provided they are based in, or willing to move to, a host institution located in .... They look into robotics, psycholog
Italy
Background information Population (2014)
60.6 million € 27 800
GDP per capita (2015) R&D intensity (2014) Sources: Eurostat; Research and Innovation Observatory - RIO (2016)
1.29% of GDP
ERC funding Since 2007, some 7 000 projects have been selected to receive ERC funding. The ERC has to date evaluated over 62 000 project proposals for its calls. The grants are open to researchers of any nationality 1 provided they are based in, or willing to move to, a host institution located in Europe , where they need to spend at least half of their research time.
ERC core grant schemes2 Evaluated proposals with Italian host institutions
7 553
Selected projects in Italian host institutions
380 Starting Grants
By type of ERC grant scheme
Distribution of ERC grants by domain
Distribution of ERC grants by gender Total ERC funding Non-Italian ERC grantees in Italian host institutions Italian ERC grantees based outside Italy 1
Consolidator Grants
175 3
66
Advanced Grants
139
Physical Sciences & Engineering
175
Life Sciences
99
Social Sciences & Humanities
106
Women
102
Men
278 About € 608 million 30 294
In the EU or the Horizon 2020 Associated Countries (Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland (partial association), Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine. See further information on the Participant Portal). 2 Data as of 14/12/2016. 3 Since 2013, the ERC Starting Grant scheme has been split in two: i) the ERC Starting Grant, targeted at researchers with at least 2 and up to 7 years of experience after their PhD, and ii) the new ERC Consolidator Grant for researchers with over 7 and up to 12 years of experience after their PhD.
Number of ERC grants per host country
AdG: Advanced Grants, CoG: Consolidator Grants and StG: Starting Grants. Starting Grant calls 2007-2016. Consolidator Grant calls 2013-2016 and Advanced Grant calls 2008-2015.
Top five host institutions in Italy
4
Starting Grants
Consolidator Grants
Advanced Grants
Bocconi University Milan
12
3
10
25
National Research Council (CNR) - Italy
14
5
1
20
University La Sapienza - Rome
9
2
9
20
Polytechnic University of Milan
4
8
6
18
11
4
3
18
Host institution
University of Padua
Total
Additional ERC funding initiatives5 Number of ERC grantees in Italian host institutions with ERC Proof of Concept funding Total funding
28 About € 4 million
National initiatives related to the ERC Career facilities for ERC grantees A provision of the Italian law 230/2005 gives universities the opportunity to attribute some positions as lecturers and associate professors to researchers having received international scientific distinctions. In July 2011, a new measure explicitly specified that the above mentioned measures can be applied to ERC Principal Investigators (see here). In November 2012, the University La Sapienza in Rome was the first university to apply this measure and give the status of associate professors to six ERC grantees (more information). Similar funding schemes 4 5
Current host institutions. Data as of 14/12/2016. Data as of 04/07/2016.
At the end of 2012, changes have been made to the Italian research funding schemes Prin (Progetti di ricerca di interesse nazionale) and Fir (Futuro in ricerca). The new schemes are now very similar to those of the ERC, notably regarding their structure (starting/advanced), domains (physical sciences & engineering, life sciences, social sciences & humanities) and application system (more information). Other initiatives The new National Research Plan (PNR) adopted in May 2016 (see here) includes special funds to encourage the winners of an ERC grant to choose Italian host institutions (more information). For the latest news, read here.
Some Italian key personalities in the ERC
Prof. Fabio Zwirner is a member of the ERC Scientific Council . He is a Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Padua.
Prof. Paola Bovolenta is also a member of the ERC Scientific Council since January 2017. She is Research Professor and Head of the Development and Differentiation Department at the Center for Molecular Biology Severo Ochoa, CSIC-UAM, Madrid, Spain.
Prof. Salvatore Settis, Dr Claudio Bordignon, Prof. Anna Tramontano and Dr Barbara Ensoli are former members of the ERC Scientific Council.
Prof. Luisa de Cola, ERC Advanced grantee, received the IUPAC 2011 Distinguished Woman in Chemistry Award.
Prof. Andrea Rinaldo, ERC Advanced grantee, was awarded in 2010 the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW).
Prof. Giacomo Rizzolatti, ERC Advanced grantee, received the 2011 Prince of Asturias Award.
