comunicare la ricerca

Communicating research

Sharing the themes, the results and the issues of its research to a vast, non-academic public is one of the missions of the  SNS, which invests resources and ideas for developing different initiatives in order to reach a variety of target audiences.

Initiatives relating to the communication of research

Conferences at which scholars from the Normale and other institutions are invited to explain the main lines of their research in an autobiographical perspective, relating how and why they happened to adopt their particular line of study, what originally motivated them and what motivates them now to work in their sector, and what future prospects they envisage.
Guided visits for school pupils, groups and the general public, at the Palazzo della Carovana, the sites of the Library (Palazzo dell’Orologio, Palazzo del Capitano), the Archives, and the research laboratories and structures. With this in mind, in 2012 the Scuola Normale started up a project in collaboration with the Centro per l’Arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci (the Luigi Pecci Centre of Contemporary Art of  Prato), which has placed contemporary artworks in Palazzo della Carovana,  the atypical sixteenth-century setting for Vasari's architectural skills. The intention is to reveal the dialogue, the close interaction between the world of scientific  research and that of artistic creation, also regarding the historicisation and valorisation of the museum setting. To those who daily frequent the Scuola Normale, and to those who are guests there or who visit the Palazzo della Carovana, these works of art represent a testimony to the culture of the present day and a challenge to measure themselves against the richness and complexity of the languages of contemporaneity.
Interdisciplinary  debates on various subjects, at which personalities from the world of the  sciences, the arts and the Humanistic disciplines are invited to discuss key themes, thus  offering the public a multiplicity of insights, methodologies and food for thought that can bear fruit by their interaction.


With the intention of disseminating over as wide a ground as possible the knowledge generated within its walls, the Normale also takes part in initiatives organised in collaboration with institutions and associations of the area: 


BRIGHT – Researchers' Night. The acronym BRIGHT stands for Brilliant Researchers Impact on Growth, Health, and Trust in research, underlining the social value of research activity and enhancing the visibility and perception of researchers among the citizenry. Every year, BRIGHT brings researchers onto the streets of the historical centres of the Tuscan cities and opens the doors of their laboratories to the public, who thus have the opportunity to get to know of the positive impact of research activity on the quality of life. The initiative is carried out at the same time as all the initiatives of European Researchers’ Night (ERN) and is organised in collaboration with the universities, the schools of excellence and the main research centres of Tuscany.

IF - Internet Festival. The initiative affords an opportunity to understand better the challenges and the opportunities that accompany new technologies. Organised each year in Pisa thanks to a collaboration the universities, the schools of excellence and other promoters, IF offers a three-day event of shows, conversations, book presentations, dialogues, lectures and concerts involving some of the most prominent figures on the  national and international scene.

Solidarity Day. On April 27 of each year, the Nicola Ciardelli Onlus Association organizes the Solidarity Day in Pisa, an initiative that involves all the schools in Pisa, from nursery schools to high schools, and which involves the entire city.
The aim is to raise awareness among students on the issues of peace and solidarity.