On Tuesday, 18 July, 2023, at the Walter Busch Library of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, the press conference for the presentation of the five-year Excellence Project, supported by the Ministry of Universities and Research, “Inclusive Humanities: Development Perspectives in Research and Teaching of Foreign Languages and Literatures”, was held. During the press meeting, the department outlined the project’s objectives and goals, describing the development actions planned.
“The Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures has been selected as a department of excellence by ANVUR for the second time”, said Roberta Facchinetti, the department director. “The university has received 6.5 million euros, which will be used in the best possible way in terms of inclusion and accessibility. The current project builds on the previous one, focused on digital humanities, and is founded on the skills and knowledge already developed, this time dedicated to inclusive humanities”.
The department’s 2023–2027 Excellence Project is titled “Inclusive Humanities” to emphasize the commitment to promoting inclusion and overcoming gender, economic, social, and cultural disparities, both within the university—among faculty, students, and staff—and externally, with the city of Verona and its surrounding area. The project’s objectives particularly aim to strengthen an academic culture rooted in the principles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and to adapt its digital infrastructure to the latest accessibility guidelines for users and students with disabilities or specific learning needs (SLN). The department also plans to implement measures aligned with the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), aiming to bridge the digital divide, enhance the innovation of teaching methods and languages, improve the quality and effectiveness of education, and increase inclusiveness.
Among its first actions to concretely support these goals, the department is already developing the “Digital Arena for Inclusive Humanities”, an interdisciplinary research centre of excellence in the field of digital technologies and computational analysis applied to languages and literatures, with a particular focus on adopting and developing open-source and accessible technologies. The centre will be equipped with the tools, scientific expertise, and personnel to support projects that can be made available to the entire university, fostering the creation and enhancement of platforms and digital tools for data archiving and analysis (also leveraging emerging Artificial Intelligence research) and for their online publication.
To ensure the interdisciplinary nature of knowledge and skills in the project’s implementation, the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures is preparing to hire new teaching and research staff, including in the areas of computer science and the teaching of languages and literatures from a comparative perspective.
The project was presented by:
– Roberta Facchinetti, Department Director and Recruitment Team Leader,
– Massimo Salgaro, Project Manager,
– Giovanni Tallarico, Third Mission Team Leader,
– Andrea Padovan, Communication Team Leader,
– Chiara Battisti, Teaching Team Leader,
– Anna Cappellotto, International Cooperation Representative,
– Marco Rospocher, Infrastructures Team Leader and Director of the Digital Arena for Inclusive Humanities (DAIH).
