The new degree in Environmental meteorology, the first to train professionals in this field, is also the first transnational master’s course jointly organized by the Universities of Trento and Innsbruck.
An opening ceremony took place today at the Mesiano campus with the heads of the two universities that offer the degree course: Rector Paolo Collini of the University of Trento and professor Mathias Rotach, director of the Institute for Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences, representing Rector Tilmann Märk of the University of Innsbruck.
After the welcome address by the representatives of the local community - the deputy mayor of Trento and the provincial counsellor for university and research - Marco Tubino, former director of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, Annapaola Rizzoli, from Fondazione Edmund Mach, and Vittorio Cristofori, head of the Risk prevention service of the Autonomous Province of Trento, took the stage.
The objectives of the new degree were presented by its scientific coordinator, Dino Zardi.
The morning continued with lectures by international experts: professors Fabien Maussion and Georg Mayr of the Institute of Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences (University of Innsbruck), professor Ilaria Pertot of the Centre for Agriculture, Food, Environment (University of Trento), and Lorenzo Giovannini, PhD, of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering (University of Trento).
The master's programme in environmental meteorology, taught in English, debuts in the academic year 2018-2019 with about 15 students who were admitted based on a selection procedure testing their knowledge in mathematics, physics, and chemistry.
The course will train professionals who are able to understand the physical principles of atmospheric processes, the variables involved, the equations that describe them and the characteristics of the main meteorological systems at different spatial and temporal scales. The programme covers a variety of subjects in the areas of earth sciences, chemistry, agricultural sciences, and other technical and management disciplines.
The first year of the programme is taught in Trento, but classes will then move to Innsbruck. In the second semester of the second year, students will work on their final dissertation, during which they can collaborate with any of the two universities or with other entities (universities, research institutes, environmental agencies, etc).
The students who successfully complete their studies will be awarded a Master of Science from the University of Innsbruck and a “Laurea magistrale in Environmental Meteorology” from the University of Trento.
The course, which has no equivalents in Italy, aims to train professionals that are required by the labour market in specific sectors where climate and the weather are very important: the civil protection, renewable energy, tourism, transports, agriculture. The purpose of weather forecasts in these fields is to minimize the social and economic consequences of adverse atmospheric conditions and to make the most of the benefits of favourable conditions. To achieve this goal, forecasts must be accurate and targeted, and drafted by valuable professionals.
The new master’s degree is the result of collaboration between the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, the Department of Physics, the Center for Agriculture, Food, Environment of the University of Trento and the Department of Atmospheric and Cryospheric Sciences (ACINN) of Leopold-Franzens-Universität in Innsbruck.