A new European research project in Trento

Only about 11 out of 100 project proposals passed the selection process in the last round of competition of the European Research Council. Among these is the Frameglow project, with Nicola Pugno as Principal Investigator and the University of Trento as the host institution.

The announcement came today from Brussels and concerns the applications for the ERC Advanced Grants 2024, which had a total budget of 721 million euros. Advanced grants are a type of ERC funding aimed at established researchers of any age and nationality, who have a track-record of significant research achievements, are recognized leaders in their sector and present innovative and cutting-edge research projects. Of the 2,534 project proposals received by the ERC, only 281 were selected for funding.

The project submitted by the University of Trento, which also involves Politecnico di Torino with Professor Federico Bosia, is in the area of fracture mechanics, a branch of Solids and Structural Mechanics that studies the strength of structures and materials. Starting from the quantized fracture mechanics theory formulated by Nicola Pugno, the project aims to develop a more complete theory to improve the ability to predict the strength of materials and structures. This more complete theory will be applied in particular to understand how climate change and global warming reduce the strength of ice and snow, to mitigate the risks associated with avalanches and therefore save human lives. Machine learning tools and numerical models will also be used for data analysis and snowpack predictions. Experiments and observations in the laboratory and in the field (from the Alps to the Himalayas) will also be performed to validate the model.

This is the 44th ERC grant for the University of Trento if we consider all the University projects that have been awarded this funding in the different categories since 2007 through a competitive evaluation procedure. It is the 5th ERC grant for Nicola Pugno, Professor of Solids and Structural Mechanics at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering of UniTrento, after one ERC Starting grant (now, Consolidator grant) and three ERC Proof of Concept grants (for technology transfer).