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Italian Research Day in the World – Montreal

The Italian Cultural Institute of Montreal  in collaboration with the Consulate General of Italy, the Italian Embassy and the Italian Scientific Community in Canada (CSIC)- section of Quebec organizes a conference to celebrate the “Italian Research Day in the World”.

Every year, on the 15th of April – the date of Leonardo Da Vinci’s birth -, the Ministry of Education, University and Research, in collaboration with MAECI and the Ministry of Health, promote the “Italian Research Day in the World”, that aims to promote the value of Italian scientific and technological research conducted in Italy and abroad. This year, the “Italian Research Day” also celebrates the 5th centenary (1519-2019) of Leonardo da Vinci’s death.

Monday April 15, 2019, 5:30pm
Istituto Italiano di Cultura
1200, Av. du Dr. Penfield
Montréal, QC H3A 1A9
Followed by a refreshment

The program includes the following interventions:

  • The evolution of Italian Studies at the McGill UniversityEugenio Bolongaro, Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, McGill University, Montréal

The lecture briefly traces the evolution of Italian Studies at the McGill University, since the beginning of the new milennium. Changes in the courses, study programs and also in the administrative configuration department reflects an evolution that does not only involve Italian Studies but the study of foreign languages and the humanities in general. While not accepting the characterization of a “crisis” of the humanities, we must take into account a new geography of knowledge and a different relationship between universities and their “users”, especially the new generation of students who have new needs and aspirations.

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Eugenio Bolongaro, professor of Italian Studies at McGill University and currently Director of the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. Italian literature and cinema from Post-WWII to our times are the main areas of study and research, enriched by extensive scientific activity.

  • Aristotle and Aristotelianism: Dante as a Case StudyAndrea Falcon, Department of Philosophy, Concordia University, Montréal

For Dante Aristotle was “the master of those who know”, namely the teacher and the philosopher par excellence. Yet such an admiration for Aristotle was not shared by all. Quite the opposite: for many, if not most, ancient readers Plato rather than Aristotle was the philosophical authority. I will try to outline the complex story of how Aristotle came to enjoy the exalted role that Dante envisions for him in the Comedia.

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Andrea Falcon is Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at Concordia University, Montreal. He works on Aristotle and the Aristotelian tradition in antiquity and beyond. He is the author of the following monographs: Corpi e Movimenti: la tradizione del De caelo nel mondo antico (Napoli 2001); Aristotle and the Science of Nature: Unity without Uniformity(Cambridge 2005); Aristotelianism in the First Century BC: Xenarchus of Seleucia (Cambridge 2011), Aristotelismo (Torino 2017). He is the editor of the Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Aristotle in Antiquity (Leiden 2016) and, together with David Lefebvre (Paris IV – Sorbonne), of Aristotle’s Generation of Animals: A Critical Guide (Cambridge 2018).

  • Humanity, humanism and digital cultureMarcello Vitali Rosati, Department of French Literatures, Université de Montréal

Who are we? What makes us human? What is our place in the world? These are universal questions that have always tormented philosophers and thinkers. The humanism of the fifteenth century was a time of great reflection on these issues and this reflection coincided with a change in writing: from the manuscript to the press. Digital technologies bring out new ways to produce and circulate knowledge and is parallel to this change that has now become fundamentally new, even asking the question about the meaning and role of humanity.

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Marcello Vitali Rosati is an Associate Professor in the Department of French Literature at Université de Montréal and holds the Canada Research Chair in Digital Writing. He develops a philosophical reflection on the stakes of digital technologies: the concept of virtual, digital identity, notions of authorship and authority, forms of production, legitimation and circulation of knowledge at the time of the web, and the theory of editorialization – of which he is one of the most active contributors. He is the author of numerous articles and monographs and also works as a publisher as director of the magazine Sens Public and co-director of the “Parcours Numériques” collection at the Presses de l’Université de Montréal. As holder of the Chair in Digital Writing, he directs several projects in digital humanities, particularly in the field of scholarly publishing. It is in this context that are developed platforms for publishing magazines and enriched monographs, a software for publishing scientific articles and a collaborative publishing platform of the Codex Palatinus 23.

