Position (*: present)
2016-*: Full Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Dept of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering (DEI), University of Bologna
2022-*: President, DARE Foundation - Digital Lifelong Prevention
Education/Training
1997: PhD degree in Biomedical Engineering , University of Bologna
1993: Laurea degree in Electronic Engineering, University of Bologna
Positions & Employment
2011-15: Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, DEI, University of Bologna
2000-11: Research Associate, Dept of Electronics, Computer Science and Systems (DEIS), University of Bologna
1997-2000: Post-Doc Researcher, DEIS, University of Bologna
Services & Memberships
2022-*: Co-lead, Working Group 8 - "Falls and Technology", Global Guidelines for Falls in Older Adults, A global initiative towards falls prevention and management
2020-22: Member, Scientific Committee, ALISEI (Advanced Life Science in Italy) Technological Cluster
2019-*: Member, Editorial Board of the journal "Sensors" - section Intelligent Sensors (IF=4,35)
2018-*: Co-Chair, "Innovative Technologies for Healthy Aging", Italy-US Joint Commission on Science & Technology Cooperation
2018-*: Board Member, PhD Course on Health & Technologies, University of Bologna
2018-21: Board Member, Center for Applied Biomedical Research, S. Orsola-Malpighi University Hospital, Bologna
2018-22: Member, Scientific Committee of the "Precision CyberPhysical Systems" project, Dept of Excellence, DEI, University of Bologna
2017-21: Chair, Value-chain "Smart and Active Living, inclusive services and USable TECHnologies - SALUSTECH", Life Sciences and Wellbeing Clust-ER Association
2017-22: Chair, eHealth Research Thematic Group, University of Bologna
2017-*: Member, Health Research Thematic Group, University of Bologna
2017-*: Member, Editorial Board of the journal “Frontiers in Neurology” - section Movement Disorders (IF=4,00)
2016-22: Director, Health Sciences and Technologies - Interdept Center for Industrial Research (CIRI-SDV), University of Bologna
2015-*: Member, International Society for the Measurement of Physical Behaviour (ISMBP)
2011-*: Member, IEEE-EMBS
2012-19: Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Montecatone Rehabilitation Institute spa
2010-16: Deputy Director, CIRI-SDV, University of Bologna
2012-16: Chair, Regional Initiative on Falls Prevention, Emilia-Romagna Regional Agency for Health and Social Care, in the framework of the European Innovation Partnership on Active & Healthy Ageing
2004-14: Member, Editorial Board of the journal “Gait & Posture”
2001-*: Member, International Society for Postural and Gait Research (ISPGR)
Other Experience
2015-*: Founder & Scientific Co-Chair, "EU Falls Festival" (eufallsfest.eu)
2014-*: Founder & Director, Personal Health Systems Lab, DEI, University of Bologna
2014-*: Co-founder & Scientific Advisor, mHealth Technologies srl, academic spin-off
2010-*: Founder & Director, Eng4Health&Wellbeing Lab, CIRI-SDV, University of Bologna
2004,2014: Member, NASA review panels “Life Sciences Clinical Research and Medical Technology”, Washington DC (USA)
2004,2014: Member, ESA review panels “Austrian Space Agency Applications Programme" and “Bed rest studies”, Noordwijk (NL)
2006: External Reviewer, Health Research Board Ireland (IE)
2007: External Reviewer, ATAXIA UK, London (UK)
2009,2013: External Reviewer, Medical Research Council, Biomedical Catalyst Applications (UK)
2009,2011,2013: Member, Review Panel for National Research Projects (PRIN, Futuro in Ricerca), Italian Ministry for University & Research
2012-13: External Reviewer, European Commission, Unit H2, Digital Social Platforms, DG CONNECT, Brussels (BE)
2011: External Reviewer for Industrial Research Projects, Provincia Autonoma di Trento
2002-07: Visiting Professor, Dynamic Modeling of Biomechanical Systems, University of Patras (GR)
Keynote Addresses
Author of keynote addresses, invited lectures and seminars, including:
"Digital Health Challenges in the Silver Era", First IEEE Digital Health As A Service Symposium, Milan, 13/07/2019
"Through the Looking-Glass”: observing and changing motor behaviors via mobiles", 6TH International Conference on Ambulatory Monitoring of Physical Activity and Movement (ICAMPAM), Maastricht (NL), 27/06/2019
"Success stories in FP7", Symposium on "EU–Funded Research in Technologies for a Healthy and Active Aging: An Italian Success Story", satellite event of the 2018 ISSNAF Annual Event, Auditorium Embassy of Italy – Washington DC, 22/10/2018
