Research Center for Culture and Science of Sustainability (CRCS)

The Research Center for Culture and Science of Sustainability, directed by Professor Massimo De Giuseppe (Full Professor of Contemporary History), was established in 2023 as part of IULM University’s participation in the EIT Culture & Creativity (EIT C&C) initiative—the Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) within the European Institutional Partnership for Cultural and Creative Sectors and Industries (CCSI). The Research Center was conceived as a dedicated partner to enhance international, interdisciplinary initiatives.

 The primary objectives are:

1. To promote innovative, cutting-edge education in the context of internationalization, equipping students with relevant skills; 

2. To participate in the design of innovative cultural services and products that address contemporary environmental and social sustainability challenges; 

3. To advocate for the recognition of culture as a source of innovation and a driver of growth; 

4. To help build an open and innovative European community in the cultural and creative sectors, supporting philanthropic projects that contribute to a more dynamic and resilient society.

In 2024, the Center is advancing a series of initiatives focused on promoting innovative teaching practices within IULM University’s Museum of Communication (Tam tam), alongside four projects examining the interplay between culture, the environment, memory, and innovation:

• Organization of the international conference "Europe and Its Elsewheres," held at IULM University on May 2, 2024. In a European election year—where the Rector highlighted "adventure" as the key theme, in its etymological sense of "that which is to come" (an extraordinary, promising, and therefore inherently risky... adventurous event)—it felt essential to organize a conference grounded in historical framework while opening a rigorous interdisciplinary dialogue. This dialogue accounts for necessary cross-pollinations and intersections with epistemology, communication, and the arts, which continuously shape collective imaginations. Adopting a long-term perspective, the conference examines Europe’s engagement with its "elsewheres" (other worlds and their more or less unconscious internalizations), with special attention to the long twentieth century and the dilemmas of contemporary culture. Organized by a scientific committee comprising Professors Mauro Ceruti, Massimo De Giuseppe, Guido Formigoni, and Giovanna Rocca, the conference is held under the auspices of the Italian Society for the Study of Contemporary History (Sissco). 

• Lecture: "The Time Machine: When Europe Began Writing the History of the World" (May 22, 2024) by Prof. Serge Gruzinski from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Centre de recherches sur les mondes américains: Empires, sociétés, nations, Amérique latine et Méditerranée occidentale (CERMA). 

• Scientific support project for the feature-length documentary "The Book of Shadows" (Il libro delle ombre), in collaboration with the Network of Italian Universities for Peace (Runipace). Directed by filmmaker and IULM lecturer Giuseppe Carrieri, the film involves students from the Master’s degree in Television, Cinema, and New Media. It centers on several hibakusha, the last survivors of the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Conceived and filmed in 2024 for completion in 2025—marking the 80th anniversary of humanity entering the atomic age—the documentary reflects on human rights, the environment, and sustainability at the intersection of history, memory, and the future. Project collaborators include Kazuyo Yamane (Ritsumeikan University, Osaka), former leader of the International Network of Museums for Peace (INMP), and Makiko Takemoto (Center for Peace Studies, Hiroshima University). The documentary will be broadcast on Tv2000. 

• The "Memory of the Earth" project, establishing an oral history archive and producing a documentary on the community archaeology experience in the Sierra Ancash region of northern Peru. Developed alongside the archaeological mission sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Museum of Cultures of the City of Milan (MUDEC), and IULM University, the project is coordinated by Carolina Orsini. Within IULM, the Human Lab and IulMovieLab are participating alongside CRCS. As with the Center’s 2023 Central American documentary projects—Yasmira: An Indigenous Path to Freedom and Hanging Bridges (Los Puentes colgantes), produced for the International Italo-Latin American Organization (IILA) as part of the Revicacao cooperation initiative—the film will be directed by emerging filmmakers and IULM graduates Francesca Trovato and Virna Beltrami.