VIU is pleased to congratulate Gary Gereffi, Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Director of the Global Value Chains Center at Duke University who will be conferred with an honorary doctorate in Economics and Management from the University of Padua by the Rector, Prof. Daniela Mapelli, on March 13 at 3 p.m. at the Aula Magna of Palazzo del Bo in Padua.

Visit University of Padua website for information about the Conferral

This important recognition is representative of the lasting impact of the trilateral scientific collaboration between Duke, Padua and Ca’ Foscari that has its roots in Venice International University, dating back to 2005 when Prof. Gereffi taught at VIU for a semester in the Globalization Program. At that time the Dean of VIU was Stefano Micelli, Professor of Management at Ca’ Foscari, who led a community of researchers who were investigating the evolution of Italian industrial districts. Together they embarked on a long-standing research collaboration on Global Value Chains and upgrading processes in traditional industries.

Within this framework, Duke and VIU ran a Research Summer School for four years, held alternately in Venice at VIU and in Durham, North Carolina at Duke University. The summer school gave researchers and PhD students from VIU member universities in the United States, Europe and China the opportunity to share the results of their research activities in order to promote a broader understanding of the methodologies adopted and the various topics addressed in their research.

The scientific collaboration led to several further initiatives and outcomes, including:

  • VIU Graduate Seminar: "Rethinking Manufacturing, Consumption and Globalization in the Era of Automation" (2019) 
  • Curricular course in the Globalization Program on International Management: Managing Global Value Chains - Stefano Micelli  (with L. Gui, 2009-2011; with G. Buciuni 2012-2015)
  • Establishment of VIU research fellowships (doctoral students) and research internships (master’s students) for the study of global value chains at Duke University (2005-2014)

Valentina De Marchi, Eleonora Di Maria and Marco Bettiol were among the researchers during the early days of the collaboration and have since become professors at Università degli Studi di Padova, where they have picked up the baton, and continue the fruitful collaboration with Prof. Gereffi and the Duke Global Value Chains Center.

Other scholars who have contributed include: 

Giancarlo Corò, Mario Volpe, Vladi Finotto, all Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia
Marina Chiarvesio, Università di Udine
Giulio Buciuni, formerly Ca’ Foscari, now Trinity College Dublin.

Their ongoing research collaboration and exchange has resulted in numerous scientific publications:

Search Global Value Chains / Micelli
Search Global Value Chains / De Marchi 

The collaboration has also had a long-standing impact at VIU:
The experience allowed VIU and its members to test different modes of collaboration, leading eventually to what is today the Worldwide Mobility for Research Internships Program, in which students from VIU universities have the opportunity to spend a period of research in another member university; while the Research Summer School experience evolved into the VIU model for the Intensive Graduate Activities, where professors, researchers and students come together at VIU for an intensive residential program in which they experiment with interdisciplinary approaches, collaborate with peers from all over the world, tackle transversal topics, while building and strengthening their network on issues of shared interest within the consortium.