APSIA
The Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA) is dedicated to the improvement of graduate education on International Affairs: starting as a network of American graduate schools in the mid-1970s, APSIA grew into an international association, with over 60 schools spanning the whole world. The School of International Studies is the first (and so far only) Italian institution admitted to APSIA.
Affiliate members undergo a rigorous review process and must meet specific membership qualifications. All APSIA schools offer two-year master's degree programs, covering international relations, public policy, and the world's countries and cultures. Students gain the skills and mindset to ignite transformation in a complex world. People from all parts of the world, points of view, religions, races, and backgrounds contribute to the education APSIA schools provide.
CENTRO PER LA COOPERAZIONE INTERNAZIONALE (CCI)
The Center for International Cooperation (Centro per la Cooperazione Internazionale) is a non-profit and independent organization involved in activities regarding training, knowledge diffusion and research on issues regarding international cooperation, European affairs, peace and human rights. The Center promotes the coordination of initiatives and actors operating in the field of international cooperation and it focuses on the specific contribution of different local experiences with a view to promoting their international adoption. The Center focuses in particular on the regions, such as the Balkans, the Mediterranean, and sub-Saharan Africa, that are of special interest for the region Trentino. The Center operates so that concerns for individual rights, sustainability, and fairness remain at the core of any policy measures and practices defined through the participation of institutions, civil society, media, scientific community, workers and businesses. The CCI was created in 2017 from the union of the previous organizations and developes its activities through two operative units: the Competences for the Global Society (CGS) and the Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa (OBCT).
CEPS
In 2014 the SIS established a Cooperation Agreement with the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a prestigious think tank based in Brussels. CEPS was established in 1983 as the first think tank dealing primarily with the issues related to the European integration and EU policies. According to international independent evaluations, CEPS currently ranks among the top European think tanks.
The research agenda at CEPS focuses on the following main areas: Economic Policy; Energy and Climate Change; EU Foreign Policy; Financial Markets and Institutions; Food Security and Development Policy; Justice and Home Affairs; Politics and Institutions; Regulatory Policy; Trade Developments and Policy.
The SIS-CEPS Agreement aims at promoting educational and research cooperation in areas of common interest. It encourages the mobility of the staff in both the institutions for research, teaching and dissemination activities. The Agreement also facilitates students' mobility for internship and research activities: in particular, it undertakes to provide annual placements of up to two students (or new graduates) of the School of International Studies for internship activities in the frame of the Erasmus+ Programme.
The School of International Studies, together with other selected European Universities, participated in the innovative CEPS-led IPEPS Master Module on EU policies, co-financed by the Erasmus+ programme. This was 8-weeks Master's degree module in Brussels (equivalent to 12 ECTS) with a comprehensive coverage of EU policy areas. The module combined frontal lectures (led by CEPS staff, EU officials, scholars) with case-studies, problem-based learning activities, discussion groups, workshops, special trainings, and other interactive formats of teaching. Participation in the module was reserved to selected students from the partner universities.
CESPI
CeSPI is a research institute founded in 1985, which carries out policy-oriented studies and analysis. The Center carries out research, consultancy, technical assistance, evaluation, training and communication activities on some central issues of international relations:
Human Mobility, Transnationalism and Co-development; Economic citizenship of migrants; International Cooperation, Finance for Development, Security and Peace; Decentralized cooperation, Cross-border cooperation, Territorial development; Geopolitical scenarios; Open Europe. Enlargements, proximity, global projection; Italy in the world. International role, foreign economic policy.
These researches have made the Center to be the first to identify some emerging issues in Italy that have acquired strategic importance both in our country and in Europe in recent years. In particular, the following should be remarked: the study of migration processes affecting Europe and the relationships between migration and development in the contexts of origin, transit and destination, and related policies; the analysis of integration processes, with particular reference to the financial inclusion of migrants; research on finance for development, and especially on the interrelationships of the various international financial flows and their impact on the development processes of developing countries and, more particularly, on poverty. Particular attention is paid to the emerging actors of international relations (sub-national governments and non-governmental world) and to the geographical areas of greatest interest for Italy (Central-Eastern Europe and the Balkans, the Mediterranean, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America).
EURAC
Eurac Research is a private research centre based in Bolzano/Bozen, welcoming researchers from a wide variety of scientific fields and from all parts of the globe. Together they dedicate themselves to that which is their profession and vocation – shaping the future.
Their research addresses the challenges of the future: people need health, energy, well-functioning political and social systems and an intact environment. These are complex questions, and Eurac Research is seeking the answers in the interaction between many different disciplines. In so doing, its research work embraces three major themes: regions fit for living in, diversity as a life-enhancing feature, a healthy society.
Eurac Research was founded in 1992 as an association under private law with just twelve members of staff undertaking research in the areas of Language and Law, Minorities and Autonomous Regions as well as the Alpine Environment. The centre gradually expanded its activities into new areas, attracted scientists from all over the world and introduced new structures. Today, almost 300 scientists from over 30 countries work here.
The SSI has signed a Scientific Cooperation Agreement to strengthen the cooperation with two Institutes of Eurac Research in particular: the Institute for Minority Rights and the Institute for Comparative Federalism. Its aim is to develop joint research projects and promote shared initiatives relating to dissemination of the study of global phenomena. It benefits from the union between the specialized approach and applied research with which Eurac Research focuses on federalism and regionalism studies, and the interdisciplinary approach to international studies taken by the School of International Studies.
