In 2019, the Department of Geosciences provided teaching to 177 students for the bachelor’s
degree in Geological Sciences and 93 students for the master’s degree in Geology and Technical
Geology. In addition, the Department has an international Ph.D. program in Geosciences, which in
2019 counted on 42 Ph.D. students (among which 11, i.e., about 30%, were international). In the
same year, the 13 Full Professors, 30 Associate Professors and 14 researchers of the Department
also provided extensive teaching in geosciences for several further bachelor’s and master’s
degrees at the University of Padova. The Department was also the main organizer of four
Summer Schools.
The Department also counted on 29 post-doc researchers, of which 9 were international (again,
about 30%), witnessing a strong international research environment. Extremely positive is the
balance of the Department in terms of international research fund raising, with two active ERC
projects (one is a Consolidator Grant and the second is a Starting Grant), 11 collaborative H2020
research projects and 3 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships.
At the national level, the Department had 10 active research projects funded by the Ministry of
Education, University and Research (5 PRIN projects, 4 Antarctica-related projects, 1 SIR
project). Further 7 active projects were supported by public national institutions (e.g., National
Civil Protection, Basin Authority of the Eastern Alps, Veneto Region). Finally, 9 active projects
were funded and/or supported by private companies and private foundations.

The Department hosts the CIRCe Centre, the only centre in Italy for the
investigation of cement materials and the formulation of construction binders.
In 2019, the Department counted on 22 research laboratories, supporting
internal and collaborative research projects and delivering a volume of
approximately 7000 sample preparations and 5000 analyses. Such a huge
laboratory work provided a total of nearly 100 papers published in international
journals out of 194 total papers published by the Department in 2019 in
international scientific journals.
In terms of research collaborations, in 2019 the Department of Geosciences
had about 50 national collaborations, 70 European collaborations and about 30
extra-European collaborations with several exchanges all over the world. In
addition, the Department organized 18 weekly research seminars, some of
which were also open to the public.
As regards the Department’s outreach, 20 public events related to science
divulgation were organized in 2019. To introduce young students to the world
of geology, an open week was also organized, during which about 120
students from several primary and secondary schools were hosted by the
Department and involved in five different practical activities. In addition, the
Department played a leading role during the European Researchers' Night
(Veneto Night) and organized the event entitled “Women in Science” at the
Botanic Garden of the University of Padova.
The Department of Geosciences owns extensive collections of Italian and
foreign rocks, fossils and minerals housed in the Museum of Geology and
Paleontology, and in the Museum of Mineralogy. Such a huge scientific and
cultural heritage has its roots in the old collections of the Natural History
Museum of the University of Padova, founded in 1733 thanks to the donation
by Antonio Vallisneri Jr.

Besides the scientific activities, carried out by Italian and foreign
researchers from all over the world, the Museum’s staff, coordinated by
the CAM (Centro di Ateneo per i Musei), carries on an intense activity of
public engagement with the fruitful support of the Department’s
researchers. Finally, in 2019 the Department delivered a very important
number of scientific papers, of which 194 were published in peer-review

international journals. The very high number of publications in high-
impact journals significantly contributed to the “Earth and Environmental

Sciences” being ranked first in Italy in the Nature Index international
ranking.