Presentation
The Department of Cultures, Politics and Society has a true calling for Third Mission initiatives and a keen interest in the social impact of its research.
The foundation of the Luigi Bobbio Centre for Public and Applied Social Research 2018 testifies to this commitment. Fruit of the 2018-2022 Eccellenza Project, the Centre forges links between academic research and the surrounding community, providing the major socio-economic actors in the region and around the country with analytical tools they need to make informed decisions.
Day to day, moreover, the Department, its personnel and its other laboratories and centres (Italian page) are engaged with the broad spectrum of the University’s Third Mission efforts to promote the direct application and transfer of knowledge to contribute to society’s cultural, social and economic development.
The following sections present highlights of the Department’s contribution in recent years to several categories of Third Mission initiatives: services and consulting, academic entrepreneurship via the Department’s spin-offs, lifelong learning and open teaching activities, public engagement and, lastly, museum exhibitions and the arts.
Missing from this list are the third mission initiatives involving research conducted together with local stakeholders (Italian page) through cooperative agreements.
Over the last few years, the Department has entered into a large number of applied research agreements with outside organizations (2023 Monitoring Report - Italian page).
These organizations represent a broad range of stakeholders. First come local and regional authorities such as the City of Torino, the Municipality of Cuneo, the Torino Chamber of Commerce, the Piemonte regional administration, the Valle d’Aosta regional administration, the Torino 3 Local Health Agency, and the Department of Corrections Regional Supervisory Office for Piemonte, Liguria and Valle d'Aosta.
The second group of stakeholders consists of research institutes with a regional scope (such as IRES, the Piemonte Institute for Social and Economic Research, TWAI-Torino World Affairs Institute and the Centro Studi Piero Gobetti) and such national and international organizations as the Collegio Carlo Alberto, the UNIRES Interuniversity Centre for Research on Higher Education, and IOM-International Organisation for Migration.
The third group is made up of stakeholders from the third sector. Here, the Department is intensely involved in collaborations with cultural associations (Associazione Culturale Blitz, Associazione Caffè Storici e Salotti Sabaudi), social support associations (Consulta per le Persone in Difficoltà, Associazione Diritti Negati, SOCREM Torino, Labsus-Laboratorio per la Sussidiarietà), social cooperatives (SEAcoop), social enterprises (Innovaper, SocialFare), international development organizations (the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, AICA-International Association for Environmental Communication, ASPEm-Association for Solidarity with Emerging Countries, CVCS-Volunteers Center for Development Cooperation) and philanthropic institutions (Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, Fondazione Finanza Etica, Fondazione ULAOP-CRT).
Lastly, the Department has entered into research agreements and provides services for private firms such as IREN, Noovle-TIM, TELT, Modelway and CMAST.
From the outset, the Department has invested in lifelong learning, organizing continuing education courses, summer schools and initiatives for professionals, practitioners and scholars from Italy and abroad.
Educational programmes
The Department of Cultures, Politics and Society organizes educational programmes for professionals, practitioners, scholars and former students from Italy and abroad.
Examples include:
- ChinaMed Business Program
- TO Asia Export Training
- Training course for middle management at the Torino Labour Relations Board
- Mobility, religions and inclusion (Italian page) – organized as part of the PRIMED Prevention and Interaction in the Trans-Mediterranean area project.
- Water, local administrations and the challenge of climate change (Italian page) – promoted by Torino metropolitan area administration together with the Piemonte chapter of ANCI, Italy's national association of municipalities, and the University of Torino.
Summer Schools
From the outset, the Department of Cultures, Politics and Society has invested in a number of summer schools for professionals, practitioners, students and former students.
The Department's research has led to a number of spin-offs.
Currently, in response to the PoV call for proposals (Italian page), proof of value work is proceeding for the initiative entitled Great Old Biella ("GO, Be Interdependent, Ease your Life, Look Ahead" italian page).
Past activities include Quaerys (Italian web site), an innovative start-up founded in 2015 as one of the Department’s academic spin-offs. It specializes in semantic data science for institutions, firms and research centers.