DAY OF ITALIAN RESEARCH IN THE WORLD 2026
From Vision to Value
Leadership, Innovation, and Intellectual Property
OPENING REMARKS
Dr. Alberta Lai
Director
Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto
Dr. Costanza Conti
Scientific Attaché
Embassy of Italy in Canada
Dr. Emilia Luca
Research Associate | Sunnybrook Research Institute
Co-Founder & Chair | AIRIcerca Toronto Chapter
SPEAKERS
Dr. Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano
Provost & Vice-President, Academic
Toronto Metropolitan University
Dr. Pina D’Agostino
Professor
Osgoode Hall Law School
York University
Following the presentations, Dr. Luca will moderate a panel discussion.
Monday, April 27 | 6:30PM
ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI CULTURA
496 Huron St | Toronto ON
FREE EVENT | REGISTRATION REQUIRED
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER ON EVENTBRITE
Presented by the Embassy of Italy in Canada, the Consulate General of Italy in Toronto, and the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto, in collaboration with the Toronto chapter of AIRIcerca – The Association of Italian Researchers.
ABOUT DR. ROBERTA IANNACITO-PROVENZANO
Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano is Provost and Vice-President, Academic at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) and a full professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures in the Faculty of Arts. She earned her PhD in Italian Studies at the University of Toronto. She joined TMU in 2020 as Vice-Provost, Faculty Affairs, following progressive academic leadership roles at other institutions. As Provost and Vice-President, Academic, she serves as TMU’s Chief Academic Officer and Chief Operating Officer, providing executive leadership across the academic enterprise, including faculties and schools, graduate and postdoctoral education, student success, strategic enrolment management, and academic policy, while stewarding budgets, governance, and internationalization. In 2025 she co-organized the Global AI Summit in collaboration with Times Higher Education and created TMU’s Empowering Women in Academia Series. She is co-chair of the Presidential Implementation Committee to Confront Anti-Black Racism and the TRC Strategic Working Group.
Roberta is an active community leader and has held national roles, including President of the Canadian Association for Italian Studies and Vice-President of the Italian-Canadian Archives Project. She has received numerous awards, including the CIBPA Award for Professional Excellence (2023), the CIBPA Women’s Leadership Champion Award (2025), and WXN’s Canada’s Most Powerful Women: Top 100™ Award (2025).
ABOUT DR. PINA D’AGOSTINO
Dr Pina D’Agostino is a law professor, lawyer, public speaker, board director and internationally-recognized scholar at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University specializing in intellectual property (IP), artificial intelligence (AI), innovation law and policy. She is a Tier 1 York Research Chair in Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence & Emerging Technologies and serves as the Associate Vice-President Research, York University. She serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the Intellectual Property Journal and has been recognized as the Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers in Canada by Canadian Lawyer Magazine and Top 5 in Business Law. In 2024 she was chosen as Woman of the Year from the Canadian Italian Business Professional Association (CIBPA) and as the recipient of the Ontario Minister of Colleges and Universities Award of Excellence in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In 2025, she was honoured with the prestigious King Charles III Coronation Medal for her outstanding contributions to Canada.
Dr D’Agostino brings her creativity and passion to trailblaze new initiatives as the inaugural Vice-Director and then Scientific Director (2024-2026) of the $318M CFREF-funded Connected Minds: Neural & Machine Systems for a Healthy, Just Society advancing socially-responsible technologies for Canada; co-Founder and co-Director of the new Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Society (CAIS) for York University; Founding Director of IP Osgoode and the award-winning IPilogue, Founder & Director of the IP Intensive and the IP Innovation Clinic, the first and largest pro-bono legal clinic of its kind helping innovators and start-ups across Canada commercialize their IP to grow made-in-Canada companies. And in 2018 she founded the AI-powered IP Innovation ChatBot allowing underrepresented groups and the general public greater access to IP information.
In addition, she is the first woman Chair of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI), inaugural Board Director at Alectra Inc. since 2017 and is the founding Chair of its GRE&T Centre Advisory Committee advancing innovation and sustainable energy solutions. She held an Order in Council Appointment at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection where she served on its Board of Directors, and currently sits on its Art Advisory Committee.
ABOUT DR. EMILIA LUCA
Dr. Emilia Luca is a Research Associate in the Dabdoub laboratory at Sunnybrook Research Institute. Her research centres on inner ear biology, regenerative medicine, and multi-omics integration. Using human tissue models alongside spatial transcriptomics, epigenomics, and proteomics, she investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying inner ear development, injury response, and regeneration.
Dr. Luca has played a key role in securing national and international research funding and has co-authored high-impact studies, including recent work in Nature Communications. She leads project development, fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, and supervises trainees. With over a decade of experience in teaching, supervision, and scientific service, Dr. Luca is committed to FAIR data standards, equity in science, and global research engagement. Her long-term goal is to establish a multidisciplinary program that drives therapeutic innovation for inner ear disorders through human-centred models.
ABOUT DAY OF ITALIAN RESEARCH IN THE WORLD
The Day of Italian Research in the World – a particularly important event for promoting Italian scientific and technological expertise – was established in 2018 by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, in collaboration with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Italian Ministry of Health. Its aim is to highlight the contribution of Italian researchers to international science and to promote the dissemination of their research results. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its diplomatic network around the world and in coordination with the Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MUR), supports the initiative and promotes the image of Italy as a producer of high-quality science and innovation.
Since its first edition in 2018, the Italian Research Day in the World has been celebrated on April 15, the birth anniversary of the Italian genius Leonardo da Vinci. Since 2024, the Day has been celebrated annually on April 22, the birth anniversary of Professor Rita Levi-Montalcini, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1986 and the first Italian woman to receive this recognition in the scientific field.
Over the years, the Day of Italian Research in the World has featured numerous events organized by the diplomatic and consular network. These activities have included conferences, meetings, and exhibitions dedicated to fields of scientific research and technological innovation, such as quantum computing, artificial intelligence, physics, space, environmental protection, and the role of women in science. The initiatives have also involved associations of Italian researchers abroad, thereby contributing to strengthening ties with the Italian scientific community worldwide.