Italian Research Day in the World

Publication date: April 21 2026
Type: News

Together with the Scientific Attaché of the Italian Embassy in Hanoi, Prof. Marco Abbiati, Consul General Alessandra Tognonato pronounced her opening remarks, congratulati g the Vietnamese scientific community for the recent recognitions by UNESCO, highlighting the value of the Italian Research Day in the World and stressing the fruitful work of rhe International Mekong Research Working Group

Perspectives

Speech by Consul General Alessandra Tognonato

MEKONG RIVER SYSTEM AND MULTI-DIMENSIONAL CHANGE

UNDER HUMAN AND CLIMATE PRESSURES

and celebration of the ITALIAN RESEARCH DAY IN THE WORLD

(HCMC University of Natural Resources and Environment, 20. April 2026)

Dear President and Vice Presidente of the HCMUNRE, Prof. Huynh Quyen and Prof. Le Hoang Nghiem,

Dear Prof. Son Nghiem, NASA-JPL,

Dear Colleague Joshua Parsons from the US Consulate General,

Dear Co-Chairs, Prof. Le Trung Chon and Prof. Marco Abbiati,

Estimated Guests,

We have 3 great reasons to celebrate today:

First, I would like to congratulate the Vietnamese scientific community for a very important milestone, which was announced last week:

UNESCO extended its recognition of two Category II science centres in Việt Nam for a further eight years during its 224th session in Paris. These include

- the International Centre of Research and Postgraduate Training in Mathematics (ICRTM) and

the International Centre for Physics (ICP),

both operating under the Việt Nam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST).

This is one first and highly symbolic reason to celebrate science in Vietnam today.

A second reason to celebrate, is that the 9th edition of the Italian Research Day in the World is marking the anniversary of the birth in 1909 of Professor Rita Levi-Montalcini, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1986 and the first Italian woman to receive a Nobel Prize award in the field of science.

Every year, Italian Research Day in the World represents one of the key opportunities to

- promote our research ecosystem, attracting talented scientists from all over the world,

- foster its internationalization and

- highlight the work of the extensive network of scientific attachés at our diplomatic missions. A big thanks to Prof. Marco Abbiati, Scient. Attaché to the ITA Embassy in Vietnam, this is your day!

- and of course to acknowledge the important collaborations, like the one in the framework of the International Mekong Research Working Group.

The third, paramount and for us very concrete reason, is that we are here at the 3. Annual meeting of the International Mekong Research Working Group(IMRWG) to deepen our fruitful collaboration toward sustainable urban development in the Mekong sub-region, facing and mitigating the ongoing changes under human and climate pressures.

We are very proud of the collaboration between the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy, the Can Tho University and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, thank you!

In the end, on a personal note: as you probably know, I am a convinced supporter of science diplomacy, a field I have been contributing with passion and engagement in my last 3 years in Rome, prior to my assignment in Ho Chi Minh City. Wherever I go, I will always support the scientific community and its key role in creating bridges beyond borders: geopolitical borders but also borders of knowledge.

I have been now serving in HCMC for exactly 8 months. And since December this is the third event in collaboration with your prestigious University, the previous ones being hold on 10. December 2025 on the occasion of the Italian Space Day and on 30. January 2026 with a successful seminar on low-altitude economy.

Thank you HCMUNRE, I sincerely hope we can organize soon further events together!

Italian Research Day in the World

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