6^th Edition 2025-2026

26 February – 14 May 2026

Where:  University of Trento, Via Mesiano 77, Room 2R, Trento Italy, and online everywhere via Zoom link.

In the midst of profound global geopolitical tensions and escalating environmental crises, the UNESCO Chair in Engineering for Human and Sustainable Development  recognizes that environmental sustainability must be approached as both an urgent imperative and a pathway to international cooperation. The rapid effects of global change, population growth, unsustainable production systems, and climate variations pose existential threats that transcend national borders and political divisions, particularly affecting vulnerable communities where fragile ecosystems face irreversible damage.

Against this backdrop, the sixth edition of ESIC’s Environmental Sustainability and International Cooperation webinar series emerges as a vital platform for dialogue and collaborative problem-solving. These webinars bring together researchers and international cooperation actors to critically examine pressing environmental challenges and explore innovative solutions grounded in scientific evidence and local wisdom. The series addresses interconnected themes that are essential for building resilience in our troubled world, including rethinking development paradigms, creating sustainable urban environments, protecting human rights through ecological perspectives, safeguarding vital freshwater systems, and implementing nature-based solutions for transformative change.

As we navigate these complex global challenges, ESIC’s is committed to prepare a new generation of environmental engineers who can address both technical and non-technical dimensions of the sustainability crisis. Through project-oriented, hands-on training that fosters transdisciplinary knowledge and cutting-edge research, we aim to cultivate innovative solutions that promote environmental justice, international cooperation, and sustainable development in an increasingly unstable world.

The calendar is purely indicative and will be subject to change depending on the availability of speakers.

* in presence

Participants and registration

ESIC’s webinars are open to researchers and students, as well as practitioners of international cooperation, professionals and voluntary operators, belonging to profit and non-profit organizations, national and international institutions, networks, and professional associations.

Pre-registration for DICAM-Unitrento students at this link: 

https://webapps.unitn.it/PrenotazioniEventi/it/Web/DatiOrigine/894

Pre-registration for anyone else at this link: 

https://forms.gle/9CNE1EwR8zh3Tx8K7

Organising committee

• Guido Zolezzi, Davide Geneletti, Full Professors
• Massimo Zortea, Teaching Fellow, Lawyer
• Sara Favargiotti, Associate Professor 
• Marta Crivellaro, Nicola D’Alberton, research fellows
• Chiara Braucher, PhD
• Susanna Ottaviani, Anisa Bica, Ada Castellucci, Mireille Galli, Anna Cantoni, Sara Pasqualini               Pecnikaj, PhD students

Teaching method

A reminder email will be sent to all registered students and interested externals will be sent regularly.

A dedicated online training platform is accessible here, where you can find the Zoom webinar link, together with speakers’ presentations and additional material that will be progressively uploaded. 

The online web platform is accessible at this LINK

(registration key: ESIC’s2026)

Each webinar will last 2 academic hours (1 hour and 30 minutes) in English. Two invited talks will take place in the first part, followed by an inclusive discussion and question/answer session.

Credit Recognition

• DICAM-UNITRENTO students with at least an attendance IN PRESENCE to the seminars (5 over 6 seminars) and pass the Final test will be awarded 1 credit type F.
• Students from other departments of UNITRENTO will have to ask their department secretaries about credit recognition.

Final test

The final test consists of a short (5-minute) oral presentation on a date to be fixed in the first half of June 2026. Each student will be asked to identify, describe, and discuss a dual challenge, i.e., which includes both the management/implementation and the technical/scientific levels. The identified challenge has to be chosen among those that emerged across multiple (at least 2) webinars. The presentation must also refer to at least two of the papers/documents made available in the DOL platform and has to outline possible ways forward to the discussed challenges. The presentation will be in English.

Certificate of Attendance

At the end of the cycle of webinars, participants who are not enrolled in UNITRENTO or who have not included the cycle of seminars in their study plan, can be issued a certificate of attendance in case they explicitly request it, provided they have attended at least 5 over 6 seminars. 

Calendar

Webinars will be held on Thursday afternoons at 17.30 (UTC+1) according to the schedule available in the Download box.

Contacts