  • Towards Green Electronics – Clara Santato, Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Montréal

Electrical and electronic equipment has become ubiquitous in our everyday life. The increase of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE, 44.6 Mt worldwide in 2016) and the depletion of chemical elements of key importance in the electronic industry have put mounting pressure on the environment. A promising route towards achieving sustainable (green) electronics is based on the use of abundant materials, novel production schemes and eco-design of devices that includes biodegradation at the end of life. In this contribution, we will discuss results on the biodegradability of materials for electronics and energy storage devices.

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Clara Santato is Full Professor in the Department of Physical Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal. She earned her PhD degree in chemistry (“Preparation and Characterization of Nanostructured WO3 Films as Photoanodes in Photoelectrochemical Devices”) in 2001 from the Université de Genève and her MSc degree (“Electropolymerization and Photopolymerization of a Pyrrole-Substituted Ruthenium tris (bipyridyl) Complex”) in chemistry in 1995 from Università degli Studi di Bologna. The experimental work was carried out in collaboration with Université J. Fourier. She was a (permanent) research scientist at the Institute for Nanostructured Materials, part of the Italian National Research Council, from 2001 to 2011, and a visiting scientist (2007–2010) at Cornell University, Department of Materials Science and Engineering (Malliaras Laboratory for Organic Electronics). In 2006, she was a visiting scientist with a cross-appointment between the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique and McGill University (Chemistry), and in 2005, at Purdue University (Chemistry). Santato’s research focuses on semiconducting films and their interfaces with metal electrodes and electrolytes, for applications in transistors and energy conversion/storage, and has been recently recognized by her elevation to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) senior membership. With her group, she recently expanded her research interests to green electronic and energy-storage devices. Santato is a member of the UNESCO MATECSS (Materials and Technologies for Energy Conversion, Saving and Storage) Chair. She serves as an associate editor of the “Journal of Power Sources” (Elsevier).

  • A new polycystic kidney disease model for genetic and pharmacological discovery of polycystic kidney diseaseChiara Gamberi, Biology Department, Concordia University, Montréal

Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is incurable and affects 66,000 Canadians and 12.5 million people world-wide. We will share our recent progress towards unraveling the complex molecular mechanisms of PKD to conceive new therapeutic strategies.

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Chiara Gamberi earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Cellular Pathology at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Verona with a comparative study of human and yeast RNA binding proteins. Moving to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg during her graduate studies, and then as a postdoc at the University of Texas at Austin and McGill University, Chiara Gamberi continued to pursue her interests in RNA biology and began to study how regulation of RNA expression impacts animal development and physiological adaptation. Most recently, as Affiliate Assistant Professor of Biology at Concordia University and Visiting Professor at the Université de Montréal, she established a first-in-kind model of polycystic kidney disease in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster to study how genes affect renal cyst formation.

  • Communication among scientists in the era of fake newsDaria Boffitto, Department of Chemical Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal

The European Union enforced public consultations and gathered a team of experts in an effort to understand the magnitude of public misinformation. United States and Canada set information falsification as a priority research topic. (Socioeconomical) disparity in the access to information has shaped up as the main cause of public misinformation, which has viciously increased the disparity gap. In this scenario, it is crucial for regulation bodies to access scientific information of the highest quality. Researchers convey knowledge to their peers, agencies, governments and regulations bodies in the form of scientific papers or reports. Effective scientific communication among insiders is therefore key to tackle the misinformation societal issue. In this talk, we discuss the role of scientists to avoid obfuscation while communicating science.

