From biology for space exploration to theories on gender studies, from perspectives on technological change to the development of economic models. The Seasonal School program for June-July 2025

Subscriptions are already open on the School’s website, where you can also consult the detailed and updated agenda for each Seasonal School: ARTIST - 5G/6G networks trAnsfoRming The dIgital SocieTy (onsite classes from June 9th to 13th). POLAF - Politics in Africa: changes, conflicts, connections (onsite classes from June 9th to 13th).TECHWAR - Technological Dimensions of War: Legal, Ethical and Conceptual Challenges (onsite classes from June 23rd to 27th). ECOINN- Economics of Innovation and Technological Change (onsite classes from June 30th to July 4th). ABMinECO - Agent-based models in Economics: theory, toolkit and policy laboratories (onsite classes from July 7th to 11th). FemGen - Gender Studies and Feminist Theory. A Multidisciplinary Perspective (onsite classes from July 7th to 11th).  BEEP - Biology for human space exploration (onsite classes July 21st – 25th).

A reduction in the enrolment fee is available based on the applicant’s ISEE or equivalent certification of income as indicated in the call (for students enrolled in a foreign University). A 450€ scholarship provided by Fondazione Talento all’Opera and Fondazione EY will be assigned to the three best performing participants of each course. Students coming from universities or institutions with specific agreements with Sant’Anna School are entitled to reserved places and to a 10% reduction in the enrolment costs. Affiliated Institutions: University of Catania; University of Tuscia; University of Trento; Fondazione Onaosi; University of Messina; University of Camerino; University of Calabria; Conferenza dei Collegi Universitari di Merito; University of Palermo; Aosta Valley University; Free University of Bozen-Bolzano; Marche Polytechnic University; University of Siena; Galilean School of Higher Education; University of Pisa; University of Florence.

ARTIST - 5G/6G networks trAnsfoRming The dIgital SocieTy Classes will take place in presence from June 9th to 13th.

Future mobile network technologies (5G, 6G, etc.) will allow the creation of new applications that will transform the way people live, work and interact with the environment. The educational objectives of the proposed Seasonal School are aimed at understanding and learning the architectures of 5G / 6G cellular systems with regard to the radio interface, the wired component and the software components such as virtualized entities, edge computing and AI-aided resource allocation. Besides, the courses will analyse the main features of data traffic transport and routing technologies in 5G/6G networks, telemetry techniques and advanced traffic conditioning techniques, in order to offer a global view of the emerging services that may be delivered by 5G/6G networks and how these networks are able to meet the stringent requirements that such services sometimes require. The analysis will also dwell on the impact of the services on the sustainability of the planet and the global challenges of the 21st century.

POLAF - Politics in Africa: changes, conflicts, connections Classes will take place in presence from June 9th to 13th

Africa is key to many of today’s global political challenges. It offers a unique prism for understanding, and addressing, issues of international relevance such as inequality and insecurity, climate change and extractivism, liberal order crises and governance challenges. The flourishing of 'Africa Strategies' by numerous international actors (including the recent adoption of the so-called Mattei Plan by the Italian government) testifies to the growing salience of Africa in international fora. Yet the predominance of simplistic and stereotypical readings do not adequately capture the rapid evolution of the scholarly reflections on these issues. Drawing on insights from international relations, political economy, political ecology, cultural and postcolonial studies, POLAF will enable participants to: apprehend the ongoing transformations of Africa’s politics of contention; learn and apply a variety of theoretical perspectives and methodological tools of social science; get familiarized with the critical and practical skills which might help build one’s career in international institutions, regional organisations and NGOs, but also in think tanks, research centres and academia.

