Bocconi Research Night: Academic Excellence Honored
Every year, the Bocconi community celebrates its academic excellence by awarding researchers who have distinguished themselves for the originality and quality of their work. During Bocconi Research Night, which took place on the evening of Nov. 27, Bocconi University researchers who have distinguished themselves during the past year for the high quality of their work were honored. The event was an opportunity to recognize the contributions of scholars engaged in projects of great academic and application relevance, emphasizing the value of research not only in academia but also and especially for society as a whole.
Rector Francesco Billari opened the evening by emphasizing Bocconi's vocation as a "research university," a role increasingly made evident by the number of grants Bocconi researchers have been able to win in Italy and Europe.
Two of these projects, by Nilanjana Dutt and Carlo Schwarz, were presented to the audience, representing all the grant-winning works. The other Plaques were awarded to Arnstein Aassve, Pierpaolo Battigalli, Nicolò Cavalli, Andrea Celli, Carlo Federici, Giorgio Giacomelli, Alessia Melegaro, Alessandro Pigati, Benedetta Pongiglione, Massimo Pulejo, Raffaella Saporito, Iacopo Savelli, and Elisabetta Trinchero.
The Dean for Research, Elena Carletti, introduced the first Research Excellence Career Award, presented to Massimo Morelli for "significant contributions to the advancement of knowledge and outstanding career achievements." In his speech, Massimo Morelli said among other things, "I think it is important to thank Bocconi as an institution in general, since my productivity doubled when I arrived in 2014 by winning an ERC soon after. If I have to evaluate what I have done so far in research and why the last ten years have been so productive, the first key word that comes to mind is interdisciplinarity."
Antonella Carù, Dean for Development and Alumni Relations, and Barbara Cominelli, CEO of JLL Italia, introduced the final part of the event, dedicated to the presentation of the Impact Awards. The winning projects were selected from a shortlist of nominations by a jury of Bocconi Alumni. Valentina Bosetti was chosen for her paper "Energy investment needs for fulfilling the Paris Agreement and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals," while Francesca Buffa won with her paper "Robustness and reproducibility for AI learning in biomedical sciences." Both papers were praised for their ability "to influence and touch society as a whole."
Valentina Bosetti commented: "I am glad that more and more importance is being given to the investments needed to decarbonize our economies, a goal to be proud of not only on behalf of those who are here today but especially of our students and our children." Francesca Buffa, for her part, said, "I’m very happy, not least because the application of AI to the analysis and integration of medical-biological data is in its infancy and has enormous potential, so to see its impact appreciated is a terrific achievement but above all an incentive to go on."
