Bernard Lucas Feringa
Honorary Degree in Materials Science, 15 May 2023
Professor Feringa was the first to realise unidirectional light-driven molecular motors that can convert light energy into mechanical work, and to create photoactive dynamic materials with complex molecular organisation in the solid state. His research opens up extraordinary prospects in the field of materials science for the realisation of previously inaccessible functions and applications.
Stefano Boeri
Honorary Doctorate in Chemical, Geological and Environmental Sciences,
7 February 2023
Throughout his prestigious academic and professional career, constantly at the forefront in the search for innovative solutions for the study of sustainable urban development, architect Stefano Boeri has created highly interdisciplinary projects, introducing concepts of urban forestation and biodiversity into architecture and town planning. Starting with the award-winning projects of the Bosco Verticale in Milan and the Città Foresta, he has demonstrated how big cities can play a leading role in the creation of ecological corridors, while making a key contribution to the debate on strategies to withstand climate change in urban areas.
Franco Lorenzoni
Honorary Degree in Primary Education Sciences
24 March 2021
During his long career as a primary school teacher, Franco Lorenzoni has made an original contribution to the growth of educational and didactic innovation in Italy, proposing visions and tools to assist teachers and foster child development. These visions and tools go beyond mere subject-based didactics and involve the whole person: the body, thought, emotions, the perceptive relationship with what surrounds us, explored in publications, speeches and testimonies in numerous conferences, magazines, and media appearances. He also directs the Cenci House-Laboratory in Umbria, a residential centre for international educational experimentation, which, for over forty years, has been conducting important research on ecological, scientific, intercultural and inclusion issues.
Ryohei Kanzaki
Honorary Master’s Degree in IT
14 February 2019
“The research of Professor Ryohei Kanzaki encompasses a range of different disciplines and focuses on developments with high technological impacts. The promotion of dialogue between disciplines is paired with a constant emphasis on effects on society. His specific fields of research include the study of the neurophysiology of insects, and - in particular - the neural control mechanisms of their motor-sensory system; the results achieved are to be applied in the field of automation, robotics and artificial intelligence. With a strong interest in aspects of knowledge transmission, Professor Ryohei Kanzaki offers us an innovative, curious and courageous approach.”
Marcello Pagano
Honorary Degree in Biostatistics
4 June 2015
"For his outstanding contribution to the development and innovation of biostatistics in epidemiological and public health research. Of particular note was his contribution to the study of the AIDS epidemic, biosurveillance and the development of statistical methods to optimise the accuracy of screening tests. He has mentored many PhD students and has shown strong leadership in research and teaching activities over the decades. His biostatistics text, translated into several languages, is used in many medical and public health schools around the world."
Enrico Albizzati
Honorary Master’s Degree in Material Science
3 February 2015
“Over the course of a busy career, Enrico Albizzati has made a decisive contribution to Italian innovation in the field of polymers and plastic materials, as shown by the many significant patents he has participated in both in Italy and around the world. He deserves credit for showing great intuition in combining public resources and private investment in the field of research and development, as part of a strategy that has been recognised as a key factor in bringing about new developments and providing impetus to the country. Albizzati has always combined his commitment to research with a strong focus on the development of young people, across numerous years of fruitful collaboration with advanced university training initiatives”.
Paolo Fresu
Honorary Master’s Degree in Psychology of social, decision-making and economic behavioural processes
27 March 2013
“The jazz musician Paolo Fresu used his art to promote culture in the communities and groups of his local area, forging social relationships which form the basis for coexistence. In doing this, he has benefited the wellbeing of these groups - something that depends not just on economic factors but also on psychological and social factors. Fresu has showcased the communicative power of music as a symbolic form that brings together jazz and Sardinian folklore culture in an original, fruitful combination.”
Don Virginio Colmegna
Honorary Master’s Degree in Educational Sciences
09 June 2011
“For his constant work as an educator and trainer of educators; for his commitment to defending the weakest and in particular children and young people in all kinds of circumstances, offering support, recognition and encouragement and at the same time showing patience, realism and discipline in asking for awareness of and respect for the rules, commitment and accountability; for his commitment to well-structured, systematic dialogue on education in general and - above all - on education in the most difficult contexts; for his commitment to promoting intercultural and inter-religious dialogue; for his tenacity and loyalty in dialogue and tireless negotiations with institutions, without ever compromising on the values and goals that inspire his efforts to defend the weak in a serious, forward-looking manner, free of “any residue of the voluntary, sacrificial and punitive vision of giving help”; for the theoretical, pedagogical, cultural and ambassadorial importance that he has acquired as an educator on the local level and further afield.”
Rita Levi Montalcini
Honorary Master’s Degree in Industrial Biotechnology
22 January 2008
“For having paved the way, by discovering and completing extensive molecular and functional characterisation of the Growth Factor of nerve cells, for us to understand the mechanisms with which the cells of complex organisms communicate with one another and coordinate their functions throughout the life of the organisms; for setting an example and shining a light on the role of scientists in supporting ethical and social values; finally, for having contributed towards the creation of fruitful, vibrant collaboration at the University of Milano-Bicocca around the application of biotechnological techniques in the production of the Growth Factor of nerve cells.”
Roberto Galimberti
Honorary Master’s Degree in IT
18 May 2006
After gaining a degree in Electrical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Milan, Galimberti then obtained an MBA from the CEDEP in Fontainebleau. In 1979, he attended the first Software Engineering course held at MIT in Boston. Between 1968 and 1973, he was the head of the Digital Computing Division at Laben: LABEN 70 was Italy's first mini computer. In 1981, he became the president and a shareholder of Etnoteam, a spin-off of the University of Milan which went on to become one of Italy’s foremost IT services companies.
Daniel Kahneman
Honorary Master’s Degree in Economic Science
06 April 2005
“For bringing about important developments in psychological research within Economic Science, which in turn resulted in the creation of the new field of cognitive economy and a wide range of applications thereof, laying a theoretical foundation for more recent developments in the economy of happiness.”
David Harel
Honorary Master’s Degree in IT
18 May 2006
Head of the Faculty of Mathematics and IT at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Harel's research has covered a range of theoretical and practical areas in IT: specifically the invention of State Charts and participation in the invention of Live Sequence Charts, which confirm Harel's position has one of the leading figures in the development of formal methods for software engineering and systems modelling. More recently, he has undertaken research into the sense of smell focused on the communication and synthesis of odours.
Pasquale Pistorio
Honorary Degree in Material Science
15 March 2005
“For his fundamental contribution to the promotion of technological skills in Italian and European companies in the field of semi-conductors and micro-electronics and for his ongoing support for research and innovation in the field of new materials featuring nano-technology.”
Umberto Veronesi
Honorary Degree in Physics
15 March 2005
“For his vital contribution to health physics in Italy, with particular reference to his pioneering activities in the field of laser surgery and the development of advanced, innovative technology using beams of ionising particles in the treatment of tumours.”