VIU News
From April 17 to May 16, 2024, MoCA Shanghai in collaboration with Venice International University will present the exhibition "TRAVELLERS MIRROR CITIES" echoing the spirit of the 60th Venice Biennale’s theme "Foreigners Everywhere". The exhibition, curated by Miriam Sun, Executive Director of MoCA Shanghai, and Giuliana Benassi, an Italian curator, will present the work of artists who are among the exponents of contemporary art scene in China and Italy including, Fu Tong, Gabriele Silli, Guo Fei, H.H. Lim, Jin Wang, Josè Angelino, Matteo Nasini, Oliviero Rainaldi, Qiu Anxiong, Rä di Martino, Shi Chengdong, Yang Yongliang.
Cities, as geographic, social, and cultural spaces, contain numerous layers of value that are not readily apparent. This exhibition, centered around the theme of "TRAVELLERS MIRROR CITIES", is set within the context of Venice International University, a space dedicated to international exchange of knowledge. The exhibition aims to ingeniously construct a conceptual art route of "The Traveler’s City – A Spiritual Mirror Image of One’s Self and the Foreigner", weaving a dynamic narrative with two threads, one apparent and the other concealed. By employing the non-linear presentation of artworks by Chinese and Italian artists and in diverse artistic languages (i.e., the apparent thread), the exhibition intends to prompt travelers to keep raising questions to the city, awakening them at points of art and guiding them to seek the reflection of themselves in the mirror within the replies from the city (i.e., the concealed thread). Thus, the purpose of the exhibition is not only for travelers to find answers to the city’s visual enigmas but also to outline their self-reflection and encourage their further contemplation on interpersonal relationships. As Calvino wrote in a dialogue between the Kublai Khan and Marco Polo in his novel, Invisible Cities, "As to the City of Utopia, even though we have not discovered it, we cannot abandon our efforts to seek for it."
DISCO Project will be presented at the Transport Reasearch Arena in Dublin on April 16, 2024 in two sessions alongside other urban logistics projects, represented by several of our partners:
Special Session 2.3 Innovation in Urban Logistics: Public and Private Sectors Thriving Together
Date: Tuesday, 16 April
Time: 9:45am – 11:am CEST
Location: Hall 8A-3 (Simmonscourt)
Poster Session 3.4 Logistics and Sustainable Transport
Date: Tuesday, 16 April
Time: 2:30pm – 3:45pm CEST
Location: Hall 8C – Poster Area Simmonscourt, Stage 4
VIU has an open Erasmus+ call for application for short term doctoral mobilities to European VIU member universities.
A priority of the Erasmus+ programme is inclusion and diversity. The Erasmus+ Programme seeks to promote equal opportunities and access, inclusion, diversity and fairness across all its actions. To better meet the diverse learning and training needs of doctoral candidates and to ensure equal opportunities with those that have the status of higher education staff, doctoral candidates and recent graduates (‘post-docs’) can undertake short-term mobility periods in another country. Activities can include educational components such as participation in a seminar, workshop, thesis work or intensive course.
A call has just been published for PhD students of select Erasmus+ VIU mobility consortium members to apply for a short term doctoral mobility to the following VIU member universities in Europe:
- KU Leuven in Belgium
- Ludwig Maximilians Universität in Germany
- University of Bordeaux in France
- University of Ljubljana in Slovenia
Rolling admissions are open until May 10, 2024. Mobilities must be concluded by July 31, 2024. Further details and the call for application can be found at the following link: https://www.univiu.org/erasmus/calls
Science communication has entered the public debate at different levels: it supports the societal dimension of science, levers significant funding opportunities for research, and contributes to build a successful dialogue with decision makers.
VIU Graduate activities are a unique opportunity to deepen specific knowledge through interdisciplinary lenses. Also, they offer highly qualified researchers opportunities to acquire transversal skills that not necessarily have been part of their disciplinary curriculum.
Rolling admissions are open for the last places in some of our 2024 Summer Schools:
- Organizing for Sustainable Futures: Micro and Macro-Institutional Conditions of Transformation
- Linguistic Landscapes: Using Signs and Symbols to Translate Cities
- Advanced Transportation, Logistics, and Supply Chain Management
- Science Diplomacy in the Age of Climate Change
PCST Venice Symposium, September 28-30, 2023
At the Symposium in September, a Concluding Statement was issued to draw attention to the need for research and academic institutions to consider the strategic value of public communication of science, and to mobilize support for these activities.
Public communication of science and research has more and more become part of the researchers’ job, often demanded by research funders and policy makers as a pathway towards societal impact of research.
The COALESCE project is establishing a European Competence Center for Science Communication and an associated Science Communication Academy (task led by VIU), to consolidate science communication knowledge, resources and tools from a variety of sources.
