Substantial funding by the Italian ministry of education and research to 5 departments

Research at Ca’ Foscari has hit an important milestone: out of the seven departments competing for the substantial funding offered by the Italian Ministry of Education and Research five have obtained it for a total funding of EUR 35 million for 5 years as well as additional EUR 13,5 million for the university.

The list of 180 top departments which obtained the funding was published by the ANVUR. The 5 departments of Ca’ Foscari included:

The Department of Economics

The Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies

The Department of Asian and North African Studies

The Department of Management

The Department of Humanities

The Rector of Ca’ Foscari, Michele Bugliesi, declared: “It is an outstanding result that makes us proud; after coming third in the ANVUR evaluation for the quality of our research, another milestone shows the value and impact of the academic activity of our departments. A result that was obtained thanks to our researchers and to the investment of Ca’ Foscari in seeking the best researchers and in supporting their research. These new funds will encourage us to fully implement the strategic plan for the development of the scientific activities of the university.

The winning projects:

The project of the Department of Economics aims at creating the VERA (Venice centre in Economic and Risk Analytics for public policies) research centre on social welfare, risk evaluation and public policies to implement research activities on economic, statistic and mathematical studies using big data resources, location referencing, field research to share relevant results for politicy design with the scientific community and institutions, including the following topics: smart agrifood, climate data and insurances, health and welfare, blockchain, fintech, high frequency trading and digital banking, smart city and energy efficiency, climate change and environmental risks.

The project of the Department of Asian and North African Studies aims at establishing an international research centre  Marco Polo (MaP), Centre for Global Europe-Asia Connections where the internationalization of education will be implemented with two new Master’s degrees taught in English (in collaboration with the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing and the Department of Economics at Ca’ Foscari) and a joint Doctoral programme (in cooperation with the Asian Transcultural Studies at the University of Heidelberg.

The project of the Department of Linguistics and Comparative Cultural Studies aims at making the department an international reference for linguistic and cultural diversity for the many areas of research and the many scientific perspectives. This project implements the outcomes of theoretical and empirical research in linguistic and cultural diversity, multilingualism and interculturalism for individual and collective wellbeing strengthening human resources in specific sectors with advanced research techniques and internationally relevant infrastructures and instruments. Linguists and culture scholars who have specialized in 20 languages from Europe and America bring an original and unique perspective for thinking about linguistic and cultural diversity through three complementary approaches: a)linguistic and cognitive, b) socio-linguistic, c)literary and cultural (at the individual and community levels).

The project of the Department of Humanities aims at developing “Digital Humanities” as part of the “Public Humanities” field to enhance research and spread its findings outside academia. This includes many applications such as digitizing archival materials (texts, sound, images), creating a digital edition of texts, operating network analysis, creating 3D maps, developing algorithmic analysis of literature and advanced visualization techniques. The project includes the establishment of a “Digital Research in the Humanities” lab to provide instruments and services facilitating the digital investigation and the promotion of cultural heritage.

The project of the Department of Management aims at creating new labs and interdepartmental centres in synergy with public and private bodies, including a new basic and applied research field (“analytical intelligence for management”), the EQUIS accreditation and quality certification, a four year long doctorate programme.