Buona Estate! A summer recap from the Warwick Venice Centre
The Warwick Venice Centre celebrates a number of achievements this academic year. We have held 12 public engagement events, welcoming over 700 people through our doors. For Art Night — we partnered with our hosts, the Fondazione Levi, to work with two local high schools (Liceo Musicale and Liceo Artistico Marco Polo). We also welcomed two local organisations – Venice in Peril who featured their excellent conservation work, and the Comitato della Vogalonga who showcased the importance of this boat race for the Venetian public with a video celebrating the race's 50 year anniversary.
We also held the WVC Summer Series —which included a keynote lecture on the creativity of Italian POWs in Allied CampsLink opens in a new window as part of an exciting conference co-organised with the University of Sydney, Columbia University's Casa Muraro, and New York University; along with book launches in English and Italian from colleagues at the University of BolognaLink opens in a new window, Warwick, and Georgetown UniversityLink opens in a new window.
Within the University, we held our first Offer-Holder open day at the WVC, held an event on campus on "How to use the WVC" to introduce staff to the centre (which we hope to repeat in 26-27), and our brilliant administrator, Chiara Croff was nominated as a finalist in the University-level Above and Beyond Awards. We've also welcomed Ocean Critchley-Clarke as an administrative assistant and Inca Hide-Wright as strategic projects officer (placement), both of whom have provided invaluable support to our activities.
We’ve held 12 research conferences and workshops on a wide range of topics from AI and the Digital EconomyLink opens in a new window, to Women in EconomicsLink opens in a new window, to Parametrized ComplexityLink opens in a new window, to a Horizon Europe Seed Fund Workshop, to name a few. We've engaged partners from Europe and across the world: welcoming EUTOPIA partners such as TUD (Dresden), NOVA University (Lisbon), VUB (Brussels) along with global partners such as the University of Toronto, Fudan University, and Monash University.
To further develop research at the centre, we have also inaugurated our new Cybersquero room with four bookable computer workstations for Warwick students and staff featuring 34" monitors that can be used either with the Mac Minis and a Warwick ID, or can be plugged into a laptop, and BenQ digital reading task lighting. These stations are available to all students and staff taking modules or teaching at the WVC. For a modest fee, staff can also book workstations individually for a writing retreat or book the entire room for team grant-writing workshops. As we launch the Cybersquero next year, and in order to encourage research by ECRs at the WVC, we are pleased to provide these workstations at no cost to Warwick PhD students and Postdoctoral fellows for up to two weeks (subject to availability and booking). Please get in touch with us at venice@warwick.ac.ukLink opens in a new window if you are interested in booking these spaces.
Why the name? A squero is a Venetian shipyard where ships and gondole are built, maintained, and repaired (one might think of the nearby squero di San TrovasoLink opens in a new window, for example). We thought it to be the perfect metaphor for a space in which Warwick's world-leading research can be crafted, developed, and launched out into the wide lagoon of knowledge (ok, we also thought it sounded snappy and memorable!).
We have been thrilled to host undergraduate modules from History, History of Art, Film and TV, Classics, Liberal Arts, Global Sustainable Development; a postgraduate module from the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance; and a doctoral workshop for students on the Monash Warwick Alliance PhD programme, welcoming over 180 students over the course of the year for unique immersive learning experiences in Venice.
Next year, the WVC will host its first interdisciplinary module as a department: “Trouble in the Water: Music and the Climate Crisis” open to all second-year students across the University. As we launch Venice Short Courses, we hope to expand our offering of modules available to students across all of Warwick. We're also looking forward to hosting the Monash-Warwick collaboration module "Shakespeare in Venice" organised by Paul Prescott (IATL) and Fiona Gregory (MONASH). Next year will also be the first year where we will welcome UG students from History in Term 2 (in addition to term 1).
Building on our close relationships with local partners, we have recently signed a new and expanded MOU with Ca’ Foscari University, and look forward to the WVC becoming a hub to foster closer international relationships in teaching, research, and public engagement. We also aim to mutually supporting each other's activities and work together locally in Venice, continuing the legacy of outgoing Rettrice Tiziana Lippiello, who has championed working with Warwick throughout her tenure.
The MOU is part of a broader project supported by the British Council and CRUI (the conference of Italian University rectors), that includes a reciprocal teaching-focussed visiting professorship programme, and activities for students at both institutions. We sincerely hope that this project and our close relationship with our partners at Ca' Foscari can light the way for future UK-Italy Educational Relationships, particularly as the UK rejoins Erasmus+ in 2027.
This past year has been a momentous one for the WVC and a year of change and new beginnings in Venice. We welcomed the appointment of Valeria Zane as the new director of the Fondazione Levi, the election of Prof. Marco Sgarbi to rector of Ca' Foscari (as of October 1st), and the election of Mayor Simone Venturini as mayor of Venice (right, pictured with Prof. Michael Scott - PVC (International) and Dr. Bryan Brazeau (WVC Director)).
We are eager to work with all of our local partners, and particularly with the Comune of Venice in order to be a positive force in the city, to help it continue to grow its educational offering, and to give back to a city that graciously hosts the WVC and the Warwick community, and has given us so much over the years.
As we head into 2026-2027, we are full of energy and excited to kick off anniversary celebrations from September 2026-Dec 2027. We will be celebrating important anniversaries of History of Art (50 years of teaching in Venice in 2026), History (60 years of teaching in Italy in 2027), the University’s 60 years with a presence in Italy, and 15 years of the Monash Warwick Alliance.
Stay tuned for an exciting year of events in 26-27! Our autumn agenda already includes the International Boccaccio EditionLink opens in a new window Conference (October), the Lady Frances Clarke Lecture (November), the One World Warwick Lecture to be delivered by Dr. Vladimir Brljak (Durham)Link opens in a new window (Nov. 18th), the International Conference on Immersive and 3D Audio, and a conference on "New Perspectives on Premodern MobilitiesLink opens in a new window" organised in partnership with the Newberry Library (December).
As the academic year winds down, the heat rises, and we look forward both to the Redentore festival here in Venice and to celebrating students' achievements at graduation on campus in Coventry, we wish you all a wonderful summer and hope that you can find the time to rest and recharge. If you would like to get involved with the WVC in any way — whether through teaching, research, or public engagement — please don't hesitate to get in touch with us: venice@warwick.ac.ukLink opens in a new window. We'll be taking some well-deserved time off in August, but we'll do our best to get back to you when we return in early September.