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Daria Boffito is an emerging leader in the field of process intensification and is recognized internationally for her exceptional contributions to diverse scientific fields, including heterogeneous catalysis, biomass to fuels and chemicals, as well as sonochemistry. Daria Boffito is a Professor in Chemical Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal since May 2016 where she holds the Canada Research Chair in Intensified Mechano-chemical Processes for Sustainable Biomass Conversion. After graduating from the University of Milan with a PhD in Industrial Chemistry in 2013, she moved to Polytechnique Montreal where she began her postdoctoral research supported by prestigious scholarships such as the PBEEE (Program of Excellence Scholarships for Foreign Students) by FRQNT and the NSERC Banting post-doctoral Fellowship. During the second year of her PhD, Daria Boffito was selected as one of the Green Talents 2012 by the German Government, which annually identifies the top 25 young researchers worldwide in field of sustainability. Daria Boffito actively consults with several Canadian companies in the field of oil and gas and the synthesis of materials. Daria Boffito published 55 articles in scientific journals (including 21 articles on scientific communication), 7 book chapters, 1 book on scientific communication, and 2 patents. She counts more than 50 communications at national or international conferences.

  • New solid electrolyte for ultra-safe energy storageAndrea Paolella, Center of Excellence in Electric Transport and Energy Storage of Hydro-Quebec, Varennes

The increasing demand of clean energy requires the use of efficient and safe energy storage devices. Lithium metal batteries are one of the most promising technologies for portable electronics and electric vehicle. Actually this technology is strongly limited by lithium metal dendrite formation that can cause safety issues after short circuit in presence of flammable liquid electrolyte. Therefore the development of efficient solid electrolytes (mainly polymer or ceramic) becomes an important step to achieve this result. Hydro-Quebec in Varennes hosts one of the most important research center in the world about energy storage: the Centre of Excellence in Electric Transport and Energy Storage (CETEES) under the direction of Dr. Karim Zaghib. Hydro-Quebec developed several materials such as: LiFePO4 cathode, Li4Ti5O12 anode and the first all-solid-lithium battery based on the pioneristic work of Prof. Michel Armand.

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Andrea Paolella was born in Reggio Emilia in 1984. In 2008 he graduated in chemistry at the University of Bologna and in 2013 he received a doctorate in nanoscience at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa. After a post doctorate at McGill University (Montreal), he is currently a researcher in the development of new materials in the Department of Storage and Energy Conversion at the Energy Institute Recherche Quebéc (IREQ) of Hydro-Quebéc.

  • Inherited white matter diseases in adult patientsRoberta La Piana, Department of Neuroradiology and Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Motion, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montréal

Genetic white matter diseases are a group of progressive, inherited neurological disorders that affect the myelin of the central nervous system. They are most common in children and are considered rare in the adult population. However, our experience and recent advances in the field of neurosciences suggest that there is a larger than expected number of adult patients suffering with genetic white matter disorders. The consequence is that many of them experience a delay in the diagnosis or are misdiagnosed with other more common conditions, with important implications for their health and their entire families. The goal of my research is to identify novel, undiagnosed forms of adult white matter disorders, by means of a multidisciplinary approach that combines advanced imaging with next generation genetic techniques.

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Roberta La Piana is a pediatric neurologist with expertise in the field of genetic white matter diseases. She is currently completing a PhD in Neuroscience at the Montreal Neurological Institute, under the supervision of Drs. Bernard Brais and Donatella Tampieri. She has been working on inherited myelin disorders since she was a resident in Pediatric Neurology and Psychiatry at the University of Pavia, Italy. When she moved to the Montreal Neurological Institute in 2010, Dr. La Piana became interested in late-onset undiagnosed forms of leukoencephalopathies which are the object of her PhD project. Her research focuses on the identification of genes responsible for new forms of hereditary white matter disorders, using next generation sequencing techniques; on the application of advanced neuroimaging tools to define and characterize genetic white matter diseases; on the understanding of the clinical and MRI overlap between atypical multiple sclerosis and genetic leukoencephalopathies.

Reservation no longer available

  • Organized by: Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Montréal
  • In collaboration with: Consolato Generale d’Italia a Montréal, l’Ambascia