Ca’ Foscari University of Venice is again successful in securing another four “Marie Curie” researchers, confirming that it is at the forefront of Italian universities for achieving this European funding. The four research grants are worth a total of €834,000.
Two of the researchers come to Ca’ Foscari from abroad (Liege and Monaco), whilst the other two students will spend two years in Canada and the United States before returning to Venice.
This year’s winners are four humanities scholars: Damiano Acciarino, Matteo Bertelè, Beatrice Daskas and Elise Franssen, specifically studying Renaissance Antiquarianism, the impact of Art during the Cold War, the Church of the Holy Apostles in Istanbul, and the unpublished manuscripts of 14th Century Arab scholar Al-Safadi respectively.
Thanks to the records in recent years Ca’ Foscari is now the university with the most amount of active “Marie Curie” projects (19), and its outstanding young researchers’ community is growing.
"For the third consecutive year, Ca’ Foscari is top of the board in Italy for receiving the highest number of Marie Curie grants, assigned by the European Commission to the most competent researchers" - says Michele Bugliesi, Rector of Ca' Foscari University of Venice. "It is a result that makes us proud. The professional growth and development of our researchers, as well as attracting external talents are two main priorities at our university. The Marie Curie grants are an important opportunity offered to the best talents and we are proud of our scholars who participate doing first-class research on an international level with ever-growing success".
With the “Marie Curie” research grants, the European Commision aims to support the development of the most promising and zealous researchers, with inspiring ideas and excellent profiles, capable of overcoming very competitive selection processes. Almost 9,000 researchers participated in the application process, which has just finished, from all over Europe and beyond.
Winners and their projects
Damiano Acciarino, an Italian literature scholar who completed his PhD at Ca’ Foscari, will go to the University of Toronto, Canada for two years before returning to Venice to conclude his research. He will develop the digital Atlas of Renaissance Antiquarianism, connecting documents which in this day are difficult to link, thus opening new perspectives to the research on the history of thought and the evolution of European civilization. His tutor will be professor Riccardo Drusi from the Department of Humanities.
Matteo Bertelé received his degree and PhD from Ca’ Foscari where he now teaches Russian and European Art History. The “Marie Curie” grant will take him to the University of California in Santa Barbara where, through the collections at the Getty Research Institute and the Wende Museum in Los Angeles, he will study the impact of art on culture and society during the Cold War, specifically regarding the two German Republics, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and Italy. His tutor will be professor Silvia Burini from the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage.
Beatrice Daskas is a Byzantine scholar with training as a philologist and art-historian, who arrived at Ca’ Foscari from Ludwig-Maximilians Universität of Munich, Germany. She is currently visiting scholar at the Institute for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies in Princeton, and she will study the cultural history of Byzantium and its reflection through the centuries, starting with the Church of Holy Apostles of Constantinople and its symbolism. In Venice she will then compare her results with another monument that transmitted messages over the centuries: Saint Mark’s Basilica. Her tutor will be professor Antonio Rigo from the Department of Humanities.
Elise Franssen studied Arabic Literature in Liege, Belgium. At Ca’ Foscari she will engage in the studies of al-Safdī, an intellectual of the Mamaluk period (1250 – 1517). She will examine and digitize the readings and annotated manuscripts in his library up until the present day, reconstructing a cross section of the cultural life of the era, characterized by an abundance of information similar to that of the modern day. Her tutor will be professor Antonella Ghersetti from the Department of Asian and North African Studies.
Another 15 applicants who also took part in this selection process choosing Ca' Foscari as host institution received a positive evaluation, meriting a “Seal of Excellence” by their European assessors.
Alice Equestri, Deborah Nadal, Francesco Piraino and Daniele Vecchiato are four other Ca’ Foscari students that have succeeded in receiving the “Marie Curie” grant in other European academic institutions. They too tackle topics relative to the Humanities, carried out at the University of Sussex, University of Glasgow, KU Leuven University and King’s College London respectively.
The new Marie Curie applications open 11th April 2017 and close on 14th September 2017. The Research Area of the university provides guidance, information and support when writing your project proposal. All further information is available here: http://www.unive.it/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=148301.
