See the Unseen.
Beyond Perception.
An international, multi-year scientific tour carried out through events hosted by leading universities, research centers, cultural institutions, embassies, and consulates around the world.
The rigor of research. The energy of live demonstrations on stage. A goal most gatherings never set: connections between institutions that outlast the event — and grow into a scientific network of their own.
A tour designed to test the limits of perception.
An international, multi-year scientific tour carried out through a series of events hosted by leading universities, research centers, cultural institutions, embassies, and consulates around the world, stops that have, to date, spanned Europe and the United States, with new international venues now joining the program. Designed to explore how we perceive and respond to complex systems, the tour promotes a deeper understanding of the concept of situational awareness, with a particular focus on the environmental challenges our planet is facing and on the tools that allow us to push the boundaries of human perception.
The narrative is carried, at every stop, by Prof. Massimiliano Lega, whose own career, spanning aerospace, environmental, and forensic engineering, is itself a living case for the tour's central argument: that real understanding emerges only where disciplines meet. This new edition brings several innovations to the format, live on-stage demonstrations, an expanded interdisciplinary scope, and a new role for artificial intelligence. AI appears here on two levels: as a scientific instrument, used in real cases as a tool for critical analysis and decision support; and, embodied in a real-time animated avatar, as a new permanent voice on stage that articulates “situational awareness” with precision while being put to the test, in front of the audience, on the difference between processing information and being aware of it. The point is not speculative, it is demonstrated, with data and method, as part of the science itself.
Knowledge is not awareness.
“Knowledge” and “awareness” are terms often used interchangeably, yet they hold distinct meanings, especially in decision-making contexts. This project seeks to clarify these differences by building a unified narrative around the concept of situational awareness, applied across environmental emergencies, pollution-related disasters, coastal ecological crises, floods, wildfires, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and environmental crimes, often hidden or underestimated threats to ecosystems and public health, highlighting the role of forensic science and engineering in understanding their causes and consequences.
When addressing the perception of ongoing contexts and phenomena, the event highlights humanity's desire to extend sensory limits through innovative technologies. Today's tools allow us to “see the unseen,” offering nearly superhuman perceptual abilities, but perception and computation are not the same as awareness. The two must be integrated for technology to become a true tool in decision-making.
Frontier method. No barrier to entry.
The tour presents science at the frontier, multi-source sensing, artificial intelligence, environmental forensics, but it is built to be understood and enjoyed at every level. It is not a specialist conference closed to its own field: each stop is designed so that researchers, students, professionals, institutional actors, and the general public all find an entry point. Advanced method and broad accessibility are treated not as a trade-off but as a single goal, with live demonstrations and real cases turning complex concepts into something the entire room can follow and engage with.
Where disciplines meet, understanding emerges.
Situational awareness is, by nature, a connective paradigm: it does not belong to one discipline, but emerges where different fields of expertise are brought into contact. A research center working in fields that may seem distant from forensic engineering or aerospace technology often holds exactly the kind of specialized, ground-truth knowledge that gives the tour's broader argument its substance. The value of the conversation runs both ways: local expertise grounds the paradigm in concrete, regional realities, while the tour's cross-disciplinary lens can open new readings of research that might otherwise remain confined within a single field. Host institutions are invited to take an active role in this exchange, not simply to provide a venue for it.
Artificial intelligence — as a tool, and on trial.
AI joins the tour on two levels. As a working scientific instrument, used in real cases for critical analysis and decision support. And as SENSE, a real-time animated presence that can define situational awareness with precision — then is examined, in the open, on the difference between processing information and being aware of it.
Several elements distinguish this edition: a stronger live, on-stage component built around real-time demonstrations and audience participation; an expanded set of contributing voices drawn from the host institution's own community; and a new, twofold role for artificial intelligence. Together they offer one more way, alongside the live demonstrations and case studies, to make the distinction between knowledge and awareness tangible to the audience, not just argued from the podium.
A permanent core, and a local voice at every stop.
Each stage features a core group of permanent contributors, addressing situational awareness across environmental engineering, organic chemistry and environmental forensics, and — at selected stops — civil protection and emergency response, with artificial intelligence contributing both as a scientific tool and as a tested voice on stage. Additional speakers join at each stop depending on local relevance, and the host institution is represented by the chair of the respective department or structure, with the option of a dedicated speaking slot for one of its own researchers.
University of Naples Parthenope — Italy
University of Naples Federico II — Italy
Joining the team from the next stage
The science behind the image.
What looks like abstract color is real: two drone surveys — one over a lake, one where its outlet channel reaches the sea — capturing a rare bloom of red-pigmented toxic cyanobacteria against the ordinary green of the water. The same organism, read from two angles at once: a source of bioactive compounds for natural product chemistry, a bioindicator of pollution for environmental engineering. Cross-checked with satellite imagery and presented on stage by both researchers, it is one case among many, and proof that the tour's science is built where fields meet, not just where they're announced.
Academic venues and diplomatic hubs, alternating.
The tour alternates between prestigious academic and research centers and institutional venues such as embassies and consulates around the world, which serve not only as symbolic locations but also as strategic hubs for fostering dialogue between diverse audiences. This network of academic and diplomatic settings — difficult for any single institution to assemble on its own — is part of what each host joins by taking part. These events offer opportunities to share knowledge, present cutting-edge research, and promote innovative technologies for environmental protection.
The venues that have carried the tour.
Each stop of the tour is realized in partnership with a local academic or research institution, represented in the program by the chair of the respective department or structure, with the option of a dedicated speaking slot for one of its own researchers. The host institution provides the venue and engages its own community — students, researchers, and the broader public — while the scientific content, the permanent speakers, and the production are carried by the SAFE Tour team.
- 13Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF)Key Largo, USASite Visit
- 12University of Central FloridaOrlando, USAKOM
- 11Sapienza University of RomeRome, Italy — Closing Meeting of the 2024–25 CycleClosing Meeting
- 10Embassy of Italy in MadridSpain, EuropeStage #3
- 09University of CádizSEA-EU, The European University of the Seas — SpainStage #2
- 08University of California, San DiegoScripps Institution of Oceanography — San Diego, USAStage #1
- 07Consulate General of Italy in San FranciscoSan Francisco, USAKOM
- 06Embassy of Italy in ViennaAustria, EuropeStage #5
- 05Embassy of Italy in The HagueItalian Institute of Culture, Amsterdam — Netherlands, EuropeStage #4
- 04Embassy of Italy in CopenhagenDenmark, EuropeStage #3
- 03Columbia University in the City of New YorkLamont-Doherty Earth Observatory — New York, USAStage #2
- 02State University of New YorkCollege of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse — with Skaneateles Lake Association, USAStage #1
- 01Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., USAKOM
A SAFE Tour stop is designed to leave something behind. The ambition is not simply that the audience leaves informed, but that the institution leaves connected.
Beyond the event itself, each stop aims to open a concrete working channel — a post-event roundtable, a shortlist of possible joint initiatives, or the first contacts toward collaborative projects across academia, industry, and government. In keeping with the tour's own subject, attention is also paid to understanding its effect: each stop gathers a light, structured read of how the audience engaged and what connections it opened, so that the initiative practices the same situational awareness it advocates.
