During the Covid-19 health emergency lockdown, UNIMONT has demonstrated the “resilience” it has learnt from many years of daily work in mountain areas. Building a university campus in a small mountain town with fewer than 5,000 inhabitants has been the challenge of the University of Milan during over 20 years of work in Edolo, together with local authorities such as the Province of Brescia, the Comunità Montana and BIM of Vallecamonica, the Union of the Municipalities of the Orobie Bresciane, led by the municipality of Edolo.
A strategic alliance, aimed at investing in the training of young people, innovation and an alliance between mountains and cities to promote the sustainable development of mountain areas.
In fact, for a large university, such as the University of Milan, based in a metropolis, being immersed and operating daily in a local mountain context, has proved fundamental for experimenting and understanding the peculiarities, identifying the real priorities and acquiring the awareness needed to build a vision of the future consistent with the resources and specificities of mountain areas, at the basis of the courses and the numerous research activities and third mission of UNIMONT.
Creating virtual bridges to connect the Edolo hub with other mountain and urban locations, to offer services and to share experiences, knowledge and good practices essential to building a new vision of the future of mountain areas, no longer considered marginal areas thanks to technology, was another winning move in the evolution of UNIMONT.
Nowadays, UNIMONT, from a small mountain town, has created a real “knowledge network” with over 25,000 contacts, demonstrating that the local dimension, today, can emerge from isolation and play a key role for the future, based on young, new entrepreneurs and on a strategic mountain-city alliance that guarantees constant interaction for mutual benefit. An even more important perspective for the post-Covid era during which mountain areas could acquire a new and more strategic role for Italy.
The experience of UNIMONT in approaching and connecting distant contexts has allowed a prompt reaction to the lockdown, guaranteeing e-learning teaching activities to the students of the undergraduate course and specialization courses and providing a popular program of seminar activities that are always freely available to the public and are much appreciated.
7 meetings in 7 weeks provided with the virtual classroom, freely available and followed by an average of 270 participants on appointment from all over Italy.
Topics range from territorial development to ecosystem services, from natural dyes to the socio-economic aspects of the Alps and even Nepal, as well as increasingly popular events about books, to get to know the authors who have been inspired by the unique spirit of mountain areas, always thought-provoking ad often unexpected.
New events scheduled (see below and here)
Have a look at all seminars on demand on the page: https://www.unimontagna.it/servizi/seminari-webinar/ and share the seminars of interest with your contacts. Also remember to follow us on Facebook and Instagram, so as not to miss any news on Unimont events!
8th MAY 2020 – HIGH ALTITUDE METEOROLOGY. FROM THE ALPS TO THE HIMALAYAS
Free seminar open to the public on 08/05 at 3.30 p.m. The seminar can be seen online, live or on demand, by enrolling here.
Speaker: Filippo Thiery, meteorologist at the National Department of Civil Protection.
Description: An overview of atmospheric dynamics and meteorological phenomena typical of moun-tain environments, with specific insights in-to the peculiarities of Alps, Apennines and Himalayas.
A useful seminar for all climbers or amateur hikers.
We will talk about how to use weather fore-casts in planning your excursions and how to recognize the signs of changes in the weather, starting from the observation and classification of clouds, for excursions with-out hitches and dangers!
12th MAY, 2020 – UNIMONT ACTIVITIES FOR THE STUDY AND ENHANCEMENT OF MOUNTAIN PLANT AGROBIODIVERSITY
Free seminar open to the public on 12/05 at 4.30 p.m. The seminar can be seen online, live or on demand, by enrolling here.
Speaker: Luca Giupponi – CRC Ge.S.Di.Mont. University of Milan.
Description: The loss of plant varieties and animal breeds used in agriculture is a topic of great interest both locally and on a global scale. The FAO has estimated that over 75% of local (traditional) plant varieties have been lost over the past century. Together with Luca Giupponi, Unimont researcher, topics related to the loss of plant agro-biodiversity will be discussed and some of the research that UNIMONT is carrying out for the enhancement of traditional local cultivars will be presented.
20 MAGGIO 2020 – RACCONTA LA MONTAGNA – PRESENTATION OF THE BOOK “L’ALTRO LATO DEL PARADISO” BY ALBERTO PALEARI
Literary fair “raCONTA LA MONTAGNA”: appointment on the 20/05 at h.18.00.
Speaker: Alberto Paleari.
Description: In “L’altro lato del paradiso” the Valgrande – the largest area of wilderness in Italy, between Lake Maggiore and the Val d’Ossola – is the mirror in which Paleari finds himself. Luxuriant, hostile, feral, solitary nature which has changed over time, as shown by the infinite traces of the ancient civilization of lumberjacks and breeders that inhabited it. In the book, unknown stories, portraits of mythical local characters, the partisan war, old alpine guides, daring adventures of explorative mountaineering: chains of associations that lead the reader in a continuous, exciting flow, up to the last page. The seminar can be seen online, live or on demand, by enrolling here.
29th MAY 2020 – THE BEEKEEPING CHAIN: QUALITY AND SAFETY TO PROTECT HONEY AND BY-PRODUCTS
Free seminar open to the public on 29/05 at 4.30 p.m. The seminar can be seen online, live or on demand, by enrolling here.
Speaker: Sara Panseri, Vespa – CRC Ge.S.Di.Mont. Introduction di Valeria Leoni, CRC Ge.S.Di.Mont, University of Milan.
Description: The seminar, following a brief presentation about beehives and bee products, aims to present the state of the art on problems of environmental contaminants, pesticides, the presence of antibiotics and their effects on the quality of honey and by-products thanks to research and dedicated planning carried out both nationally and internationally.
Unfortunately the majority of seminars and webinars organized by Ge.S.Di.Mont are available only in Italian, therefore we invite you to consult the relative page in Italian, to have access to the entire catalog.
