DST Initiates Scientific Collaboration with China University of Geosciences

An international partnership focused on geochemical and mineralogical research, researcher mobility and the internationalisation of higher education.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) is launching a new international scientific collaboration with the China University of Geosciences (Beijing), one of China's leading academic institutions in the field of Earth Sciences. The initiative builds on the scientific cooperation established by Professor Mariano Mercurio, whose teaching and research activities focus on Mineral Resources and their Applications to the Environment and Cultural Heritage, with the Surficial Environment and Hydrological Geochemistry Laboratory (SEHGL), headed by Professor Guilin Han.
The collaboration focuses on the characterisation, origin and traceability of geobiological and environmental matrices through an interdisciplinary approach integrating geochemical and mineralogical methodologies. The initiative builds on research carried out by the two research groups, particularly in the identification of geological markers for provenance studies of agri-food products, such as wine, and in the investigation of environmental influences recorded in pathological biominerals of human origin, including kidney stones. In this latter field, the analysis of radiogenic and stable isotopes plays a key role in reconstructing formation processes and identifying potential links with environmental conditions. The partnership will also promote exchanges involving PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers, academic staff mobility programmes, and the development of joint educational pathways.

This agreement represents an important opportunity to strengthen scientific relations between Italy and China and to enhance the international dimension of the DST's research and educational activities, with particular emphasis on the internationalisation of the Master's Degree Programme in Geotechnologies for Resources, the Environment and Risks.