Giuliano GIAMBASTIANI among the recipients of the international call launched by the French Republic Presidency “Make Our Planet Great Again“ Following the unilateral decision by the United States of America to exit the Paris climate agreements, the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, launched, on June 1, 2017, an appeal to researchers, entrepreneurs, associations and NGOs, to join France to lead the fight against climate change and to search for alternative and sustainable energy solutions for the planet, through the call for research projects “Make Our Planet Great Again”. At the end of the selection, 18 projects of high scientific profile were selected by a team of international experts and admitted to funding for an amount of € 1.5 million each. Among these the project TRAINER (CaTalysts foR TrAnsItion to ReNewable Energy FutuRe) presented by Dr. Giuliano GIAMBASTIANI of the Institute of Chemistry of OrganoMetallic Compounds (ICCOM-CNR) was among the winners and therefore admitted to financing.
The TRAINER Project will focus on the development of innovative catalytic materials from carbon networks with specific templating capabilities (chemical and morphological) to be used for anchoring and stabilizing active phases such as “single-atom” or metallic nanoclusters, as well as for the growth of highly defective metal sulfides to their outer surfaces (coatings). The 
surface engineering of the same carbon-based networks will also offer the possibility of developing “metal-free” single-phase catalytic materials for the activation and conversion of small molecules into catalytic processes at the heart of renewable energy sources. Thanks to the funding received, in the next 4 years Dr. GIAMBASTIANI will perform part of his research activity in the field of renewable energy chemistry at the CNRS institute of Strasbourg (ICPEES – Institut de chimie et procédés pour l’énergie, l ‘environnement et la santé) with Dr. Cuong PHAM-HUU with whom he has had a fruitful scientific collaboration for over 5 years now. Dr. GIAMBASTIANI will continue to direct his group of origin at ICCOM-CNR, thus guaranteeing continuity to his work, interdisciplinarity and internationalization to research.
Selected links related to this event. 1) SCIENCE; 2) RAI – TG Leonardo; 3) ANSA; 4) Business Insider FR; 5) France 24
Lee Hsun Research Award on Material Science to Dr. Giuliano Giambastiani
Dr. Giuliano Giambastiani (ICCOM Sesto Fiorentino) has been recently awarded with the Lee Hsun Research Award on Material Science for his contributions to the development of materials science and technology. The award was given by the Institute of Metal Research (IMR), one of the most important centres of excellence of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) located in Shenyang, People’s Republic of China. The prize is dedicated to researchers who gave a significant contribution to materials science and engineering and to the promotion of scientific cooperation with Chinese researchers. The prize will include a ceremony award and a lecture which will be given by Dr. Giambastiani at IMR during the second half of 2016.