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2025
2025
European Researchers' Night (again)
26/09/2025
This year we returned to the European Researchers' Night in Bologna on Friday 26 September! We answered to the questions and curiosities of the many people who stopped at our table: how can ants be used to better understand genomics and biodiversity? We thank everyone for the enthusiasm they showed. See you next year!
Meeting of the Italian Association for the Study of Social and Presocial Arthropods 2025
03/09/2025 – 05/09/2025
The WWA team is very proud to have participated and been an integral part of the organization of the XX national congress of AISASP, held in Bologna. We presented to our colleagues the progress, goals and projects of our studies on Formica paralugubris and its close cousins. See y'all next time in 2027!
The complete program and book of abstracts can be found here.
Honourable Mention at the Environmental Photography Award
19/08/2025
A Fortress Made of Spruce Needles, one of the magnificent photographs taken by Iacopo Nerozzi for WWA in the Casentinesi Forests National Park, was selected as an Honourable Mention by the Environmental Photography Award in the “Into the Forest” category (which, in any case, was won by another photo by Iacopo himself!).
We are truly proud of our collaboration, which blends science, outreach, and nature photography. The exhibition catalogue marks the first printed mention of WWA! You can purchase the volume here.
Pint of Science 2025
21/05/2025
Every year, thanks to Pint of Science, thousands of researchers in 27 countries share and discuss their discoveries with the public in pubs, bars, cafés, and public spaces. This year WWA took part in the initiative in Bologna, where we told the story of the introduction of Formica paralugubris and described our research approaches.
Many thanks to the organizers for the opportunity; we hope to see you again next year!
Oral presentation at the
2nd National Conference of Citizen Science Italia
09/04/2025 – 12/04/2025
WWA participated in the 2nd National Conference of Citizen Science Italia, held in Bologna from April 9 to 12, 2025: we presented our latest project, Rufa Ranger (more details coming soon!), shared the outcomes of the educational workshops and, above all, answered the experimental question… “how many researchers does it take to set up a gazebo?” together with our colleagues from School Of Ants!
We look forward to taking part in the next edition!
Road to Citizen Science Italia: eductional activities
24/03/2025 – 07/04/2025
Road to Citizen Science Italia is a program of activities dedicated to schools and young people to promote the culture of Citizen Science, organized in anticipation of the 2nd National Conference of Citizen Science Italia and in collaboration with Agenda Digitale Emilia-Romagna.
For the occasion, WWA designed educational workshops at the Liceo Fermi in Bologna (IT), all focused on Citizen Science of course! Among the many activities there was FermEnto, the school’s iNaturalist project, which you can find directly on the platform!
WWA attended the Festival of Scientific Education
28/02/2025
The Festival of Scientific Education was born from the idea of a group of students of the master degree in "Teaching and Communication of the Natural Sciences" of the University of Bologna. WWA was there, and had the opportunity to share experiences and ideas with other young science communicators, as well as with all the people who were attracted by our little exposition. We are really looking forward to participate in the ext edition!
The complete program of the event can be found here.
Our second teaching experience in high schools
17/02/2025 – 22/02/2025
We organized a 20-hour-long teaching course for the Liceo M. Minghetti (Bologna, IT) with both lectures and practical sessions revolving around our project. The hands-on activies included (i) the creation of a citizens science app, (ii) the morphological identification of several ants, and (iii) a comparative genomics analysis.
Students then left a review (in Italian) of our project on their school magazine.
Our teaching plans are available on the Outreach and Teaching section of this website!
Our first article on a science communication magazine!
07/02/2025
Our first outreach contribution is published on Terra Magazine, an Italian journal which promotes the dissemination of natural sciences. Here, we talk about the genesis, the development and future perspectives of our project.
You can read it here!
Our first teaching experience in high schools
13/01/2025 – 31/01/2025
WWA organised a series of activities at the Liceo Scientifico A. B. Sabin (Bologna, IT), for a total amount of ten hours. Alongside classroom lectures, students had a hands'on experience with PCR, ant taxonomy and comparative genomics.
Our teaching plans are available on the Outreach and Teaching section of this website!
WWA lands on the ERGA Blog
14/01/2025
ERGA (European Reference Genome Atlas), which coordinates the production of high-quality genome sequences for the European biodiversity, published our contribution about the WWA project on its blog!
To read it click here!
The same article has also been published among the BGE case studies.
2024
2024
14th AISASP Student Meeting
07/12/2024
WWA project was presented to a large audience of students working on social insects, in the suggestive location of the Pisa's Plaster Cast Gallery! We provided a general overview of our work and outlined future plans. The abstract book is available here!
European Researchers’ Night
27/09/2024
The first public appearance of the WWA project was held in the citycentre of Bologna (Italy) during the European Researchers' Night. The aim of this initiative is to create opportunities for researchers and citizens to meet and share scientific knowledge while discovering research professions. We talked about Formica paralugubris, urban myrmecofauna and genomics. For many people it was the first time they saw an ant under a microscope!
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