A recent workshop held at the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA) showcased ongoing research in Agency laboratories by visiting scientists from developing countries. Those scientists are participants of ICTP's Training and Research in Italian Laboratories (TRIL) programme.

ENEA has collaborated with the TRIL programme since 1983. To date, ICTP has awarded 176 grants to 102 TRIL-ENEA fellows, who have spent a total of 1652 months in ENEA labs. The ICTP-ENEA collaboration was recently renewed in 2008.

Six ICTP TRIL participants presented their research at the workshop, which was attended by ENEA President Luigi Paganetto and other Agency representatives, along with TRIL programme directors Giuseppe Furlan and Daniele Treleani. Topics of the TRIL scientists' talks included:

• Laser detection technology applied to environment and cultural heritage Nasrullah Idris (Indonesia); ENEA lab: Frascati
• Materials for hydrogen storage
  Agarwal Shivani (India); ENEA lab: Casaccia
  

• High power free electron sources for terahertz radiation
  Gupta Lalit (India); ENEA lab: Frascati
  

• Dosimetry in radiation therapy
  Astefanoaei Iordana (Romania); ENEA lab: Casaccia
  

• Biofuels: esters from local crops in Nigeria
  Anyanwu Cosmas (Nigeria); ENEA lab: Trisaia
  

• Hydrogen absorption/desorption properties of metal hydrides
  Jain Ankur (India); ENEA lab: Casaccia
  

For more than two decades, ICTP's TRIL programme has helped scientists from developing countries gain hands-on experience in Italian laboratories. Since the programme's inception, more than 1000 fellows from 74 countries have benefitted from this initiative, whose goal is to strengthen the communities of scientists and technologists in the developing world. For more information, visit the TRIL website.