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What do you teach at Ca’ Foscari? What are your main research interests?
I currently teach 'Chemistry of transition elements' and 'Chemistry and technology of f-block elements'. In the past, I have taught other courses in the area of inorganic chemistry, as well as courses related to computational chemistry, such as 'Computational methods' and 'Simulations of molecular and periodic systems'. My research interests are in line with my lectures, being focused on the synthesis and study of the properties of new coordination compounds and on computer-modelling inorganic compounds.

Tell us about your academic path.
After graduating from high school in 1996, I enrolled in Industrial Chemistry at Ca' Foscari University in Venice (five-year degree). After graduating in 2001, I enrolled in a PhD programme in Chemical Sciences, with research in inorganic chemistry. At the end of the PhD I attended Ca' Foscari University as a researcher and adjunct professor. In 2007 I won the competition to become a permanent Researcher in the scientific-disciplinary field of General and Inorganic Chemistry at Ca' Foscari University Venice. In 2020 I was called as Associate Professor in the same disciplinary group.

What are your professional references?
I was lucky enough to meet several knowledgeable and passionate lecturers during my university studies, to whom I owe much of my expertise and who I consider my references.

Have you always known that this was going to be your path?
I always held the prospect of teaching in high regard, but I was convinced that I was going to teach in a secondary school, so much so that I took the necessary qualifications.

Can you offer any advice to researchers in the early stages of their career?
I think that it takes curiosity and imagination to approach research. Unfortunately, achieving new results is hard, it takes dedication and a thorough knowledge of the state of the art. The advice I can give is that the unexpected results that are most difficult to interpret are probably the most interesting.