The Italian Embassy in Oslo celebrated the Italian Research Day in the World on May 20, 2025 at the Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet), with a hybrid seminar entitled “Food and Health: The Contribution of Italian Researchers to Healthy and Sustainable Nutrition in Norwegian Society”.
Opened by Ambassador Stefano Nicoletti and OsloMet Pro-Rector Carl Christian Thodesen, in front of an audience of Italian professors and researchers present in the room and connected online, the event aimed to address, from different angles, highly topical issues that are reflected in everyday consumer choices such as the value of food in contemporary society and the growing attention to health and well-being in nutrition.
Laura Terragni, professor of food science at OsloMet, focused in particular on aspects relating to food policies that can promote sustainability and health, while Marco Tagliabue, associate professor and scholar of behavioral sciences at the same university, focused his speech on the individual aspects of consumer choices.
Laura Carraresi, researcher at the Norwegian Food Research Institute (Nofima), provided an overview of the policies of Norwegian food companies in the context of the sustainable transition.
On the sidelines of the event, Ambassador Nicoletti underlined: “As we did on the occasion of Research Day 2024, in which we organized a seminar on Artificial Intelligence, this year we choosed a transversal topic, capable of catalyzing the attention of both experts in the sector and those who wish to acquire greater awareness on a topic, such as health and nutrition, that concerns us all. I would like to thank OsloMet for the hospitality and collaboration provided in organizing the seminar, and the professors who animated the event with their speeches, demonstrating once again the high quality of the research conducted by our scholars in Norway and Iceland”.
Pro-Rector Thodesen commented: “For many years, Italian scientists and students have been important members of the OsloMet community. They contribute in many areas and, as such, are a much-appreciated resource for our research, teaching and innovation activities. Hosting this event at our premises is an important recognition of their work, as well as a way to highlight the great contribution that Italian scientists and students make to many Norwegian universities.”
According to an open source census conducted by the Italian Embassy in Oslo, updated earlier this year, there are at least 659 Italian researchers and professors in Norway, with substantial gender parity. Their presence is widespread throughout the country, from Oslo to Tromsø, embracing a total of 45 universities and research institutions. However, a large part of the Italian scientific community is concentrated in the major Norwegian institutions and university centers: more than a third are employed at the NTNU Polytechnic in Trondheim and at the University of Oslo, while other major centers of aggregation are the Sintef research center and the Universities of Bergen and Tromsø.
