Conference
11–12 November 2026| World Expo Center, Shanghai, China
The CMCC Foundation, together with the Decade Collaborative Centre for Coastal Resilience (DCC-CR), will participate in the “24th China International Talent Exchange Conference (CIEP)”, which will be held on 11–12 November 2026 at the Shanghai World Expo Center. The conference will bring together international experts and institutional representatives from Asia, Africa and Europe to advance scientific cooperation in ocean and climate research, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development.
The CMCC and DCC-CR delegation will include Antonio Navarra, President of CMCC; Nadia Pinardi, former Director of DCC-CR; Giovanni Coppini, CMCC Institute Director; Riccardo Valentini, CMCC; Lorenzo Mentaschi, University of Bologna; Francesco Maicu, CMCC; Elena Xoplaki, CMCC; and Federica Orsi, Senior Communication Manager of DCC-CR.
The event will also include the Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) Talent Exchange Event, hosted by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China and organised by SYSU. The initiative will bring together nearly thirty international experts to explore opportunities for scientific exchange and long-term institutional cooperation.
A major milestone will be the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between CMCC and Sun Yat-sen University on 11 November 2026. The agreement will establish a framework for long-term collaboration, focusing on joint research programmes and the co-organisation of education and training initiatives.
CMCC and DCC-CR will also contribute to the scientific programme. Antonio Navarra, President of the CMCC Foundation, will present CMCC’s ocean and climate services and chair a session on early warning systems and urban climate. Elena Xoplaki will address climate-related societal risks, while Riccardo Valentini will present research on forest carbon monitoring. Nadia Pinardi will deliver the keynote “Coastal Resilience in the UN Ocean Decade”, presenting DCC-CR’s activities and its role in coordinating the Thematic Blueprint on Coastal Resilience. She will also moderate the closing roundtable on the importance of integrating Global South perspectives into international scientific cooperation.