VIU is delighted to announce the addition of two prestigious institutions to the consortium: IUSS Pavia, Italy, and Sabancı University, Turkey. This significant expansion marks a pivotal moment as VIU approaches its thirty-year anniversary, and continues to grow and develop global engagement, further solidifying its position as a hub for interdisciplinary education, research, and collaboration.
Join the first webinar of the POLIS – ALICE Webinar Series 2024, focused on Physical-Internet (PI) led innovation!
Wed 27 March, 12-13 CET (online)
The webinar is public and will feature some of the PI-led innovations and actions that DISCO and URBANE EU-funded projects are currently implementing.
Click here for more info and agenda
Click here to register and receive the Zoom link
March 8, 2024
On the occasion of International Women's Day, we are honored to celebrate the impressive women teaching this semester at VIU in the Globalization Program!
Their research spans a range of disciplines from international law, architecture, renaissance studies, language acquisition, cross-cultural and international management, science communication, public engagement, sustainable development, environmental studies, innovative pedagogies and chemistry.
VIU has Erasmus+ calls for applications for student and staff mobilities in member universities.
Calls have just been published for both students and staff of select Erasmus+ VIU mobility consortium members to apply for a mobility to Stellenbosch University. The types of mobilities include staff mobility for teaching and staff mobility for training as well as student short term doctoral mobilities. The deadline to apply is March 31, 2024. Mobilities are to be concluded by July 31, 2025. Further details and the calls for applications can be found at the following link: https://www.univiu.org/erasmus/calls
VIU and Stellenbosch University are pleased to partner in this valuable opportunity to promote the strong international dimension of Erasmus+ mobilities, ensuring regular channels for people-to-people cooperation by promoting values, principles and interests around common priorities. The new 2021-2027 phase of the Erasmus+ programme reveals that South African participation continues at a high level. In fact, in 2022, 461 staff mobilities to Europe and 416 staff mobilities from Europe to South Africa were realized in the Erasmus+ programme. It is expected that 600 students from South Africa will undertake mobilities to Europe and a further 128 students take up mobilities to South Africa.
Last week, VIU was very happy to welcome a student benefiting from an Erasmus+ short term doctoral mobility from Stellenbosh University. The student participated in the VIU Graduate Seminar on Translation: Why Is It a Political Question? Perspectives In Philosophy and Translation Theory. Faculty from the University of Padova, KU Leuven, Waseda University, and University of Firenze supported students to work in a transnational context, across different disciplines, languages, and cultures. Workshops with invited experienced translators fostered students to compare different translation strategies and styles, possibly helping them to find their own. They discovered the political dimension of translation practices that are never neutral or transparent communication tools and learned about the political effects of their own translation activities.
first release of DISCO’s newsletter!
We are delighted to share with our Community the latest updates from our pioneering project. Before entering a central step in the digital path of our Living Labs, we look back at the tracks performed so far and reveal all of our progress, as well as what to expect in the upcoming months.
Featuring opening words from the DISCO’s Project Coordinator, Paola Cossu (FIT Consulting), DISCO at the ITS Summit in Australia, Urban Mobility Days 2023, and many more!
Venice International University is pleased to announce a significant addition to its esteemed association of universities and research centers. The Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) has joined our community, bringing with it a wealth of expertise and groundbreaking contributions to the field of astrophysics.
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
5 pm, Aula Magna (1E)
The Closing Ceremony will gather together nearly 100 students representing nearly 20 nationalities throughout three continents who since last September have come to San Servolo and attended the courses taught by professors from VIU's member universities.
VIU will offer a wide range of Intensive Graduate Activities in 2024.
Students and scholars from the member universities are encouraged to explore the programs on offer in 2024, and apply early to guarantee their place.
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
5 pm CET, Room 1E
Venice International University, San Servolo Island
David M. Schizer, Professor of Law and Economics and Dean Emeritus, Columbia University
DISCO participated at Urban Mobility Days 2023, that took place from 4-6 October in Seville, Spain.
Urban Mobility Days will bring together politicians, local authorities, industry, and urban transport practitioners with the European Commission to connect, share and discuss the path forward for a sustainable, innovative, and equitable future for Europe’s urban mobility. As 2023 is the European Year of Skills, Urban Mobility Days will have a specific focus on transport skills. The event is being organised together with the upcoming Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
DISCO was presented at Urban Logistics Innovation Days in Brussels, at COMET Louise, on the 26th of September.
This event is organised as the final conference of the EU-funded LEAD project, in cooperation with ALICE-ETP and POLIS, bringing together other urban logistics innovative projects, to showcase innovative solutions. This will also include live demonstrations of the digital innovative solutions for Digital Twins and Urban Logistics planning developed by LEAD.
