As in the previous edition, the “Sguardi nel Futuro” (Perspectives on the Future) series will also run in the 2024/25 academic year. This is an orientation and advanced training initiative of the University of Pisa that brings young people into contact with leading experts in scientific and technological research, industry and economy, and the social sciences.
Aimed at students in the final two years of upper secondary school and university students in the first two years of Bachelor’s Degree courses, the series will address: the energy transition and climate change; the latest discoveries in the life sciences and new space exploration; the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence and global health; the importance of the scientific method and creativity in inventing new jobs; informed citizenship; and future geopolitical scenarios.
The topics covered and the approach proposed are intended to complement—and strongly synergise with—what is taught in schools and in the first two years at university.
The generation that will make up tomorrow’s leadership is already witnessing an unprecedented pace of technological, environmental, social and geopolitical change. It is increasingly important to educate active, informed citizens who can interpret reality, devise new solutions, and connect rational thought with the global complexity of today’s challenges, to design a fair and sustainable future.
“Sguardi nel Futuro”, curated by Piero Bianucci, Dario Pisignano and the Centre for Innovation and the Dissemination of Culture (CIDIC) of the University of Pisa, continues the tradition of previous lecture series launched by Piero Angela and Piero Bianucci at the Politecnico di Torino. The meetings are organised in collaboration with the Guidance and Student Support Office, the Multimedia Centre, the Communications Office, and the Teaching Hub Management Unit of the University of Pisa, with the support of the Regional Schools Office for Tuscany.
PARTECIPATION PROCEDURES
All meetings are intended for students in Years 12 and 13 of upper secondary school. Each school may take part with the in-person participation of its students. Schools will be able to register their interest by completing a Google form when available.
As audience interaction is essential, participants are expected to be well prepared on the topic and highly motivated. The University of Pisa is available to students and interested teachers to exchange preparatory teaching and scientific materials for each meeting.
Although each event will also be live-streamed on the YouTube channel of the University of Pisa, no consent forms are currently required from participants, as filming will focus only on the speakers, not the audience. We will notify you of any changes and, if needed, how to collect consent forms should filming methods change.
As already announced, participation in these events will count towards the overall 15 hours required for the active orientation courses in the school-to-university transition under Ministerial Decree 934/22, at the end of which the Ministry will issue a certificate. In addition, students present in the lecture hall will receive a separate attendance certificate at the end of each meeting. Upon specific request from schools that have completed the form indicated above, this certificate will also be issued to students who may have followed remotely due to limited seating capacity.
Programme of meetings
Thursday 3 April, 16:30 — Barbara Gallavotti
What is science communication for?
Science and technology are so embedded in everyday life that they continually influence the decisions we make. The ability to do so consciously has been described as “scientific citizenship”. But how do we acquire it, why should we be concerned when it is lacking, and what role does science communication play? A small compass to navigate the many facets of one of the most rewarding professions in the world.
Monday 24 March, 16:00 — Antonella Viola and Alessandro Aiuti
Frontiers of Biomedicine: Immunology and Genetics — two revolutions
In recent decades, medicine has undergone an unprecedented revolution, with immunology and genetics becoming central disciplines for understanding and treating many diseases. This talk retraces the extraordinary history of cancer immunotherapy: from initial scepticism to the 2018 Nobel Prize for checkpoint inhibitor antibodies, through to new CAR-T cell therapies. We will explore how immunology is reshaping our view of seemingly distant conditions such as neurodegenerative diseases, depression, metabolic syndrome and even ageing. We will examine advances in genetic engineering that have enabled modified viruses to deliver therapeutic genes to treat severe genetic diseases of the immune system and other inherited disorders. We will conclude with a look to the future, considering the great potential of mRNA vaccines, not only for preventing infections but also for treating cancers. A journey to the frontiers of medicine, where innovation and research open new horizons.
Watch the recording of the meeting.
Wednesday 12 March, 16:00 (Polo Carmignani) — Francesco Billari and Lorenzo Pinna
Tomorrow is today: lessons from demography
Those born in 2025 will see 2110, some even 2130. That is statistics, not fortune-telling. Demography may appear to be nothing more than dry statistics: births, deaths, life expectancy. Populations grow if the fertility rate is above 2, decline if it is lower. Yet, read properly, it can tell us which studies and jobs to choose, whether we will have public healthcare and pensions, and whether we face development or decline — in short, the kind of country we will live in. With one of the lowest birth rates in the world, Italy is already facing challenges in terms of its workforce and the sustainability of quality of life. What is needed is a birth policy and an immigration strategy that plans admissions in line with national needs: schooling, civic education, productivity, intellectual and entrepreneurial creativity, and a vision for the future.
Watch the recording of the meeting.
Tuesday 3 December, 16:00 (Polo Carmignani) — Piergiorgio Odifreddi
Mathematical thinking in Art, artistic thinking in Mathematics
Numbers are everywhere. It is obvious that mathematics underpins all scientific disciplines. Less obvious is that there is mathematics in literature (Borges, The Library of Babel) and in art: from the golden ratio in architecture to perspective in Renaissance painting; from the continuous/discrete dualism of Divisionist painters to the fourth dimension in Dalí; from Escher’s perceptual illusions to chaos and fractals in Pollock. This leads us to ask how mathematicians work, how logic and philosophy are related, and whether numbers have an existence of their own or are simply the purest and most immaterial creation of the human mind.
Click here to register for the event (registration reserved for secondary school students).
Link to follow the live stream: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrsL_T-_G8U
Thursday 3 October, 14:30 — Giorgio Parisi
Eureka! A Nobel laureate on scientific thinking
Science advances through observations, hypotheses and independently replicable experiments. An experiment is a question addressed to nature: it has the final word — until the result is questioned, and the cycle begins again. Broadly speaking, this is the scientific method. But what comes before? The Method appears at the end of a process we will explore. “At the base of the scientific edifice,” writes Parisi, “lies a great constellation of intuitive reasoning.” These are imaginings that generate “models”, helpful or misleading metaphors, transfers of ideas between disciplines, unconscious thought, “micro-creativity”. After a documentary phase comes a period of incubation that “suddenly ends with a moment of illumination”, often in circumstances unrelated to the problem at hand. This is where the Method comes into play.
