On April 16, 2019, the 3rd Italian-Slovenian Research day was held in Lanthieri Mansion in Vipava, Slovenia. The Research Day is a bilateral meeting on the role of research in society and is organised by the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport.
After the formal introduction from Paolo Trichilo, Italian Ambassador to Slovenia, Tomaž Boh from the Slovenian Ministry of Education, Science and Sport and Danilo Zavrtanik, Rector of the University of Nova Gorica and president of the Rector’s Conference in Slovenia, keynote speakers presented some of the projects that are currently underway at the University of Maribor and University of Trieste.
Jernej Pikalo, Minister for Education, Science and Sport and Gianluigi Consoli, Director for planning and promotion of international scientific research from the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, Italy, addressed the participants; both emphasised the importance of scientific collaboration in the region.
Three important scientific events are taking place in the region next year, all approximately at the same time, with 8ECM being one of them, and all had the chance to present their activities at the Research Day.
Activities for 8ECM were presented by Dragan Marušič, rector of University of Primorska, host institution of the congress. Bruno Della Vedova from host institution Fondazione Internazionale Trieste spoke on ESOF 2020 Trieste, and Janko Kos represented the Federation of European Biochemical Societies – FEBS, which will host the 45th FEBS Congress in Ljubljana in 2020.
Organisers of 8ECM emphasised international cooperation and scientific research. Before and after 8ECM, many satellite events will be held outside of Slovenian borders, including a conference organised in Trieste by SISSA from July 14 – 19, 2020: Integrable systems in geometry and mathematical physics. In memoriam of Boris Dubrovin (1950-2019).
Next, parallel sessions from the following ERC sectors took place: the ERC Physical and Engineering Sciences sector, the ERC Life Sciences sector and the ERC Social Sciences and Humanities sector. During these sessions, success stories of cooperation were presented.
The Research Day was concluded with a summary of research activities and future collaborations, which will no doubt have a major impact on events in the region in the coming year.
