The discovery of efficient technologies for mitigation of the rising CO2 level and the associated energy and environmental issues is the grand challenge of our time. Electrochemical CO2 reduction (eCO2R) is one promising approach to convert CO2 into valuable products, but the practical realization is still limited by material and system-level challenges. On top of this, the pathway to bring CO2 captured from a point source to an eCO2R site involves energy-intensive, practically difficult intermediate steps often overlooked by the research community. The BattleCapCO2 project introduces a new pathway to fully integrate CO2 capture and CO2 reduction (CO2CR) in a unit flow reactor. This will be achieved by a unique design of bipolar membrane-electrode assemblies obtained by coupled 3D printing and photolithography techniques. An attempt will be done to elucidate the impact of BPM interface morphologies and electrode surface properties on the efficiency of CO2CR. The conceptual flow reactor design allows for simultaneous CO2 capture, in situ regeneration, and subsequent electroreduction into useful chemicals, presenting an energy efficient and cost-effective technological solution. The action will broaden the knowledge and expertise of the researcher through high-quality research training in the field of carbon capture and utilization, involving multidisciplinary investigation approaches and intersectoral secondments. This will allow him to expand his professional network with leading scientists in academia and industry from across Europe and the globe, and acquire key skill sets towards professional independence. The project will provide new technological solutions with a significant impact on the ambitious Europan green deal aiming to transform EU into a resource-efficient and competitive economy, ensuring a climate-neutral society.

Participation in music-making has shown to produce cognitive and behavioural benefits, enhance social participation, and contribute to shaping both individual and collective identity. However, access to music-making is reserved for people who possess some level of specialised musical training. LOMUS aims at developing a pioneering method that uses easy-to-use Calabrian sounding objects as a tool for facilitating non-trained individuals' participation in music-making: it unlinks music-production abilities from specialised instrumental training to enable non-musicians to make music without requiring mastery of an instrument, of specific musical idioms and techniques. By combining ethnomusicology, contemporary music and community music studies, LOMUS provides a sophisticated understanding of a local sonic practice and investigates how this could inform the emergence of a new global practice for music-making that challenges public conceptions of musicality and of a musician. The research will: study the Calabrian sounding objects to understand how they contribute to shaping the musicality of the community and how they could contribute to creating new types of musicality; investigate contemporary music practices and strategies that can be used to include non-trained individuals in music-making; develop a new method that uses Calabrian sounding objects and contemporary music strategies to enable amateurs and non-trained individuals to make music. The resulting method will be relevant to different rural or urban communities and it can be used to explore elements of a communitys soundscape as an inclusive tool for music-making. LOMUS challenges established concepts and practices around music and musicality, promotes social innovation by initiating new ways of relating with others and the environment through sound, and extends the personal and social benefits of music-making to everybody.

The main objective of the project is to provide insights into the study and interpretation of processes that contribute to the promotion of networks of Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). The research also aims at identifying models that can lead to social inclusion and local development. Moreover, the project ESSENTIALS will focus on a specific experience: Social Incubators, in an attempt to encourage socio-economic development of a specific area or of a whole country, regarding processes of social innovation and transfer of knowledge. In particular, the specific objectives, of the project are: OB. 1. Map the incubators and compare the characteristics in Latin America and EU, understanding if there is a relationship between gender and organisational characteristics of an incubator. OB. 2. Identify the factors that contribute to the creation of incubators and the impacts of incubators, including the elements that ensure gender equality, through a comparative study. OB. 3. Analyse the European context considering the strengths and weaknesses identified and thus develop a pilot study at University of Calabria, including the gender perspective. The research carried out in Latin America will be compared (quantitatively and qualitatively) with European incubation activities. The relevance of this research is linked to understanding how to favour models capable of building a more Social and solidarity Europe, and closer to citizens. Thus, this project represents an important innovation for two reasons: (i) the study contributes to the debate on the role of social incubators and the most effective model to adopt, and brings new knowledge in Europe on the topic of social incubators oriented to the territory, a topic not widely investigated in Europe; (ii) it suggests a pratical solution for the implementation of social incubators in Europe, through the pilot study of creating a social incubator, that will provide feedback for new theoretical and cognitive elements.

The standard seismic design of retaining structures is based on a century-old theory, that does not account for the actual physical behavior of soil-structure systems. This theory unrealistically assumes that the seismic earth pressure increment is proportional to surface acceleration. Methods based on this theory often lead to conservative design of retaining structures that causes an unsustainable consumption of resources without any benefits on the performance and safety of the construction. Such design approach is against the principles of the European Green Deal that identified the need of cleaner constructions in the Building and Renovation policy area. The main goal of ReStructure 2.0 is to develop a novel physics-based framework based on soil-structure interaction principles, recognizing the relative displacement between wall and retained soil as the driving factor in the seismic response of wall-soil system. The proposed method accounts for soil inhomogeneity and non-linearity, wall flexibility, mass of the wall, and different boundary condition at base and top of the wall. This more adequate design approach can lead to a significant reduction of the resources used during the construction, making the process more sustainable, affordable, and green. This novel approach is based on the combination of computational simulations, experimental and field data, relational databases, and machine learning techniques. Two distinct solutions will be developed: (i) complete frequency-dependent elastodynamic approach, and (ii) simplified single-frequency method. ReStructure 2.0 is tailored around my expertise and profile to give me the opportunity to reach the maturity needed to move forward with my career. This fellowship will allow me to: (i) capitalize on my unique skillset matured in years of international collaborations, (ii) bring back to the EU innovative approaches and methodologies that I developed in the US, and (iii) grow as a researcher, teacher, and mentor.