Joint Activities
GRUPPO MEZZACORONA
The SSI and the Mezzacorona Group have signed a Convention Agreement focusing on the analysis and study of the international dynamics of the economy and markets and the changes in the framework of international relations. The Agreement aims at strengthening the connections of the University of Trento, with particular regard to International Studies, as a qualifying element of cultural service to the territory and as a tool to better interpret the constantly evolving reality of institutions, legislation, rules and interconnections between the different geopolitical areas at the international level.
Within the framework of the Convention, many initiatives will be implemented such as the Rotari Annual Lecture with a speaker of great prestige and visibility, an annual Award for the best degree thesis on topics of common interest such as 'food security', 'agricultural policy', 'international trade in agrifood'; publications and in-depth volumes, meetings and seminars open to the public.
More than one hundred years of history, from 1904 to the present, a long journey from the beginning of the twentieth century to the new Millennium with at the center the focus on quality. This has been the philosophy of Mezzacorona, an entity that manages 2800 hectares of vineyards in Trentino Alto Adige, thanks also to the precious contribution of the partner cellars of Salorno and Ala, while about another 1000 hectares are planted in Sicily in the farms owned by Solsicano and Villa Albius. The Mezzacorona Group is a composite company, which follows the entire production chain, capable of reaching every corner of the planet with its well-known brands.
Joint Activities
IAI (Istituto Affari Internazionali)
The Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) was founded on 11 October 1965 on the initiative of Altiero Spinelli, and is currently among the most influential think thanks in Italy and Europe. The Institute's main objective is to promote an understanding of the problems of international politics through studies, research, meetings and publications. The Institute participates in major research networks and develops research activities on very many topics: EU, politics and institutions, Eastern Europe and Eurasia, Security, Defence, and Space, Global Actors, Mediteranean and Middle East, Multilateralism and global governance, Energy, climate and resources, Italy's Foreign Policy. The Institute coordinates and participates in several research projects, organizes series of conferences in Italy and abroad, and publishes working papers, journals, and newsletters (such as The International Spectator, OrizzonteCina, and AffarInternazionali). The Istitute overviews students' internship programmes.
SIS and IAI signed a Partnership Agreement on 21st April 2017. The agreement aims at fostering the collaboration between the respective researchers, develop common projects and research programs, cooperate in teaching and dissemination activities, increase the educational opportunities of the SIS students.
INTERSOS
Founded in 1992, INTERSOS is an independent humanitarian organization, which enjoys consultative status in the United Nations Economic and Social Council. INTERSOS is the Italian humanitarian organization in the forefront of humanitarian emergencies and helps people victims of wars, violence and natural disasters, with particular attention to the most vulnerable groups, such as women and children.
Since its foundation in 1992, INTERSOS has implemented humanitarian aid projects in 42 countries and four continents. INTERSOS takes its first steps in Somalia, supporting the Jowhar regional hospital, where it has remained uninterrupted until today. In the following years it was present in the main humanitarian crises, from the war in the former Yugoslavia to the genocide in Rwanda, the conflicts in Angola, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan up to the Syrian crisis and Libya, with a constant commitment to bring help to the populations in danger and, in particular, to the most disadvantaged. In natural disasters, such as El Niño in Central America, the earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal, typhoon Hayan in the Philippines, INTERSOS intervened in the first emergency response, with more than 30 cargo airplanes helping people in need.
The sectors of intervention concern the distribution of essential goods for survival and emergency shelters; health and nutrition, ensuring access to vital, primary and secondary medical services, and treating malnutrition through nutritional therapies and intervening to ensure clean water and sanitation and to educate them to their proper use; migration, bringing relief to people fleeing their countries in search of security and dignity; protection, engaging in the physical and psychological protection of the most fragile sections of the population; Education, promoting the right to education and building schools, training teachers and promoting educational activities. INTERSOS has also developed specific programs for brides-girls and child soldiers and managed reclamation programs for anti-personnel mines.
On 24 October 2018 the School of International Studies (SSI) signed a partnership agreement with the humanitarian organization INTERSOS, to promote knowledge in the field of international cooperation and in particular in the field of humanitarian and emergency assistance. The agreement provides for a series of common activities in the field of training, research and dissemination as well as the possibility for students of the University of Trento to carry out training periods at the headquarters of the organization in Rome, in assistance projects that INTERSOS has in 17 countries, especially in the African and Middle Eastern context.
OECD TRENTO CENTER - SPATIAL PRODUCTIVITY LAB
The Spatial Productivity Lab at the OECD Trento Centre participates in the broader OECD work on productivity. It develops analysis around the concept of “spatial productivity” in co-ordination with the OECD Global Forum on Productivity. The work of the Spatial Productivity Lab focuses on mechanisms that support the catching up process of regions and cities that are lagging behind the (national or global) productivity frontier. It assesses to what extent national productivity can increased through national, regional and local policy measures, e.g. through better policies and governance arrangements that leverage agglomeration economies generated by cities beyond the city itself. For the Spatial Productivity Lab, the main issue is how regional, rural and urban policy can help find a more inclusive and dynamic system for economic growth. In recent years, the predominant perspective on regional policy has changed. The new regional policy paradigm focuses on growth, competitiveness and well-being; it aims at strengthening the link between regional dimensions and country aggregate outcomes.
The regional policy approach has moved away from compensating lagging regions for undesirable effects of macroeconomic conditions and policies to identifying the ways for each region to contribute to aggregate performance via promoting its (productivity) growth potential.