23 May 2025 | "Happy Birthday LD!" celebrates 15 years of success
23 May 2025 | "Happy Birthday LD!" celebrates 15 years of success
On May 23rd, we celebrated the 15th anniversary of our Local Development master’s programme with a special event titled “Happy Birthday Local Development!”.
The event was held in the hall of CUAMM (Doctors with Africa) in Padua, one of the most MA’s longest-standing stakeholders. Many guests attended to celebrate the programme’s achievements and evolution over the past 15 years, including Giovanni Putoto from CUAMM and Evelina Martelli from Comunità di Sant’Egidio.
The speakers underscored the importance of training professionals prepared to tackle the challenges of local development in an increasingly interconnected world.
Numerous alumni and partners of the programme attended to celebrate this milestone, reflecting on future years of commitment to local development with an awareness of the multifarious nuances and criticalities of the field.
It was also an occasion to thank all the past presidents of the Local Development programme (Professors Pierpaolo Faggi, Marina Bertoncin, Anna Giraldo), the current president Prof. Chiara Rabbiosi, as well as the faculty members (including Maria Castiglioni, Silvia Elena Piovan, Daria Quatrida, Irene Barbiera, Giorgio Osti, Alessio Surian among others) and the administrative staff (Edgar Serrano, Coralba Cappellato, Adriana Martin Garcia, Raffaella Masè, Eirini Koumparaki, Oscar Russo), who over the years have put endless energy, passion and expertise into carrying out this programme!
17 May 2025 | Jury at the Association for European Transport Hackathon
17 May 2025 | Jury at the Association for European Transport Hackathon
On Saturday, May 17, 2025, our MoHu director Tania Rossetto participated as a jury member in the 2025 Association for European Transport Hackathon, which was held at the Padua office of NET Engineering company, one of our intersectoral partners. The Hackathon, dedicated to the theme “Sustainable tourism challenges and strategies in Italy”, engaged MA and PhD students, including Billy Adi Pamungkas from our Local Development MA and Francesco Zuccolo, from our PhD program in Historical, Geographical, and Anthropological Studies, in two exciting days of creative discussion and exchange with experts on the topics of transportation, infrastructure, and alternative mobilities for tourists. Being part of the jury was a valuable opportunity to expand our center’s networking activity in the extra-academic field with leading actors of mobility transformations in Italy.


Research on the move | Bi-Lateral Workshop MoHu & EUI
Research on the move | Bi-Lateral Workshop MoHu & EUI
Overview
“Research on the Move. A Bi-lateral Workshop between Padua and Florence” is a project based on a series of seminars to be held at the European University Institute (EUI) – Department of History and Civilisation (HEC) on 30 April 2025 and in Padua at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Mobility & Humanities (MoHu) on 12 June 2025, organised by the Migration and Mobility Working Group of the European University Institute and the MA Programme in Mobility Studies of the University of Padova.
The event invites PhD students from the HEC department at the EUI, as well as advanced Masters students and PhD students from the MA Mobility Studies and PhD programme in Historical, Geographical and Anthropological Studies at the Universities of Padua and Venice Ca’ Foscari, to present and discuss their ongoing projects on various aspects of the history of mobility and migration. The workshop will provide advanced Masters students and PhD students with a forum for academic discussion and additional external feedback on their work. It will also provide an opportunity for networking between two leading research centres in the field of the history of mobility and for promoting the PhD programmes, in particular to Master’s students.
The project series
The project includes a series of events organised by the Migration and Mobility Working Group of the HEC Department and the MoHu in the first half of 2025:
(1) A lecture on 30 January 2025 by Paola Molino, Professor of Early Modern History and Coordinator of the MA in Mobility Studies.
(2) The official participation of two members of the working group in the Mobility Fest, where they presented the working group and promoted the EUI PhD programme (21 February 2025).
(3) Two workshops (30 April and 12 June 2025): During the workshops, panels are moderated by members of the working groups from the two institutions. Commentators provide feedback to stimulate discussion and intellectual exchange between participants.
