As the impacts of climate change intensify, education plays a key role in building resilience and preparing future generations to understand and address these challenges. CMCC’s Advanced Training and Education Center (ATEC), and the Future Earth Research School, are involved year round in the organisation of advanced courses and seasonal schools, while also supporting educational initiatives designed for school and university students. These outreach activities aim to increase awareness on climate change and its impacts among young people, as well as strengthen the connection between scientific research and local academic communities.

 

In this context, CMCC Foundation held the first edition of OPEN DAYS @ CMCC at its main office in Lecce on March 20, 2026, offering local school students the chance to get to know firsthand CMCC Foundation’s activities and scientific research.

During the open day, students had the chance to tour the CMCC Lecce site. They started from the Ocean-Lab, the operational ocean monitoring and forecasting room, led by Megi Hoxhaj and Salvatore Causio (Coastal Resilience to Sea Level Rise and Open Science in Practice for Coastal Ocean Data Analysis and Visualization).

Later, they visited CMCC’s High Performance Computing Center (HPCC), the most powerful computational facility in Italy fully dedicated to climate change research. FERS was supported by HPCC’s computing facilities during the courses Data Driven Modeling and Predictions of the Earth System and AI and Machine Learning for Earth System Modeling and Prediction.

Through testimonies by CMCC researchers and experts, students also had the opportunity to gain insight into the activities of a leading research institution, and get to know the different career and professional profiles involved in its day-to-day operations.

Open days and site visits play a significant role in bridging the gap between science and society, as they provide a unique chance for students to discover firsthand the role of scientific research in addressing climate change and its impacts.

 

FERS staff and experts also contributed to various educational activities in collaboration with local schools and universities. Designed to give students a more active role in the learning process, these activities also provided opportunities to interact directly with CMCC experts and researchers from different fields in climate research.

In April, ATEC developed and coordinated a school-work training project (Formazione Scuola-Lavoro) for a group of secondary school students from Liceo Statale “Pietro Siciliani,” in Lecce.

The project took place over three days at CMCC’s main office. There, the students had the chance to meet CMCC researchers and experts, that offered insight into some of the Foundation’s ongoing research projects in different fields. Supported by CMCC and FERS staff members Elisa Fiorini Beckhauser and Martina Bevini, they worked together to develop informative texts, in Italian and English, on topics ranging from climate litigation to weather modelling, sea level rise, and acquaculture.

Similarly, on April 1, Elisa Fiorini Beckhauser, along with CMCC researcher and FERS faculty member Salvatore Causio, took part in an outreach event at Liceo Statale “F. Capece,” in Maglie, Lecce. The two researchers introduced students to the science behind climate change, its impacts, climate-informed regulatory frameworks, and the role of CMCC in advancing climate research.

Lastly, FERS faculty member Paola Tanguy (CMCC Foundation) held on May 8 an interactive session of Coastal Challenge, the serious game developed by CMCC’s ATEC in the framework of the EU-funded REST-COAST project. The session was hosted by the Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture of the University of Catania. A group of about 30 students worked in teams to approach coastal resilience and adaptation challenges, discovering together solutions and strategies to address the climate impacts and environmental degradation that affect coastal environments.

Just a few months ago, in December 2025, students from the FERS course Coastal Resilience to Sea Level Rise had the opportunity to play Coastal Challenge ahead of its official release in March 2026, providing a valuable contribution to the final phases of testing and validation of the game.