ICTP and the University of Trieste have launched a joint master's degree programme in physics and a doctorate degree programme in fluid mechanics.

Matter of Degrees

Domenico Romeo

'Learning to know...learning to do...learning to live together' have been the driving forces behind Trieste's efforts to advance science and build scientific capacity for nearly half a century.
These noble efforts began with the creation of ICTP in 1964, and then continued with the creation of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) and the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) in 1983, and the International Centre for Science and High Technology (ICS) in the late 1980s.
Now Trieste's scientific community has taken another step forward with the launch of two new degree-granting programmes this past autumn: a master's degree programme in physics sponsored by ICTP and the University of Trieste, and a Ph.D programme in environmental fluid mechanics sponsored by ICTP, the University of Trieste, and Italy's National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics (OGS).
The joint master's degree programme in physics will focus on a wide range of fields that includes astrophysics, condensed matter physics, earth physics, and nuclear and sub-nuclear physics. ICTP will provide support for students, chosen each year from an international pool of applicants, to pursue their master's degrees at the University of Trieste, where they will be taught by university professors and members of ICTP's scientific staff. A pilot project, with students from Cameroon, China, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan, was launched this past autumn, and four students--one from each of these nations---re now completing their first semester of classes.
The Ph.D programme in fluid mechanics, which will follow a similar format, will be devoted to education and training in the fundamental and applied aspects of fluid mechanics and the physics of large-scale flows. This knowledge is instrumental in enhancing our understanding of such environmental and geophysical forces as river and ocean flows, atmospheric pollution, and earthquakes and tsunamis.
While scientists at ICTP have often taught classes and supervised students both at the University of Trieste and Italy's International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA), ICTP's next-door neighbour, these two programmes mark the first time that ICTP will participate as a full partner in a degree-granting programme offered by an Italian university.
ICTP, the University of Trieste, OGS, and other Trieste-based educational and research institutions all seek to share and advance knowledge as their primary goals. These institutions have helped the city of Trieste reach far beyond its borders to the global communities of scholarship and science. Their work--both individually and collectively--has proven instrumental in boosting Trieste's growing reputation as an international centre for scientific research and training, especially for scientists from the developing world.
As vice-chancellor of the University of Trieste, I am delighted to have played a part in the launch of these programmes, which I am confident will prove beneficial not only to Trieste's scientific institutions and the city itself, but to Italy, which has proven so generous in its support of ICTP and, more broadly, the worthy effort to provide research opportunities and training for scientists from developing countries by creating a 'home away from home' here in Trieste.

Domenico Romeo
Vice-Chancellor (Rector)
University of Trieste

For additional information about the master's degree programme in physics, see
www.ictp.it/www_users/ItaLab/joint-programme.htm.
For additional information about the Ph.D. programme in environmental fluid mechanics, see
http://www.dmi.units.it/borse-dottorati/fluid/.

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