Third Mission Commission

The Department of Political and Social Science has set up a commission to monitor and boost the department’s Third Mission initiatives. The Third Mission is a new field of actions for universities involving all forms of connections and cooperation with society as a whole, that is, with other groups than the traditional categories of students and scholars. Among the many modes of action and features of the Third Mission, we must distinguish the activities for the economic promotion of knowledge from those with a cultural and social nature: the former comprises all the cases where the knowledge acquired from research is transformed and employed for production; the latter consists of all the public goods aimed at increasing the welfare, knowledge and civic awareness of society.

Responsibilities

The Third Mission Commission of the department handles the relations with the offices and university bodies appointed to these activities, that is, ARTEC (Industrial Relations, Third Mission and Communication) and the Third Mission Observatory. Furthermore, the commission seeks to raise the awareness of faculty members regarding the growing importance of this new field, emphasizing both the need to promote the work of individuals and to develop relationships, networks and synergies between the department and the many stakeholders in civil society.

In order to monitor the Third Mission activities carried out within the department, the commission has drafted an online questionnaire to be sent periodically to professors and research fellows; it is aimed at keeping track of the Third Mission initiatives carried out by researchers, working groups and the department as a whole. Therefore, two Third Mission records have been redacted, as well as a list of the main stakeholders with which the department collaborates.

Composition

A special resolution dated 21.01.2022 by the Council of the Department of Political and Social Science defines the composition of the commission.

The commission is chaired by a representative of the head of department.