Organization

Organizing committee

Diego Colombara
Director of the school. Associate Professor and Coordinator of REMAP @Università di Genova and CTO @ECLIPTA, Genova (Italy)
Diego is Associate Professor of General and Inorganic Chemistry at UniGe. He has successfully received andcoordinated a 4M€ Pathfinder Open grant from the European Innovation Council to reinvent microfabrication - involving 7 partners from 5 EU Countries. Out of this project named REMAP - he secured two patent applications along with his research group and is in the process of founding the spin-off ECLIPTA. His core academic experise - though - is in Photovoltaics - Atomic diffusion - and Electrochemistry. Diego heads the organising committee of this school and will be present the entire time to assist you.
Irina Gushchina
Scientific Chair of the school. UniGe and CTO @ECLIPTA
Impact-driven scientist and entrepreneur with a passion for translating cutting-edge photovoltaic research into real-world decarbonization solutions. Currently leading R&D programs as Project Manager at the University of Genoa and INSTM - managing research development - writing and securing EU grants (EIC - Horizon Europe - Bauhaus) - and coordinating collaborators across different countries. In parallel - co-founding Eclipta - a deep-tech Solar PV startup developing semitransparent solar cells with micro-stripe architecture for commercial buildings and skyscrapers from patent filing and ICP validation through to first pilot projects and pre-commercial contracts with industrial partners. Besides co-organizing this school - Irina will be present the entire time to assist you with the hands-on assignments (and will be the one leading their evaluation). She serves as a Scientific Chair of the school.
Sandrine Lacombe
Co-Director of the school. Full Professor @Université Paris-Saclay
Her career bridges frontier research - academic leadership - and international strategy for higher education. After a PhD in Science with a specialization in chemical physics - she conducted early research at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society under Nobel Laureate Professor G. Ertl - where she was appointed Fellow. She later served as an invited professor at the Sherbrooke University Hospital Center - and received an International Research Collaboration Award from the University of Sydney. At the ISMO Institute (CNRS / Université Paris-Saclay) - she developed research aimed at advancing particle therapy through the use of theranostic nanoparticles. She led several nationally and European-funded projects. She contributed to circa 90 publications and supervised 11 PhDs and 4 postdocs - and directed 4 projects managers. She currently directs the interdisciplinary center for innovative radiation therapies at Université Paris-Saclay - iNanoTheRad.\nIn parallel - She has designed major international education initiatives. She founded and lead this European Commission–labeled international master’s program in chemical physics for industrial and medical applications. The program has graduated more than 250 high-achieving alumni from approximately 60 countries worldwide. She also founded the European University Alliance for Global Health (EUGLOH) - and contributed to the design of the very Erasmus Mundus programs this school is attached to. Sandrine oversees the scope and vision for the school and will also be there all the time - as the Co-Director of the school.
Guglielmo Schenardi
Scientific Chair of the school. Founder @Genoa Founder School
Founded the data-privacy startup Rita and closed a €1M pre-seed round at age 23 - backed by unicorn founders. Rather than chase the next round - he turned home: in 2022 he launched Genoa Entrepreneurship School (now Genoa Founder School) - a non-profit summer program teaching young people to become founders - splitting his time between Amsterdam and Genova. Guglielmo co-organised this school providing invaluable insights drawn directly from the successful Genoa Founder School Master program he devised - he serves a a Scientific Chair of the school.\n