From research to research policy
A degree in Physics. Two Phds. As most of researchers in Italy, many temporary positions before getting a permanent one. The first PhD in Austria. The first scientific articles were published with the head of office as first author, then I realized this was a bottleneck for my carrier and I moved to another research group with different, and open, publishing rules. Then, by chance, I won a national competition for a permanent position as a teacher in Physics in high schools. I was in the meanwhile collaborating with a US team. The most stimulating period of my life: in the morning with young students, in the afternoon and summer time with top researchers (mainly in solar spectroscopy, both in modeling and development of instruments and technologies). Suddenly I was transferred to teach in a city where there were no chances to use labs and collaborate with local researchers. I decided to compete for a second PhD, be allowed to leave teaching and continue research activities. I succeeded, but I changed topics of research (extra-terrestrial materials analysis at nanoscales). Integrating astronomy, physics and more, I promoted a patent born from an idea demonstrated on asteroids. Then, I was asked to provide knowledge-based support to policy decisions: maybe due to the cross-disciplinary competences and, hopefully, my attitude to transparency and openness. I accepted this duty for one year and then I definitely moved to this new job.
Now I work in Brussels since 2011 and I deal with research policy, European funding, projects, international cooperation as a whole. In particular, in marine and maritime issue.
During the 2015 Italian Semester of the Presidency of the European Union, I was Vice-Chair of the Research working Group of the Competitiveness Council of the EU Union.
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