None like Unipd: 11.5 million euros for four researchers thanks to Advanced Grants

The winners of the Advanced Grants 2024 call have been announced by the ERC - European Research Council. The funding obtained by four Principal Investigators currently affiliated with the University of Padua amounts to approximately 11.5 million euros. Since 2007, through the ERC, the European Union has been financing and promoting frontier research through calls among the most competitive at international level.

The University of Padua ranks first in Italy for the number of Advanced Grant projects won in this call, thus confirming its excellent position in the national research landscape. Two of the Principal Investigators of the University of Padua who obtained funding are in the Physical Sciences and Engineering field, Lucia Gemma Delogu and Fabrizio Nestola, the other two in the Life Sciences field, Marco Sandri and Ildikò Szabò. The projects funded by Italian institutions are 25 in total, while 37 were won by Italian citizens if we also include those operating abroad. Italy, therefore, ranks in an excellent third place for the number of grants obtained, while the PIs of Italian nationality are second in number, after the German ones and before those of the United Kingdom.

Daniela Mapelli, rector of the University of Padua, states: "This result is a source of great satisfaction for the entire community of the University of Padua, which confirms itself as a national and international point of reference for cutting-edge scientific research. I would like to congratulate Lucia Gemma Delogu, Fabrizio Nestola, Marco Sandri and Ildikò Szabò, who with competence and vision have obtained one of the most prestigious and competitive awards in the field of European research. The success of our researchers is the fruit of a commitment that comes from afar, fueled by the freedom to always ask new questions, by the ambition to overcome the traditional boundaries of knowledge, as well as by a strong vocation for interdisciplinarity in the university. Each winning project represents not only a personal achievement of excellence, but a tangible contribution to the role that the University of Padua intends to play in society: generating knowledge capable of transforming the world. From materials engineering to mineralogy, from muscle physiology to cellular biology, the themes at the heart of these projects demonstrate how strategic it is to continue investing in free and rigorous research. Europe has decided to do so: the University of Padua has shown that it is fully up to the challenge. Excellent research is not a privilege of a few, but a collective good, a driver of sustainable, cultural and human development. Today, more than ever, it is our duty to defend, support and enhance it".

Fabio Zwirner, vice-rector with responsibility for Research, adds: «This result consolidates and reinforces the very positive performance of the University of Padua in the Pillar of Excellence of Horizon Europe, which includes the ERC calls. It is precisely in the competitive context of these calls that the important result of 37 funded projects was achieved, which confirms the vocation of our University for frontier research».