it is a great pleasure to report about the 3rd Scientific Symposium of the Forum Accademico Italiano e.V. which took place on April 21st, 2018 at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura under the flagship of the Consolato Generale d'Italia in Cologne. After the editions of November 2016 and November 2017, the Forum Accademico Italiano e.V. organized this year its main annual event in the temporal neighborhood of the International Italian Research Day (giornata internazionale della ricerca italiana nel mondo) established by the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MIUR) on the occasion of Leonardo da Vinci's birthday (April 15th).

After the success of the first editions of the Scientific Symposium of the Forum Accademico Italiano (crowned 2016 and 2017 by the keynote lectures of Professor Giovanni Andrea Prodi on gravitational waves and of Professor Pierluigi Nicotera on aging and neurodegeration, respectively), the annual symposium 2018 was inaugurated by Professor Paolo Giubellino, Scientific Managing Director of the Society for Heavy Ion Research (Gesellschaft für Schwerionen Forschung, GSI) / Helmholtz Center Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) International Laboratory, and Professor at the Department of Nuclear Physics of the University of Darmstadt.

The keynote lecture took place in presence of the Console Generale d’Italia in Cologne Dott. Pierluigi Ferraro as well as of the Direttrice of the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Dott.ssa Maria Mazza. After the institutional welcoming, the scientific attaché at the Italian Embassy in Berlin Dr. Matteo Pardo reported on the current status of Italian students, scientists, researches and academics abroad. Professor Giubellino's lecture, entitled "FAIR - the universe in the lab", gave to the interested audience a comprehensive overview of the several GSI international activities and focused on the impressive ongoing work and planned activities of the FAIR. At the end of his talk, Professor Giubellino was awarded with the honorary membership of the Forum Accademico Italiano e.V. and the traditional interdisciplinary poster session and reception followed at the Sala Petrarca of the General Consulate. During the poster session, researches from the disciplines of Physics, Chemistry, Genetics, Molecular Engineering, Medicine, Psychology, Philosophy, Botanics, Sociology and Linguistics had the possibility to exchange and present their fields of interest.

We are very grateful to all participants and look forward to maintain the active scientific exchange!

M. Cristina Polidori and the Management Board of the Forum Accademico Italiano e.V.