"Biofeedback-based gait retraining in Parkinson’s Disease", EIT Health MoveIT Symposium, Erlangen, 7/9/2018
"Soluzioni digitali a sostegno della domiciliarità e dell'autonomia: dall’idea al prodotto", Silver Economy Forum, Genova, 15/6/2018
“Technical solutions: are novel technologies the future for successful injury prevention?”, 4th Eur Conf on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (EU-Safety-2017), Amsterdam, 22/9/2017
"Handling gait impairments of persons with Parkinson’s disease by means of wearable real-time biofeedback", Rehab Week 2017, London, 17/7/2017
“Towards a New Generation of Prognostic Tools for Falls Incorporating Sensor-Based Activity Features”, I-DONT-FALL workshop, Roma, 26/9/2015
"Sense and sensibility: smartphones and wearable technologies to support seniors", W4A-The Web for All Conference, co-located with 24th World Wide Web Conference, Firenze, 18/05/2015
"Learning about technologies to prevent falls: what's next?", International Falls Conference, British Geriatric Society, Manchester (UK), 8/9/2014
“A WBAN implementation of an intelligent tutoring systems for gait enhancement and rehabilitation of persons with Parkinson’s disease”, European Conference on Networks and Communications EUCNC2014, Bologna, 23/6/2014
“An holistic approach to fall prevention based on engineering methods- the FARSEEING project”, Oregon Chapter of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, Oregon Health & Sciences University Hospital, Portland, OR, USA, 6/11/2013
"Ambulatory movement assessments: Technical State of the art", 8th Int Congress on Mental Dysfunction & Other Non-Motor Features in Parkinson’s Disease and Related Disorders – MDPD 2012, Berlin (D), 4/5/2012
"Wearable Systems with Minimal Set-up for Monitoring and Training of Balance and Mobility", 33rd Int Conf IEEE-EMBC, Boston, 2/9/2011
"State of the Art in ICT solutions for prevention and detection of falls of elderly people", European Commission Consultation Workshop on future topics for the 2011 ICT Policy Support Programme in the Field of ICT & Ageing, Brussels, 16/2/2010
"A computational modelling approach to investigate different targets in deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease", Kyoto University, 16/11/2007
"Listening for Balance: the Effect of Audio-Bio Feedback on Postural Motor Learning", Tokyo Institute of Technology, 12/11/2007
"Use of accelerometry for balance assessment and conditioning", Prevention of Falls Network Europe, EPFL, Lausanne, 18/1/2006
Supervision of graduate and doctoral students (last 5 years)
7 PhD students (4 completed, 3 ongoing), 10 graduate students, and 30 master students
National and international grants (as Principal Investigator)
2012-15, EU-FP7: “FAll Repository for the design of Smart and sElfadaptive Environments prolonging INdependent livinG– FARSEEING”. Obj: ICT for Ageing and Wellbeing. Funding: 3,5 M€
This work established the world’s largest dataset of real life falls and helped to gain new knowledge on falls and to set-up novel prognostic tools and effective preventive strategies. The project has been recently selected as one of the top 3 most influential and high-impact projects of the last 11 years in the field of ICT for Active and Healthy Ageing, and the most succesful consortium leading to groundbreaking results to improve the understanding and management of falls (see the report available here, p.101). Two of its results have been recognized as 'key innovations' by the Innovation Radar of the European Commission.
2011-15, EU-FP7: “Closed-loop system for personalized and at-home rehabilitation of people with Parkinson's Disease – CuPiD”. Obj: Personal Health System (PHS) for remote management of disease, treatment and rehabilitation. Funding: 2,7 M€
This project developed and validated a mobile digital manager for at-home rehabilitation of gait & mobility in persons with PD.
2011-13, Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs: “Wearable instruments for assessing balance and gait disorders”, Joint Research Project between Italy and the USA. Funding: 50 K€
This work investigated turning abilities of persons with PD by means of wearable sensors.
2007-09, EU-FP6: “Sensing and action to support mobility in Ambient Assisted Living – SENSACTION-AAL”. Obj: Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) in the Ageing Society. Funding: 3 M€
This project developed novel digital solutions to assist older people in maintaining an independent mobility in daily life activities, and able to reduce the consequences of falls and injuries.
