Experience the Scientific Research Festival as a main protagonist!
Trieste Next is the Scientific Research Festival taking place from September 25 to 27 in Trieste, across various venues in the city center. Promoted by the Municipality of Trieste, the University of Trieste, Gruppo NEM Nord Est Multimedia, il Nordest, Il Piccolo, Area Science Park, SISSA, and OGS, the Festival aims to promote awareness of a local excellence, the Trieste area, which is distinguished by its success in scientific research, while fostering debate on key research and development themes. The Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia is a co-promoter of the event.
The theme of the fifteenth edition is “The Shape of Thought. Interactions between Brains and Intelligences.”
Once again this year, Trieste Next is promoting the “Volunteers Project”, allowing all students of the University of Trieste to experience the event as main protagonists.
Volunteers will be on the front lines of the event organization, enjoying a truly engaging and educational experience within a high-profile festival. With a program packed with events and major guests, the festival will bring the city of Trieste to life
for three days.
If you want to seize this extraordinary opportunity, apply now to participate as a volunteer at Trieste Next!
How to become a “Trieste Next Volunteer”
The call for applications is open to students of the University of Trieste who are available to provide organizational and promotional support in the days leading up to and during the event (September 24–27, 2026).
Volunteers will be asked to collaborate on public outreach activities in the square, manage the reception of speakers and the public at venue entrances, and provide information regarding the program, event locations, how to reach them, and participation guidelines. Each volunteer will receive a certificate of participation.
Unless they have already done so, students must complete the low-risk safety training course available on the UniTS Moodle platform (duration: 4+4 hours) and are kindly requested to send the relevant certificate to volontari@units.it before the start
of the Festival. Without this certificate, which is in any case mandatory for students before graduation, it will not be possible to become a Festival volunteer.
The Academic Senate of the University of Trieste has approved the recognition of 1 CFU (ECTS credit) for: undergraduate and postgraduate students upon completion of 25 volunteer hours, and PhD students upon completion of two days of volunteering for public outreach activities during Trieste Next.
Regarding the support provided by undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD students for laboratory activities taking place in the marquee tents in Piazza Unità d'Italia, please note that a maximum of two volunteers is allowed in each exhibition space during any given time slot. Should there be more requests to staff certain exhibition spaces than available slots, it will be the responsibility of the proposing professor/researcher to select those who may participate.
For any information regarding the activities of the Festival volunteers, we recommend consulting the Volunteer Handbook.
To apply, simply fill out the form available below by 8:00 PM on August 23, 2026.
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For any information or clarification, please write to volontari@units.it, or call +39 040 558 6124 or 6143.
