof. dr. Tomaž Pisanski, chair of the 8ECM organising committee, and prof. dr. Stefano Fantoni and assoc. prof. dr. Bruno Della Vedova from the Fondazione Internazionale Trieste – FIT, which is organising the ESOF 2020, attended the meeting as well. They highlighted some of the advantages of joint cooperation between events and agreed that they will undoubtedly strengthen cross border cooperation and leave a great impact in the region in the upcoming year.
ESOF will bring together scientists from various fields such as computing, sustainable development, science and humanities. As part of the event, a Festival of Science will take place from June 27 to July 11, 2020, hosting various theatre performances, concerts, street events, exhibitions and much more. A varied accompanying program can also be expected from 5 to 11 July 2020 in Portorož, when the University of Primorska will host the 8ECM.
We can expect coordination of joint initiatives will continue as early as April 16 2019 in Vipava, where the Slovene-Italian Research Day will be held. Organisers of both events will also participate and present in more detail joint steps in cooperation and a vision for the realization of the 8th European Congress of Mathematics and the Open Forum of European Science.