Giulia Masi

Education

Graduated in Construction Engineering-Architecture in 2013 from the University of Bologna, she obtained her PhD in Civil, Chemical, Environmental, and Materials Engineering in 2018.

Academic career

After some years as a Postdoctoral Research Associate (from 2018 to 2021) at the Department of Civil, Chemistry, Environmental and Materials Engineering (DICAM) at the University of Bologna, in December 2021 she became a junior fixed-term researcher (RTD-A) in the scientific disciplinary sector IMAT-01/A Materials Science and Technology at DICAM, University of Bologna. In November 2023, she obtained the National Scientific Qualification as Associate Professor. Since December 9, 2025, she has been a tenure-track researcher (RTT) at the University of Bologna.

Teaching activities

Since 2022, she has been teaching the course “Corrosion and Protection of Materials” for the Master's Degree programs in Chemical and Process Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. Starting in the 2025/2026 academic year, she has been teaching “Materials Durability” for the Master's Degree course in Offshore Engineering for Energy Transition in Ravenna. Since 2023, she has been holding a seminar entitled “Corrosion and Material Protection” as part of the Level I Master's Degree in Composite Materials (Ma.Co.F, Faenza, Italy) promoted by the University of Bologna.

Research activities

The common theme of her research is related to the assessment of the durability of sustainable materials in the Construction and Cultural Heritage fields. The main research activities developed in the last 10 years can be summarized as follows:

1. Investigation of the corrosion behaviour and degradation mechanisms of different materials:
   • corrosion resistance of steel in alternative binders (alkali-activated materials/geopolymers) for civil engineering applications;
   • corrosion behaviour of different metals and alloys (cast irons, high-strength low alloy steels, corrosion resistant alloys) and the assessment of innovative organic and metallic protective coatings for Constructions and other industrial fields;
   • efficiency and development of conservation strategies for the improvement of corrosion resistance of metallic alloys (e.g. Cu-based alloys) and natural and artificial stones, for Cultural Heritage applications;
   • Development of methodologies for studying material decay, especially the simulation of atmospheric corrosion conditions by artificially ageing methods, considering the environmental and geometrical exposure conditions;
   • Study of the interaction between environmental parameters (pollutants, rainfalls and atmospheric depositions) and materials in the field of Cultural Heritage. Main studied materials are metallic alloys (e.g. Cu-based alloys) and natural and artificial stones
2. Development of sustainable binders as a promising alternative for construction materials, detailed as follows:
   • Optimization of mix designs of low-environmental-impact ceramic-like materials with high mechanical and durability performances for civil engineering applications (alkali-activated materials/geopolymers).
   • Optimization of mix design, fresh and hardened properties of alkali-activated materials produced from industrial by-product precursors, as alternative binders in the field of construction materials.
   • Designing and investigating sustainable porous materials for high-temperature applications and membrane development.

Active participation to some European projects and International Scientific programmes and application for a National project:

1. Participation to the National Scientific Programs “Sustainable concrete made with recycled asphalt pavement (RAP-CON)” (https://rapcon.chem.polimi.it/), in the frame of the “Circular Economy for a sustainable future” call in 2019, funded by Cariplo Foundation (2020-2023).
2. Collaboration as subcontractor to the European project “NeSSIE: North Sea Solution for innovation in corrosion for energy” (http://nessieproject.com/ ), Vanguard Initiative and co-funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (2017-2019).
3. Submission as Participant of the research project proposal “Conservation of outdoor monuments: influence of UV radiation and atmospheric particulate matter (PM) in the mechanism of decay of metals and of their protective treatments” within the ALMA Idea Grant of the University of Bologna (Principal Investigator: Dr. C. Chiavari; other participants: Dr. S. Raffo and Dr. E. Venturini). The proposal gained a score of 86.5/100 (threshold 70/100) (2017).
4. Active team member of the European project “B-IMPACT: Bronze-IMproved non-hazardous PAtina CoaTings” (Pratica MIUR n. 2897), in the frame of M.ERA.Net Transnational Call 2013 (www.b-impact.cloud ), funded for 2 years by MIUR (2015-2017).
5. Participation to the International Scientific Programs “Outdoor bronze corrosion: nanoscale XPS investigation of protective coating on representative substrates”, in February 2016 (Proposal 20160149) to the Synchrotron SOLEIL (Beamline Antares), Saint Aubin, France (2016).
6. Participation to the International Scientific Programs “XPS nanoscale investigation of gilded bronze corrosion”, in February 2015 (Proposal 20140296) to the Synchrotron SOLEIL (Beamline Antares), Saint Aubin, France (2015).
   

Editorial board activity

1. Activity of Topic Editor for the special collection “Women in Science: Materials 2023” for Frontiers in Materials journal (IF (2023) = 2.6), ISSN: 2296-8016 https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/57108/women-in-science-materials-2023;
2. Activity of guest editor for the Special issue: “Corrosion of Metallic and Ceramic Coatings in Biomedicine and Cultural Heritage and Coatings for Its Prevention” for Coatings journal (MDPI, IF(2023) = 2.9), ISSN 2079-6412, October 2021 - April 2022, https://www.mdpi.com/journal/coatings/special_issues/corrosion_metallic_ceramic;
3. activity of Reviewer Editor for Frontiers in Materials journal – Environmental degradation of materials (IF(2023) = 2.6), ISSN: 2296-8016 (since 19/10/2021);
4. participation to the “Topic Editorial board” of the Materials journal (MDPI, IF (2023) = 3.1), ISSN 1996-1944 (since 8/10/2020);
5. participation to the “Topic Editorial board” of the Coatings journal (MDPI, IF(2023) = 2.9), ISSN 2079-6412, in the section “Corrosion, wear and erosion” (since 8/10/2020);
6. participation to the Editorial board of the Journal of Mineral Metal and Material Engineering (Scientific Array), ISSN: 2414-2115 (since 9/10/2019).