Relatively to the Department outreach, 20 public events related to science divulgation were organized and about 120 students coming from several primary and secondary schools were hosted by the Department, which also organized one week of activities over five different practical experiences with the final target to introduce young students to the world of geology. In addition, the Department played a leading role during the European Researchers' Night (Veneto Night) and organized the event entitled “Women in Science” at the University Botanic Garden in Padova.
The Department of Geosciences owns extensive collections of Italian and foreign rocks, fossils and minerals housed in the Museum of Geology and Paleontology, and in the Museum of Mineralogy. Such huge scientific and cultural heritage has its roots in the old collections of the Natural History Museum of the University of Padova, founded in 1733 thanks to the donation by Antonio Vallisneri Jr. Besides the scientific activities, carried out by Italian and foreign researchers from all over the world, the Museum’s staff, coordinated by CAM (Centro Ateneo Musei), carry on an intense activity of public engagement with the fruitful support of the Department’s researchers.
Finally, the Department delivered a very important number of papers published in 2019 in international scientific journals. In detail, 192 papers were published in peer-review magazines and thanks to the very high number of publications in high-impact journals this allowed the “Earth and Environmental Sciences” to be ranked first in Italy in the Nature Index international ranking.