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Public Engagement

Public Engagement, also referred to as Outreach, includes all initiatives of educational, cultural, or social value through which the university communicates and collaborates with the general public.
Such activities may include public events, open laboratories, lectures, partnerships with schools, science festivals, and other opportunities for engaging with society at large.

Scientific outreach activities

The Department of Computer Science participates in several initiatives, often in connection with local, national, and international events.

  • BRIGHT, The European Researchers’ Night: an annual event held throughout Europe on the last Friday of September, with the goal of bringing the general public closer to the world of science and research.
  • Internet Festival – Forme di futuro – A rich programme of labs, workshops, tutorials, performances, exhibitions, installations, and interactive talks for all ages, celebrating the digital revolution. The coordinator of the Festival’s Scientific Committee is Prof. Gian-Luigi Ferrari, while Prof. Fabio Gadducci is a member of the Festival’s Executive Committee.
  • Festival della Robotica (Robotics Festival): a series of events combining science outreach, debates, and entertainment, dedicated to the broad areas of technology and innovation, and their most recent applications in everyday life, both present and future.

Educational Events

Another activity of the Department is the organization or co-organization of programming contests and science Olympiads. In particular, the Department organizes:

  • la Turing Machine context – Established in 1997, this competition aims to introduce high school students to computational thinking and the fundamentals of programming.
    To ensure fair access, the contest is based on the formalism of the Turing Machine (1936), a simple yet still relevant theoretical model that does not require any prior knowledge of programming languages. Contacts: Alessio Conte, Veronica Guerrini, Giulia Punzi

The Department takes part in the organization of the following competitions:

Information about these initiatives is published on the Department’s website as the events draw near.

Pianeta Galileo

Some Department members and researchers from the Department hold lezioni-incontro i.e., seminars at upper secondary schools, as part of the Pianeta Galileo project. This initiative, promoted by the Regional Council of Tuscany in collaboration with Tuscan universities, aims to foster scientific culture and knowledge among younger generations.

Contact: Gianna Maria Del Corso, A Department member of the Department of Computer Science and one of the two University of Pisa representatives for the Pianeta Galileo project.

Piano Lauree Scientifiche (PLS)

Il Progetto Nazionale PLS di Informatica (National PLS Project in Computer Science), involving 35 university campuses, aims to promote computer science as a scientific discipline by helping high school students better understand the nature of university studies and professional practice in the field.

Further information can be found on the follwoing webpages:

Contact Person for Computer Science at the University of Pisa: Roberto Grossi

Collaboration with the Museum of Computing Machinery

The Department of Computer Science has a longstanding collaboration with the Museum of Computing Machinery (part of the Sistema Museale of the University of Pisa). This museum exhibits the most significant pieces of a very rich collection of machines linked to the history of Computer Science, unique in Italy and internationally important for its completeness and significance of the pieces.

Press Review
The Department’s press review is available on this page