Organisers
Anna Breidenbach (2nd Year)
Niklas Platzer (2nd Year)
Supported by Benno Gammerl, Paola Molino, Carlotta Sorba
Participants to the first workshop in Florence:
Anna Breidenbach (EUI), Daniele Cal (EUI), Emma dal Mas (EUI), Thays De Souza Ellero (Mobility Studies), Lydia Hendriksma (EUI), Aleksandr Lemeshinski (EUI), Alena Lesniak (Mobility Studies), Chukwudi Matthew Anuforo (Mobility Studies), Midya Navidi (Mobility Studies), Maria Pantazi (EUI), Niklas Platzer (EUI), Fabian Riesinger (EUI), Hasan Sezer (Mobility Studies), Ginevra Villani (PhD Padua-Venice), Mikhail Vsemirnov (PhD Padua-Venice).
8 May 2025 | “Memories” presentation at MUDEC, Milan
8 May 2025 | “Memories” presentation at MUDEC, Milan
One of our major collaborations with the Centre for the GeoHumanities at Royal Holloway University of London, namely the “Variations on mobility” Creative Commission, has produced creative outputs that are still on a journey and haven’t finished saying what they have to say.
The graphic novel, Memories. Notes and Maps of a Journey to the West (2023), co-authored by Ciaj Rocchi, Matteo Demonte (illustrators, video-makers, and comic artists) and Daniele Brigadoi Cologna (sinologist and sociologist of migrations), which originated from this collaboration and was supported by MoHu (and in particular by Giada Peterle and Tania Rossetto), was presented at the Museo delle Culture (MUDEC) in Milan on May 8, 2025, as part of the TRAVELOGUE: Storie di viaggi, migrazioni e diaspore series.
Memories is an intense work that reinserts the history of Chinese migration to Italy within the broader migratory flow towards Europe in the 1920s. Through direct testimonies and an accurate reconstruction of events, the book narrates the journeys, challenges, and visions of the protagonists of this migration, offering a new historical and human perspective.
This event demonstrates how art-research collaborations are able to bring mobility research into contact with diverse audiences, continuing MoHu’s public engagement mission.

Call | Summer School "The Future of Text"
Call | Summer School "The Future of Text"
The University of Padua, in collaboration with Tokyo College of the University of Tokyo, invites applications for a Summer School on the topic “The Future of Text”. Participants will engage with handwritten, printed, and digital texts from early modernity to the present day, with a particular focus on the impact of recent technologies on the future of text.
While providing a broad overview of the historical development of textual practices and technologies—from the invention of printing to generative artificial intelligence—the activities will allow students to develop a critical awareness of the challenges and opportunities presented by digital technologies such as digitization, social media, and artificial intelligence. Students will also have the opportunity to explore specific software for textual analysis, visualization, and extrapolation, and to visit key institutions during their stay in Italy, including archives and libraries in Padua and Venice.
Topics Covered:
- Textual practices in the pre-modern world
- Documenting practices
- Artificial Intelligence and information today
- Imagining textual futures
- Site visits to archives in Venice and libraries in Padua
- Hands-on workshop on Voyant Tools for the creation and analysis of textual corpora
Organizers and Main Instructors:
- Federico Mazzini and Prof. Paola Molino (University of Padua)
- Michael Facius and Prof. Naoko Shimazu (University of Tokyo)
- Invited instructors
Target Audience:
We welcome applications from MA and PhD students from the Universities of Padua and Tokyo. A maximum of ten students will be selected.
Location and Date:
University of Padua, Italy
June 16–20, 2025 (arrival by June 15)
Language of Instruction:
English
Fees:
For students from the University of Padua and Tokyo, participation in the Summer School—including site visits, joint lunches, and coffee breaks—is free of charge.
Students from the University of Tokyo will receive a lump sum of 1000 EUR for travel expenses and accommodation in Padua, thanks to the support of the Centre for Mobility and Humanities of the University of Padua and the Department of Historical, Geographical Sciences and the Ancient World of the University of Padua.
Application:
Please send a motivation letter (1 page), CV (max 2 pages), and a letter of transcript or other academic record of your MA/PhD program at the University of Padua or the University of Tokyo.
Deadline:
Participants will be selected on a rolling basis until all slots are filled; latest possible submission: April 30, 2025, 23:59 JST.
Submit Applications To:
