Time.news – In the ranking of the 100 most talented young people compiled by the historic Danish newspaper Berlingske, there is a young Italian: Clara Giarrusso, 25, a maritime and coastal engineer, studied in Catania and Copenhagen, where she works for the important company FORCE Technology. The engineer Giarrusso has distinguished himself in the direction of the “Channeling the Green Deal for Venice” project, which her company has just concluded, to future-proof Venice for climate change and at the same time safeguarding tens of thousands of jobs in the tourist navigation sector.
“When I received the email from Berlingske communicating that they had included me among the 100 most talented young people in Denmark, I was very surprised and elated. My parents were very excited and I got many compliments from my colleagues. I honestly didn’t expect it: I’m Italian, I don’t speak Danish, but evidently they rewarded me for my skills and my values”, Giarrusso told Time.news in a voice full of enthusiasm and great humility.
FORCE Technology itself was the candidate for her, a Danish company in which she began working in May 2022 as a “Student Assistant”, with a part-time contract, therefore already before the end of her studies last December, to then be hired full time. After this recognition by the oldest Danish newspaper, which chose her from 500 candidates, she gained visibility within the company itself and on social networks, but she remains with her head on her shoulders, full of gratitude for the path already completed and ready to take on all future commitments. Despite her young age, Clara, the only engineer in the department where she works, is very determined: after all since she was a girl she has cultivated a passion for mathematics, engineering and above all for the sea.
And when they say good blood doesn’t lie. “I grew up on an island overlooking the sea. My aunt is a marine engineer and I have always followed her, curious about what she has always done. Then in high school I further developed my passion for mathematics and engineering, so the choice of my course of study was spontaneous, natural”, continues the engineer Giarrusso.
Clara Giarrusso
After the three-year course in civil and environmental engineering at the University of Catania, he did a series of researches for the specialization, discovering that in Italy, a country made up practically only of coasts, there is no specific course in maritime and coastal engineering. And so he opted for the Danish Technical University (DTU), the equivalent of the Milan or Turin Polytechnic, a top-level university, free for EU students, which within the civil engineering department offers a real ‘study line’, with the possibility of choosing the courses almost individually.
“I still remember that when I arrived in Copenhagen, I felt like a fish out of water. My theoretical notions were excellent but as far as the practical part is concerned, I really didn’t know where to put my hands. The university here is based on putting into practice what you study, which is decidedly different from Italy”, explains Giarrusso again, in his first interview. Another big difference compared to the Italian university system in which she was trained, was the fact that she had many female colleagues in engineering in Denmark, even if she still remains a ‘white fly’ in its maritime and coastal sector, almost exclusively male .
During her studies at DTU Clara also had the opportunity – after all as all students in Denmark do, from the age of 18 – to join a part-time job for FORCE Technology, in May 2022, which l ‘she was immediately included in the recently launched project on Venice, with the title of Student Assistant.
After graduating, in December 2022, she naturally continued her growth path within the company, but Clara is the only female engineer in her department, together with another woman who is a designer, in a team of 20 colleagues, even if the CEO of FORCE Technology is a woman. Broadly speaking, at the helm of the “Channeling the Green Deal for Venice” – a project co-financed by the European Union, entrusted to a consortium of Danish and above all Italian companies – the mission was to find solutions to the problem of the notorious cruise ships in the lagoon of Venice, a UNESCO world cultural heritage city, whose very future is mortgaged by tourist navigation.
“The sensational accident was only the tip of the iceberg of a situation with many risks. These ships are monsters in the lagoon, they cause obvious visual pollution and a lot of damage that occurs underwater, where the sediments move and the fauna is seriously altered,” reports the Italian engineer. For their client, the Port Authority of Venice, FORCE Technology essentially carried out navigation simulations, emulating reality through simulators (real time simulation) together with a commission of engineers, pilots, coast guards who went to the company from Venice in Copenhagen, equipped with seven simulators, four of which are full-scale. In recent months Clara and her team have worked on two parallel studies, reaching conclusions, but the final decision is now up to the competent Italian authorities.
Clara Giarrusso
On the table is the solution of widening the Malamocco Marghera canal, the industrial canal through which container ships and tankers pass, a very long and very narrow canal. The second option is that of a hypothetical future layout – if necessary. “The idea actually, still being studied, is to widen the channel to make navigation safer, which today seems to be the best solution. Adaptation works will be needed, i.e. dredging operations to change the conformation of the seabed, but we still need to understand whether the whole channel will have to be widened or just a part, since the costs are obviously very high”, explains the engineer in broad terms.
One thing is certain though: the navigation limits will have to be accurately assessed and new rules set for both industrial and cruise traffic. The recognition awarded by Berlingske and that of colleagues and bosses pushes Clara Giarrusso to make a broader reflection on being a female student in the scientific field and in general on the world of university and work in Italy.
“I encourage all women with a passion for scientific disciplines to come forward, not to give up because they can do it and it is important to fight against a very masculine environment”, underlines the young Italian engineer. Looking at her journey, she evaluates that “Denmark welcomed me, she saw my value, yet I made a very normal journey, on schedule, and with average grades. I am convinced that if I had stayed in Italy, I would not have arrived where I am now”. An experience that prompts Giarrusso to advise students to “try to look outside Italy, where unfortunately the university is full of barons and dinosaurs, where if you repeat an exam several times you are left behind and anxiety rises, perhaps you also abandon your studies, and in the most dramatic cases that have recently occurred, you take your own life”.
Finally, from his office in Copenhagen he wants to send special encouragement to those who are studying, are out of class, feel stressed and think they can’t make it. “Here in Denmark the age gap is not important, it is not as felt as in Italy, where you are only considered if you graduate young. Each of us has abilities and limits that must be respected and accompanied. Equally important is knowing how to work in a team and having the opportunity to work even during university with decent salaries and to put theoretical knowledge into practice. This is what I think is fundamental and should be changed in the university system of my country of origin in order not to lose promising Italian talent, the famous brain drain”, concludes Clara.