ERC Advanced Grant 2024: Prof. Fabrizio Nestola wins record funding for the study of fibrous diamonds
Professor Fabrizio Nestola from the Department of Geosciences at the University of Padua has been awarded a prestigious ERC Advanced Grant worth nearly 3.5 million euros, the highest funding ever assigned to an Italian geologist. His innovative project will focus on studying nanometric mineral inclusions in fibrous diamonds, opening new frontiers in geological research.
The success of the University of Padua
Fabrizio Nestola, Full Professor of Mineralogy, is among the scientists who won the ERC Advanced Grants 2024 call, one of the most competitive international grants through which the European Union funds and promotes frontier research. The University of Padua stands out as first in Italy for the number of Advanced Grant projects won in this call, with four Principal Investigators (PIs): Fabrizio Nestola and Lucia Gemma Delogu for Physical Sciences and Engineering, Marco Sandri and Ildikò Szabò for Life Sciences. The total funding for Unipd scientists amounts to about 11 million euros.
The research project on fibrous diamonds
Professor Nestola's project will be dedicated to studying nanometric mineral inclusions in fibrous diamonds, a type less known compared to lithospheric and sublithospheric diamonds. Thanks to this funding, Prof. Nestola will acquire the world's first electron diffractometer applied to geosciences, allowing a quantum leap in technology applied to fibrous diamonds.
The importance of diamonds in geological research
Diamonds are unique geological materials capable of traveling hundreds of kilometers vertically, horizontally, and through time for billions of years, remaining unaltered. When they incorporate mineral inclusions from the deep mantle, they represent a window into otherwise inaccessible regions of the Earth.
Prof. Nestola's profile
Professor Nestola is an expert researcher in high-pressure and high-temperature mineralogy, focusing on natural diamonds, extraterrestrial materials, and new mineral species. He has received numerous national and international recognitions, including the EMU medal in 2010, the Humboldt Award in 2019, the title of Geochemistry Fellow in 2024, and the prestigious Dana Medal from the Mineralogical Society of America in 2024.
This prestigious funding not only recognizes the excellence of Prof. Nestola's research but also strengthens the position of the University of Padua as a center of excellence in scientific research at an international level.
