On 13 February the Italian Association of Computational Linguistics participated in the Student Day of the International School of Advanced Studies (SISSA) in Trieste. Its aim was to introduce fourth and fifth year’s students to research in the field of computational linguistics and to its key role in technological advancement.

During the event SISSA hosted more than 500 students from various secondary schools in the Triveneto area. This annual appointment aims at making boys and girls discover the practical applications of science, thanks to the testimonials offered by its protagonists, the researchers, in one of the most prestigious scientific institutes on the Italian territory.

In this context, AILC proposed the interactive presentation “Hey Siri, what is computational linguistics?”, combining historical and theoretical notions regarding computational linguistics with a practical demonstration of the statistical properties of language.

At the end of the presentation, which was extremely successful, an informative session took place to introduce students to the educational offers of various Italian institutes and universities active in this area.

Thanks in particular to Gabriele Sarti for giving the talk on behalf of AILC at this event. We would also like to thank to the other PhD students and young researchers who contribute to the dissemination activities of the Association: Ludovica Pannitto, Lucia Busso, Roberta Combei, and Alessio Miaschi .