A New Climate Research Center in Italy

Abstract

The news item about the Italian Climate Research Center that will be located at the University of Lecce in Bologna (“Italy hosts a climate research center,” ScienceScope, 24 Dec. 2004, p. [2171][1]) unfortunately does not tell the whole story. The center was established without significant input from the Italian climate research community. A call for proposals was issued in 2001, and two groups responded. The review process that awarded the center to Lecce was never explained. The Ministry of the Environment simply made an informal announcement that the appropriation would go to the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology, which will coordinate the center. At the moment, nothing is known about the center's programs, whether it will open to the larger climate research community, or how these programs will be funded. The initial program presented by the director suggests that the Center will be limited to oceanographers and marine ecosystem researchers in the Bologna area. Italy has allowed its National Climate Research Program to languish, and unless significant changes are made in the scope and mission of the Climate Research Center, it will be useless. First, it seems designed to produce a climate model that closely resembles those already developed elsewhere, reminiscent of Wittgenstein's philosophy that it is better to buy several copies of the same newspaper to be nearest the truth. Second, without the involvement of the larger climate academic community, the program will have no impact on higher education in the rest of the country. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.306.5705.2171c