The "Carlo Azeglio Ciampi" Institute of Advanced Studies
President
Scientific Council
The "Carlo Azeglio Ciampi" Institute of Advanced Studies, the interfaculty research centre of the Scuola Normale, is sited in Florence, at Palazzo Strozzi. It is characterised by its interdisciplinary approach and international dimension, enhanced by invitations to lecturers and researchers from abroad. The institute is named after Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, a former President of the Republic and an alumnus of the Normale, where he was awarded a degree in letters in 1941.
The lines of research and the activities are identified and co-ordinated by a Scientific Committee composed of five lecturers of the Scuola Normale – at least one from each faculty – and a president.
The Institute's activities
The Institute carries out its activities with the lecturers and personnel of the faculties of the Scuola Normale. The activities regard interdisciplinary themes defined by the Scientific Committee.
- Ciampi visiting scholars: invitations to internationally renowned experts who contribute to research in the thematic fields of the Institute and of the faculties. The opportunities for invitations, regarding specific topics and for periods of from one to six months, are announced by call by the Scuola Normale:
- Organisation of interdisciplinary conferences and workshops. In 2023 the main initiatives planned are the following:
- 14 March 2023, in Florence, conference After the pandemic. Exploring social, political and economic changes
- 12-13 May 2023, in Florence, conference In the shadow of collapse. Imperial legacies, failed democratization, civil society and nationalism in the post-Soviet space
- 22-26 May 2023, in Rome, Advanced Course on Innovation, Growth and International Production. Models and Data Analysis (co-promoted with other universities)
- 14 March 2023, in Florence, conference After the pandemic. Exploring social, political and economic changes
- Invitations to international experts for conferences and seminars.
- Funding of faculty research grants
- The Ciampi Institute is the site of the activities of the Scuola Normale Superiore in the context of the international network Scholars At Risk (SAR), which offers support to scholars at risk in their country of origin. For 2023 the Scuola Normale has offered two research grants, one to a scholar from Ukraine, Andrey Maliuk, and the other to a Russian scholar, Oleg Zhuravlev, both active at the Florence site.
- Fundraising activities for the creation of chairs at the Normale for full professors, in agreement with their university of provenance. The chair created is assigned to a faculty of the Scuola Normale, depending on the scientific-disciplinary sector of reference.
For the period 2018-2023 the “Carlo Azeglio Ciampi” Chair, funded by the Associazione Amici della Scuola Normale Superiore, (Friends of the Scuola Normale Superiore) has been assigned to Prof. Mario Pianta, a lecturer in Political Economy at the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences.
In the academic year 2020-2021 the Mathematical Finance Chair, funded by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio of Florence for a project on ‘Microstruttura dei Mercati Finanziari - Reti e Rischio sistemico’(‘Microstructure of the Financial Markets – Networks and Systemic Risk’), was assigned to Prof. Fabrizio Lillo, a lecturer in Mathematical methods of economy and of the actuarial and financial sciences at the Faculty of Sciences.
The funding of the Institute
The “Carlo Azeglio Ciampi” Institute of Advanced Studies is generously funded by the Associazione Amici della Scuola Normale Superiore (Friends of the Scuola Normale Superiore) and with funds of the Scuola Normale.