Professor Francesco Di Maio, Full Professor in the Department of Energy at Politecnico di Milano, was invited to deliver a Plenary Keynote Lecture at the 10th International Conference on Reliability Engineering (ICRE 2026), held in Hangzhou, China, from 19 to 21 July 2026.
Professor Emanuela Colombo, the Rector’s Delegate for Science Diplomacy and Chairholder of the UNESCO Chair in Energy for Sustainable Development at Politecnico di Milano, took part in the 2026 Global Conference of UNESCO’s International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (IDSSD) in Paris. During a panel on science diplomacy, she highlighted the importance of international cooperation and capacity building as key tools for strengthening local capabilities and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals. The conference also featured Andrea Valese, a PhD candidate at Politecnico di Milano, who spoke at a side event on cooperation between Europe and Africa, emphasizing the strategic role of education and the knowledge value chain in promoting sustainable development.
Prof. Matteo Maestri, Director of the Department of Energy at Politecnico di Milano, has authored a Comment published on August 3, 2026, in *Nature Catalysis*, one of the most prestigious international scientific journals dedicated to catalysis. The contribution, entitled *The Active Site and Its Environment*, proposes a new perspective for understanding and designing catalysts, highlighting the need to move beyond a traditional view focused exclusively on the active site.
The Department of Energy at Politecnico di Milano took part in the Euroheat & Power Congress 2026, the leading European event dedicated to district heating and cooling. Alice Dénarié presented the contribution of the Skills4DHC project to the development of training programmes and tools designed to address the evolving needs of a sector that is becoming increasingly sustainable, digitalised, and complex.
Professor Enrico Zio from the Department of Energy at Politecnico di Milano delivered a Plenary Keynote Lecture at the 17th International Conference on Reliability, Maintainability and Safety (ICRMS 2026) in Guangzhou, China. His keynote, entitled Trustable AI for Reliability, Maintenance and Safety, explored the role of artificial intelligence in supporting reliability assessment, predictive maintenance and safety-critical decision-making through the analysis of multimodal data, highlighting the challenges and opportunities of deploying trustworthy AI in complex engineering systems.
Eros Mossini, a researcher in the Department of Energy at Politecnico di Milano, participated as an invited speaker in the Summer School & 3rd International Workshop on Radioanalysis and Radioecology at Lanzhou University (China). During the event, he delivered four lectures on the latest advances in radiochemistry applied to radioactive waste management, contributing to scientific dialogue with researchers and students from leading international institutions.
Enrico Zio is among the authors of the 36th Milano Produttiva Report 2026, presenting an analysis of nuclear technology and its role in the energy transition.
Prof. Francesco Di Maio, a faculty member of the Department of Energy at Politecnico di Milano, has been elected Chair of the IEEE Reliability Society Italy Chapter. In this role, he will coordinate the activities of the Italian community, promoting scientific initiatives, technical events, and collaboration between academia, professionals, and industry in the fields of reliability, safety, maintenance, and risk management.
From 6 to 8 July 2026, the Department of Energy hosted the H2POWRD workshop, bringing together PhD students, researchers and faculty members to explore advanced turbomachinery design and simulation methodologies through training activities, laboratory visits and an experimental test in the new blowdown wind tunnel for supersonic cascades.
A delegation from the Department of Energy of Politecnico di Milano visited Vietnam to strengthen scientific and academic collaboration with the University of Danang in the fields of energy and innovation.