6
Examples of ERC-funded projects7 Factoring in human behaviour during emergencies Natural hazard combined with human error is what makes many disasters especially serious. ERC-funded research led by Professor Gian Paolo Cimellaro promises to create a new method to assess the performance of critical infrastructures during emergencies that takes into account the human factor. Prof. Cimellaro decided to study earthquakes engineering following the dramatic earthquake that hit San Giuliano di Puglia in 2002. His research may improve preparedness, response and recovery in extreme events, natural and human-made disasters, including those resulting from terrorist acts, in order to limit their effect on population. The worst catastrophes are usually caused by a combination of a natural hazard and human error. “Ideal Rescue” is developing a novel method to assess the performance of critical infrastructures during emergencies, taking into account human emotions and behaviour. Prof. Cimellaro is now trying to fill this gap between psychology and civil engineering with a multidisciplinary team of civil engineers, social scientists and IT specialists. They look into robotics, psychology and medicine to find best ways to approach human behaviour and code it into a computer model together with the physical structures, transport networks and public services such as police and fire brigades. The long-term goal of “IdealRescue” is to develop a user-friendly tool, which city mayors could use before, during and after emergencies to simulate the effect of their decisions. Researcher: Gian Paolo Cimellaro Host institution: Politecnico di Torino (Italy) Project: Integrated DEsign and control of Sustainable CommUnities during Emergencies (IDEal reSCUE) ERC call: Starting Grant 2014 ERC funding: € 1.2 million for five years Links: Researcher's webpage ▪ Prof. Cimellaro's interview ▪ Politecnico di Torino 6
The ERC Scientific Council is the ERC's governing body representing the European research community . The complete list of signed projects in each country can be found on the ERC website. Information displayed is automatically updated through the information available on the CORDIS platform. Please note that only funded projects, whose grant agreements have been signed, appear in this database. For this reason, the total number of projects in this database may differ from the figures provided in this document. 7
Gut bacteria could hold key to new treatments Microorganisms present in the intestine, collectively called the gut microbiota, are essential to our health. They enable us to harvest more energy from food, by breaking down larger molecules – like complex sugars – that we as humans are not equipped to degrade, and are essential to the correct development of our immune system. However, alterations in microbiota composition – a condition called dysbiosis – have been associated with obesity, diabetes and cancer. Thanks to her ERC-funded project, Prof. Maria Rescigno has significantly increased the understanding of the crucial role played by microbiota in maintaining health. One of the breakthroughs of DENDROworld was the possibility of using Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), a molecule released by epithelial cells in the intestine, to re-establish immune tolerance, thus fighting inflammatory diseases. This finding has since been patented. Prof. Rescigno and her team also discovered that delivering mucosal immunoglobulin of the A type (IgA) in early life can positively impact microbiota diversity. Thanks to the project's success, Prof. Rescigno launched a second ERC-funded study, called HomeoGUT. This project, which relates to the patented findings on TLSP, could potentially steer the way to new targeted treatments for diseases including cancer Researcher: Maria Rescigno Host institution: Istituto Europeo di Oncologia (Italy) Project: Mucosal dendritic cells in intestinal homeostasis and bacteria-related diseases, (DENDROWORLD) ERC call: Starting Grant 2007 ERC funding: € 1.2 million for five years Links: Researcher's webpage ▪ Istituto Europeo di Oncologia
Self-learning AI emulates the human brain Prof. Zorzi and his team have designed brain-like artificial neural networks capable of numerical and spatial cognition and written language processing without any explicit training or pre-programming. Their work, based on the machine-learning approach of generative models, significantly advances the development of self-learning artificial intelligence, while also deepening understanding of human cognition. The network was able by itself to develop approximate number sense, the ability to determine basic numerical qualities, such as greater or lesser, without actually understanding the numbers themselves, just like human babies and some animals. The GENMOD team has also used deep neural networks to develop the first full-blown, realistic computational model of letter perception that learned from thousands of images of letters in a variety of fonts, styles and sizes in a completely unsupervised way. Prof. Zorzi's research showed that the generative learning approach is a crucial step forward for modelling human perception and cognition. The project’s work on numerical cognition could have important implications for neuroscience and education, such as understanding the possible causes of impaired number sense in children with dyscalculia, the effect of ageing on number skills and enhancing research into pathologies caused by brain damage. GENMOD’s impact could be even more far-reaching in other fields, with applications in machine vision, neuroinformatics and artificial intelligence. Researcher: Marco Zorzi Host institution: Università degli Studi di Padova (Italy) Project: Generative Models of Human Cognition, (GENMOD) ERC call: Starting Grant 2007 ERC funding: € 492,200 for five years Links: Researcher's webpage ▪ Project's webpage ▪ Università degli Studi di Padova
The ERC in some Italian media
Ansa, 02/08/02016
La Repubblica, 14/06/2016
Il Sole 24 Ore, 26/07/2016
Corriere della Sera, 13/06/2016
La Repubblica, 13/05/2016
ERC Press Contacts Madeleine DRIELSMA T +32 (0)2 29 87631
[email protected]
Marcin MONKO Tel: +32 (0) 2 296 66 44
[email protected]
ERC National Contact Points in Italy Agenzia per la Promozione della Ricerca Europea (APRE) Serena BORGNA E
[email protected]
Diassina DI MAGGIO E
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Angelo D’AGOSTINO E
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Marco FERRARO E
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Updated in January 2017
For more information: http://www.apre.it/
