Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

The European Commission gives Unimore about 15 million euros to support its researchers

Unimore international standing is growing, as well as its ability to obtain research funds through competition programmes.  

Since the 2014-2020 fund programming, 57 are the research projects by Unimore that have been funded by the European Commission (10 belonging to the Marie Sklodowska Curie actions, for young researchers’ mobility), which see the involvement of research groups and units of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

Nine (9) of these are directly coordinated by internal professors: CHILD-UP project (Child Hybrid Integration: learning dialogue as a way of upgrading policies of participation) on the condition of integration of immigrant children, entrusted to the coordination of professor Claudio Baraldi of the Department of Language and Cultural Studies; FCHgo project (Fuel Cells HydroGen educatiOnal model for schools), entrusted to the coordination of professor Federico Corni of the Department of Education and Human Sciences; BORGES project (Biosensing with ORGanic ElectronicS) entrusted to the coordination of professor Carlo Augusto Bortolotti of the Department of Life Science; TRAFAIR project (Understanding Traffic Flows to Improve Air quality, entrusted to the coordination of professor Laura Po of the “Enzo Ferrari” Department of Engineering; INCLUSIVE project (Smart and adaptive interfaces for INCLUSIVE work environment), entrusted to the coordination of professor Cesare Fantuzzi of the Department of Science and Methods of Engineering; PRISTINE project (Programmable Systems for Intelligence Automobiles), entrusted to the coordination of professor Marko Bertogna of the Department of Physics, Computer Science and Mathematics; HERCULES project (High-Performance Real-time Architectures for Low-PowerEmbedded Systems), entrusted to the coordination of professor Marko Bertogna of the Department of Physics, Computer Science and Mathematics; AMI project (Antidrug-antibody and drug molecular detection), entrusted with the coordination of professor Fabio Biscarini of the Department of Life Science; RAISE project (Reliable Aircraft electrical Insulation System sElection), entrusted to the coordination of professor Davide Barater of the “Enzo Ferrari” Department of Engineering”.

Huge amounts are also destined to: HERMES project (Hybrid Enhanced Regenerative Medicine Systems), a partner of which is professor Giulia Curia of the Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neuroscience Science; DEEP-HEALTH project (Deep-learning and HPC to Boost Biomedical Applications for Health), a partner of which is professor Costantino Grana of the “Enzo Ferrari” Department of Engineering; SCALIBUR project (Scalable technologies for urban waste recovery), a partner of which is professor Andrea Antonelli of the Department of Life Science; EQUAL-IST project (Gender Equality Plans for Information Sciences and Technology Research Institutions) a partner of which is professor Claudia Canali of the “Enzo Ferrari” Department of Engineering.

Unimore researcher will receive an overall approximate amount of 15 million euros for the realization of the projects listed above.

This performance ranks Unimore second in Emilia Romagna among the other universities of the territory in terms of the funding received, and fourth if the comparison is extended to all public and private subjects in Emilia Romagna who have applied for and received funds to carry out its own research and innovation projects. 

“This is indeed an extraordinary result for us - Unimore Rector, professor Angelo O. Andrisano remarked – not only for the huge amount of financing destined to our researchers, but also for the large number of international collaborations built with primary universities and very-well established European research centres. Our University is increasingly proving to be more vital and able to express quality and excellence in research. It will be of undisputable benefit for our young graduating, PhD and Master’s students who may find interesting incentives for carrying out innovative and advanced research activities that offer expectations for development”.

Until last June, 44 agreements had been signed with the European Commission within Horizon 2020, the most important and competitive financing programme in this field throughout the continent. Subsequently, the summer period brought other good results with 13 new projects eligible for funding in different fields, including food safety, energy, migrations, robotics and education to sustainability.

Projects are divided as follows, according to the sectors they belong to: 30 in the technological and scientific area; 2 in the society and human science field; 2 in the agro-food sector; 9 in the health and life science field; 4 interdisciplinary.

The results achieved in Europe confirm the ability of the researchers of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia to have their work recognised at an international level, to be able to relate with strong European research groups and to carry out good and effective research projects.

“After a silent start, when H2020 was opened in 2014 – Barbara Rebecchi, coordinator of the research, technological transfer and third mission management, reports that – we have grown exponentially, from the 5 projects financed in 2014 to the almost 60 of today, also counting the proposals approved for financing but still under negotiation. Very important is the support the Management provides during the stages for scouting the opportunities and the drawing of the proposal, which is known to be extremely delicate. This increases to around 15 million Euros the amount of European resources on this programme. However, we must also take into account the enormous success of our University in other international funding as well, which makes the number of projects rise to 80 approximately”.

Established under EU Rule no. 1291/2013 of the European Parliament and Council started in 2014, Horizon2020 focused on the realisation of a European society and economy based on the knowledge and innovation, and to the achievement European Research Area (ERA) by 2020.

In this context, the projects that see the participation of Unimore include not only sectors such as engineering, natural sciences, medicine and agro-food, namely sectors that are generally characterised by more substantial funding available, but also extend to themes of great interest such as social research for gender politics and migrations.

“Behind the prestige and the opportunities for development offered by the participation and guidance of international consortia, there is an excellent job of collaboration between Departments, Research Commission and Research Management, Technological Transfer and Third Mission - professor Sergio Valeri, research delegate, remarks.  Now we aim at extending the work started by looking at the programme framework that has been outlining as of 2021, when Horizon Europe starts, and at the new perspectives and challenges launched by current themes to all EU programmes”.

Unimore research may rely not only upon Horizon 2020, but also on European programmes on the environment, the justice, the international cooperation, and in this context we are working at strategic initiatives such as PRIMA, the European and Mediterranean research programme on agriculture and the food sector.

Still in Horizon 2020, really interesting are the results of some brave proposals launched within the frontier research. In this case, 3 projects have been valued extremely positively in terms of quality of proposal and curricula of the researchers, but they have not been eligible for funding due to the lack of funds. 

 

In the picture from the left: Sergio Valeri, Angelo O. Andrisano, Barbara Rebecchi, Donata Franzi

Categorie: International - english