TECHWAR - Technological Dimensions of War: Legal, Ethical and Conceptual Challenges Classes will take place in presence from June 23rd to 27th, 2025

The Seasonal School will engage students in exploring the legal meaning of the technological development of conflict and warfare, particularly from the perspectives of international law, criminal law and international criminal law. Recently we are witnessing an overwhelming technological evolution of warfare practices and doctrines. The impact of the cybernetic dimension is transforming warfare into a practice far removed from its traditional conception. This phenomenon raises enormous problems of conceptualization and legal framing. Artificial intelligence and human-machine interaction are transforming contemporary armed conflicts. As evidence from the battlefields shows, with the massive use of autonomous weapon systems (AWS) and sophisticated war machines, algorithmic warfare can no longer be considered a dystopian reality. As the application of AI on the battlefield reduces (or multiplies) the scale of human agency, the fundamental categories of state responsibility and criminal individual liability provided by international law and international criminal law are being challenged. The Seasonal School aims to provide participants with a critical and interdisciplinary understanding of the legal challenges posed by the technological dimensions that characterize contemporary conflicts.

ECOINN- Economics of Innovation and Technological Change classes will take place in presence from June 30th to July 4th, 2025.

The Seasonal School programme on “Economics of Innovation and Technological Change” addresses both the theoretical and the empirical underpinnings of the economics of innovation and technical change, as well as recent debates at the frontier of the field. The topics covered include: technological paradigms and trajectories, innovation and firm strategies, sectoral patterns of innovation, analysis of patent data, innovation and economic growth, innovation and competitiveness, innovation and intellectual property rights. The programme also offers an overview of statistical methods and techniques aimed at analysing relevant empirical data for innovation studies. Students will gain frameworks and tools to understand key-issues in this field: how do we measure innovation? How do firms exploit innovation in different sectors? What is the connection between intellectual property rights regimes and innovation? Which are the most effective tools to foster innovation in different contexts?

ABMinECO - Agent-based models in Economics: theory, toolkit and policy laboratories classes will take place in presence from July 7th to 11th, 2025.

The study of economies seen as complex evolving systems has proven to be an appropriate lens of analysis to interpret and provide diagnoses of the many instances of the structure of capitalism. Heterogeneity, non-linearity, interdependent and cumulative processes, structural crises, regime changes, path-dependence and inequalities are among the key properties of both micro and macroeconomic phenomena.
Agent-based models are a powerful and growing tool to develop theoretical models disciplined by empirical evidence, able to address the complex and evolving nature of economies; additionally they constitute a natural policy laboratory enabling the possibility to perform scenarios analysis useful to inform policy choices.

FemGen - Gender Studies and Feminist Theory. A Multidisciplinary Perspective classes will take place in presence from July 7th to 11th, 2025.                                               

The Seasonal School will delve into gender studies with a multidisciplinary critical perspective, combining different approaches in social sciences. In order to tackle the most relevant issues in contemporary gender studies and feminist theory, participants will be provided with pivotal conceptual tools from an epistemological, political, legal and philosophical point of view as well as with a cross-cutting knowledge of the different theoretical-methodological frameworks employed in the debate. Other than providing a theoretical-political framework on the contribution of the gender dimension in social sciences, the training programme will require participants to reflect on global and intersectional perspectives as well as on the impact of policies and politics on everyday challenges: e.g. the structural dimension gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), the emerging of situated needs for different subjectivities in public and collective space. The aim of the Seasonal School is to enable students to understand the impact of such challenges on the society as a whole, from a political, legal and social perspective, raising a critical attitude informed by a feminist intersectional standpoint.

BEEP - Biology for human space exploration classes will take place in presence from July 21st to 25th, 2025.

The Seasonal School will offer an overview of specific topics of experimental biology and biomedicine in support of human exploration of space. With the dawn of commercial access and exploitation of space, the major space agencies including the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency are planning, with industrial support and investments, outposts for human crews to live and work in space. This course represents a unique opportunity to learn about how space exploration has provided experimental biology a new and unprecedented way to study life, and also will highlight the most compelling issues for a safe and productive inhabiting of space. Moreover, since space exploration is by definition a collective endeavour, it will be discussed how work in space may represent an inclusive opportunity.