Founded in 1336, with nearly 8,000 undergraduate students and 180 Ph.D. candidates, almost 40% of whom are foreigners, UNICAM is today one of the most internationally oriented universities in Italy, according to national rankings. Since 2005, it has adopted the European Charter for Researchers and a Code of Conduct for their Recruitment. UNICAM is one of the national contact points for the Italian Euraxess portal for the mobility of researchers and one of the few Italian Universities to obtain, since 2010, the European acknowledgment of HR excellence in research. Mobility and education funded projects (Erasmus, LLP, etc.) and Cooperation Agreements with universities and institutions worldwide make it possible for staff, researchers and students to participate in exchange and research programs. UNICAM has recently established a new Research, Technology Transfer & Project Management Area, which supports researchers in the design, management, and reporting of national and international research-funded projects and in the management of Intellectual Property Rights.
UNICAM has been engaged in several EU partnerships and research projects, completed, ongoing and forthcoming on the themes of Environmental Science, Local Development and Sustainable Transition, with contributions from architecture, urban and territorial planning and landscape-based approaches, and with special focus on territorial resilience, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. It also places a strong focus on regional development and connection with territorial actors, promoting participatory and place-based planning and design processes.
Since the establishment of the first protected areas in Italy, UNICAM has developed research and expertise on landscape, environment and local resources, providing scientific support on environmental assessment and planning of protected areas to local and supralocal governments, with a long-standing tradition in architecture, planning and landscape architecture, as key tools to enhance territorial resilience and quality of life.
More research topics emerged as environmental challenges increased, including climate change, landscape quality, transition towards sustainability, and quality of life in rural, urban, and peri-urban areas, with growing attention to urban regeneration, landscape quality, adaptive spatial strategies, and climate-responsive design.
After severe earthquakes hit Central Italy in 2016-2017, UNICAM has been actively engaged in a process of consortium building at national and international levels to support post-disaster recovery, cultural heritage enhancement, disaster management and risk reduction, strengthening a codesign- and planning-oriented approach to reconstruction and long-term territorial transformation. As a result, in June 2018 UNICAM co-founded the research Consortium REDI (REducing Risks of Natural DIsasters).
The School of Architecture & Design, based in Ascoli Piceno, focuses particularly on the study and culture of architectural science and product design, with contributions from many disciplines; within this framework, architectural and urban design are developed in close relation to territorial planning, landscape, environmental sustainability and digital design tools. The educational activity is divided into two bachelor’s degree courses in Architectural Science and Industrial & Environmental Design, and three master’s degree courses in Architecture, Computational Design, and Landscape Architecture.