Research Support (last 10 years) (excluding projects with the role of PI)
2019-23, EU-Horizon2020-IMI2: "Connecting digital mobility assessment to clinical outcomes for regulatory and clinical endorsement - Mobilise-D". Role: Head of Unit
2018, EIT Digital:"Vital@Home - Personal Manager to improve life of people with Parkinson’s disease at home", Role: Head of Unit
2017-19, INAIL: "Protesi Robotica di Arto Inferiore con Smart Socket ed Interfaccia Bidirezionale per Amputati di Arto Inferiore - MOTU". Role: Head of Unit
2016-18, EU-Horizon2020: “Early risk detection and prevention in ageing people by self-administered ICT-supported assessment and a behavioral change intervention delivered by use of smartphones and smartwatches - PreventIT”. Obj: Advancing active and healthy ageing with ICT: Early risk detection and intervention. Role: Head of Unit
2016-18, Emilia-Romagna-EU POR-FESR: “Home Assistance Basata su Internet of Things per l’Autonomia di Tutti - HABITAT”. Role: Head of Unit
2016-18, Emilia-Romagna-EU POR-FESR: “Step-by-Step: Approccio Integrato per il Paziente con Lesioni Neurologiche Acute”. Role: WP leader
2015-17, Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna: "Telemedicine and Parkinson’s Disease: therapeutic monitoring at patient’s home". Role: Head of Unit
2014-17, Norwegian Research Council: “A Personalized Fall Risk Assessment System for promoting independent living: The ADAPT project”. PI: Jorunn Helbostad, Role: Advisory
Board Member
2011-14, Emilia-Romagna-EU POR-FESR: Program “Creating Technopoles for Industrial Research and Technology Transfer”. Funding: 8,5 M€. Role: co-PI, head of the “Technologies for Health and Quality of Life” Unit.
2010-12, Emilia-Romagna Region - Transition from Productive to Technological Districts: “pERsonal health lab - pERhl”. This translational project, a public-private partnership,
developed and tested novel wearable systems for personal health integrated through a telemedicine infrastructure with personal health records. Role: Scientific Director,
Co-Investigator
2008-11, EU-JTI: “Cognitive Adaptive Man-Machine Interfaces – CAMMI”, JTI ARTEMIS: Embedded Computing Systems Initiative - Human-Centric Design, Role: Head of Unit
2008-10, EU-FP7: “Self Mobility Improvement in the eLderly by CounteractING Falls – SMILING”. Obj: ICT & Ageing. Role: Head of Unit
2008-10, Emilia Romagna Region - Regional Programme for Industrial Research, Innovation & Technology Transfer: “Automation, Electronics and Bioengineering: Technologies for
Manufacturing and People – AER-TECH LAB”. Role: WP Leader
2005-07, MIUR-PRIN: “Computational and neural mechanisms of sensorimotor learning and control”. Role: Head of Unit
National and international acknowledgments
2022: Finalist of the Horizon Impact Award (European Commission, DG Research & Innovation)
2020: Listed among the Stanford University World's Top 2% Scientists
2018: Recognized as a 'key innovator' for the results of the FARSEEING project, European Commission
2018: Co-Chair, 4th EU Falls Festival: “New Solutions to Old Problems: ensuring sustainability of falls prevention interventions”, Manchester
2017: Invited Expert, High-level Roundtable Debate on e-health, Estonian Presidency of the EU Council
2017: Co-Chair, 3rd EU Falls Festival: “Collaboration across professions and throughout Europe” , Amsterdam
2016: Program Co-Chair, 14th Int. Conf. On Smart homes and health Telematics, ICOST 2016, Wuhan, China
2016: Co-Chair and Host, 2nd EU Falls Festival: “Implementation of Innovation into Policy and Practice”, Bologna
2015: Co-Chair, 1st EU Falls Festival: “Technology in the Prediction, Detection and Prevention of Falls”, Stuttgart
2015: Guest Editor, Special Issue on "Advances in Long Term Physical Behavior Monitoring", Biomed Research International (Hindawi)
2015-*: listed among the Top Italian Scientists screened by VIA-Academy in the area "Engineering - Medicine"
2014: First place – Gold Award and Audience Award for the “Intelligent tutoring system for gait rehabilitation of persons with Parkinson's disease”, MobileHealth & AAL Challenge awards, MobileMed, Prague
2009: Conference Chair, XIX Conf. International Society for Postural and Gait Research (ISPGR), Bologna
2008: Best poster award, 1st Int. Conf. on Ambulatory Monitoring of Physical Activity and Movement, for the paper “Wearable inertial sensors detect anticipatory postural adjustments prior to step initiation in
early Parkinson’s Disease”, Rotterdam
2005: “Design-In Award” as the most innovative design in applied electronics for the project “Bio-feedback Wireless Wearable System”, Fortronic Fair, Padova
2002: SIAMOC-Elsevier Best Paper Award for the study “Comparison between subthalamic nucleus and globus pallidus internus stimulation for postural performance in Parkinson's disease”
1998: GNB-National Bioengineering Group Award, National PhD Thesis Contest, Bressanone
1994: FORMED-Paolo Mancini Award, National Master Thesis Contest, Pisa
Complete List of Published Work
See MyBibliography from NCBI
