Thanks to its experience as a Department of Excellence for the five-year period 2018-2022, the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures reflects in its international dimension the multilingualism (Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese, English, Hispanic-American, Italian, Russian, Spanish, German) and multiculturalism that characterise it. Its intense and excellent research activity, also with the involvement of non-European countries, mainly takes place in the areas of innovation regarding the reflection and learning of languages and literatures, as well as culture - in the broadest sense (anthropology, philology, geography, computer science, linguistics, history) - related to them. International institutions have found the Department of Languages to be a reliable partner with innovative project capabilities, confirming partnership renewals and increasing opportunities for scientific-didactic exchange and funding.

All this is possible because over the years, in line with the objectives set by the University and taking into account its own specificity and potential, the Department has placed research at the centre of a series of innovative and experimental strategies. These have been aimed, on the one hand, at intensifying the opportunities for collaboration with national and international research bodies and, on the other, at improving the quality of the results by integrating them with teaching activities and disseminating them through third mission actions. The funding specifically earmarked for research, the well-stocked library and the skills of the librarians, as well as the IT equipment, the investment in scientific innovation through the Digital Humanities and inter-departmental cooperation make our Department an ideal environment in which to conduct research also for foreign scholars, as demonstrated by its good ability to attract talent from abroad.

In order to monitor the state of research and quickly adopt incentives for innovation and scientific creativity, forms of support for theoretical-methodological and technical-applicative experimentation and possible corrective measures, since 2014 the Department has had a special Research Quality Policy Committee. It works in close contact with the Research Office, in synergy with the University Research Vice-Chancellor, the Head of Department and the University Research and Technology Transfer Service.  This makes it possible to receive the necessary information in good time to seize the funding opportunities offered by regional, national and international projects. Special attention is reserved for the European Union's competitive calls for proposals.

The following are part of the Department's strategy:

• a continued commitment to areas of excellence, concentrating efforts and investments in a few strategic areas (Digital Humanities and Translation Studies);

• an increase in the presence of qualified foreign scholars and lecturers, with a particular focus on partnerships of excellence, with the aim of making the Department a centre of knowledge also outside Italy;
• the development of the Department's willingness to open up to international activities, in terms of participation in both international and European research calls (ERC, Marie Curie, Erasmus K107) and in University programmes ('Excellence Initiatives', 'STaRs');
• consolidation of the policy of training early-stage talent through post-graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships as well as by awarding research contracts to motivated and qualified young people;
• a constant updating of the internal system for evaluating the research activities of members of the Department, in order to reward and incentivise individual commitment.