Department Department of ExcellenceThird mission: knowledge as a common good

Third mission: knowledge as a common good

The third mission represents for NEUROFARBA a concrete commitment to making scientific knowledge a shared asset, accessible and generative of value for society. Alongside research and training, the Department dedicates resources and initiatives to outreach, dialogue with the local community, and the valorisation of scientific results, so that knowledge does not remain confined to laboratories, but becomes an instrument of change and cohesion.

Within the Departments of Excellence project, NEUROFARBA is strengthening its third mission activities in several directions:

• Public engagement: communication activities are designed and delivered for the general public, patients' families, schools, associations, and local authorities. The aim is to foster an informed understanding of issues related to health, fragility, and biomedical research, countering misinformation and promoting scientific culture.
• Clinical communication training: thanks to collaboration with the Psychology section, the Department's healthcare staff participate in structured programmes to improve communication with caregivers, particularly in contexts of chronic illness and disability. The effectiveness of these programmes is evaluated through psychometric tools and scientific methodologies.
• Digital outreach and social media: NEUROFARBA is strengthening its presence on digital channels and platforms such as LinkedIn, with the aim of communicating the Department's activities, ongoing projects, results achieved, and training opportunities in a direct and accessible way. Social media communication is conceived as a meeting space between academia and society, where knowledge becomes dialogue.
• Public-private collaborations and patents: the third mission is also expressed through technology transfer, with numerous collaborations with companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors. NEUROFARBA registers an average of five new patents per year and runs numerous joint laboratories dedicated to pharmacovigilance, medical informatics, molecular synthesis, and perinatal research.
• Sustainable development and local community: the Department is committed to the valorisation of local resources and the promotion of environmental sustainability, including through projects based on the use of locally sourced raw materials and the reuse of industrial by-products in the nutraceutical field.

Through these activities, NEUROFARBA reaffirms that research is not an activity separate from people's lives, but an active component of cultural, social, and health progress. Knowledge, when shared, becomes an instrument of emancipation, participation, and justice.

Results achieved

NEUROFARBA is engaged in an ongoing dialogue with society, promoting initiatives that valorise scientific culture, public health, and the active involvement of citizens.

In the two-year period 2023–2024, the conference series "Una salute per tutti, tutte per la salute!" ("Health for All, All for Health!") was conceived and delivered, with public events open to the community, in collaboration with experts from academic, clinical, and media backgrounds. The topics addressed touched on central issues of health and fragility, including the role of caregivers, the management of health in everyday situations, patient decision-making autonomy, and gender- and age-related differences in drug responses. The series fostered dialogue between the public and experts in an accessible and inclusive setting.

In 2024, the Department also participated in the European Researchers' Night – Bright Night, with the outreach activity "Discovering Organoids". The initiative allowed children, young people, and families to engage with scientific research through hands-on experiences, interactive materials, and informational videos, promoting an understanding of the challenges and potential of biomedical research.

Next developments

NEUROFARBA intends to consolidate and expand its third mission activities, strengthening its presence in public and digital spaces. The open conference series will be renewed with new meetings on emerging health topics, with particular attention to inclusion, gender medicine, and prevention.

New multimedia content and outreach materials are planned for institutional and social media channels, with the aim of making scientific knowledge increasingly accessible to non-specialist audiences as well. Further initiatives will be developed involving schools and younger generations, fostering evidence-based and participatory health education.