The University of Bologna is one of the oldest and most prestigious in Europe. Not that this proves anything, but no, it’s no joke. The list of attendees at the Oct. 6 event is impressive (although I note it lacks Drs. Essen and Kullander, and the Nobel laureate Dr. Josephson). If the E-cat is not real it either has a really big conspiracy involving many PhD physicists, or those same physicists are less competent than a random assembly of anonymous online skeptics. (Which is conceivable, but I wouldn’t presume that way.)
How so? Are they merely observers? Are they compensated in any way?
It was the first university in the world, which signaled the beginning of western civilization in my opinion. Its association with this scam is a shame, though it's unclear what their association is. Are they merely renting space, or is it official and academic. I've seen no evidence of press releases from the university acknowledging their association, just the usual blog posts.
I hope it’s true, but his PR appears to be more akin to PT Barnum vice Albert Einstein.