The University of Bologna is the Italian university which has been most rewarded by the latest ERC Synergy call: it has four projects with a prominent role, three professors as Principal Investigators, a Coordinator, and a professor involved as Scientific Partner. There are eleven more Italian institutions involved, among universities and research organisations, one of them with two projects, whereas the others are involved in one project each.
The researchers from the University of Bologna who are going to take part in the four projects are: Marc Brightman and Vanessa Grotti of the Department of Cultural Heritage for the project PLANETARY EEL, Franco Vazza of the Department of Physics and Astronomy “Augusto Righi” for the project COSMOMAG, Marco Garavelli of the Department of Industrial Chemistry "Toso Montanari" for the project CONCERT, and Michele Moresco of the Department of Physics and Astronomy “Augusto Righi” for the project RedH0T.
The four projects together are worth about 43 million euros, of which approximately 11 million euros will go to the University of Bologna researchers involved: a success that confirms the role of the University of Bologna among the leaders in innovative European research. ERC Synergy Grants are funding schemes provided by the European Research Council (ERC) for group projects: two to four top-level scientists from around the world join forces to address some of the most complex challenges in contemporary science.
Confirming the high quality and multidisciplinary spirit of the University of Bologna, the four winning projects combine humanities, physics, chemistry and natural sciences with the aim of addressing global challenges: from the cohabitation of humans and other animal species on an increasingly fragile planet (PLANETARY EEL) to the reconstruction of the earliest microseconds after the Big Bang (COSMOMAG), from the ultra-fast processes that occur during photochemical reactions, fundamental to photosynthesis (CONCERT) to the unresolved questions surrounding the speed of expansion of the universe (RedH0T).
Overall, this ERC Synergy 2025 call funded 66 research projects worldwide, with a total investment of 684 million euros from the Horizon Europe programme. A total of 712 applications were submitted: less than one in ten obtained funding, confirming the extremely high level of competitiveness of the call.
With its four projects awarded, the University of Bologna is now one of Europe's leading players in frontier research. This success did not happen overnight: since 2021, with the launch of the Horizon Europe programme, 20 ERC projects have already been awarded to University of Bologna researchers, for a total of over 51 million euros in European funding.
Pictured, from left: Michele Moresco, Franco Vazza, Marco Garavelli, the Rector Giovanni Molari, Vanessa Grotti, Marc Brightman
