Paola Ceroni (born in 1971) graduated with honors in Chemistry at the University of Bologna in 1995 with a thesis on the photophysics of molecular nodes, supervised by Prof. Vincenzo Balzani. In 1998 she obtained a PhD in Chemical Sciences at the University of Bologna, working under the supervision of Prof. Sergio Roffia in the field of electrochemistry and spectroelectrochemistry of molecular and supramolecular systems. She carried out a research period in the laboratory of Prof. Allen J. Bard at the University of Austin (Texas, USA) thanks to a NATO fellowship within the Special Supramolecular Program. She was awarded fellowships to carry out research activities at the CNR (Institute of Photochemistry and High Energy Radiation, Bologna) and in the Photochemistry and Supramolecular Chemistry group directed by Prof. Vincenzo Balzani.
Since 2001 she has held a permanent position at the University of Bologna, Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician”: she is currently Full Professor of General and Inorganic Chemistry.
In 2015 she was a visiting professor in the laboratory of Prof. Sergei Vinogradov (University of Pennsylvania, USA, 3 months) for the study of phosphorescent probes for two-photon excitation.
Currently her research focuses on the study of molecular and supramolecular systems for artificial photosynthesis and photocatalysis, and on luminescent nanocrystals for energy conversion and sensing. Research activity on silicon nanocrystals was first developed within the European ERC Starting Grant project (PhotoSi) and subsequently within the ERC Proof of Concept project (SiNBioSys), which led to the creation of the spin-off Sinbiosys [https://www.sinbiosys.com/] .
Teaching Activity
She taught a module of the General Chemistry course with laboratory (2006–2010) and the optional course Photochemistry and Supramolecular Chemistry (2007–2008) for the Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Chemistry of Materials at the Ciamician Department of Chemistry.
Since 2010 she has taught Coordination Chemistry with laboratory for the same degree program and since 2008 she has taught the course Molecular and Supramolecular Photochemistry for the Master’s degree in Photochemistry and Molecular Materials.
In 2017 she taught the Photochemistry course at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa.
She has supervised more than 30 bachelor’s students and 50 master’s students, 17 PhD students, and more than 25 postdoctoral researchers (10 of whom currently hold positions at universities or research centers in Italy or abroad), for a total of over 80 person-years. She has hosted 10 international master’s/PhD students and 3 international professors for periods longer than three months with her own funding.
Publications
She has published more than 270 scientific papers in international journals, including reviews and book chapters, and 4 patents. Complete list of publications [https://site.unibo.it/photoactive-system/en/publications]
She is co-author of the book:
“Photochemistry and Photophysics: Concepts, Research, Applications”, Wiley-VCH, 2014; second edition in 2024.
She is co-editor of the following volumes:
- Electrochemistry of Functional Supramolecular Systems (2010, Wiley)
- Designing Dendrimers (2012, Wiley)
- The Exploration of Supramolecular Systems and Nanostructures by Photochemical Techniques (Lecture Notes in Chemistry, 2012, Springer)
She has served as Guest Editor for journals such as:
- Nanoscale (2026, Quantum nanomaterials)
- Dalton Transactions (2023, Aggregation induced luminescence of metal complexes: advances and applications)
- Journal of Organic Chemistry (2023, Progress in Photocatalysis for Organic Chemistry)
- Dalton Transactions (2022, themed issue – New Talent: Europe)
Funding
Principal investigator or unit leader of numerous projects including:
National project of MASE (2025–2026)
“Sustainable production of hydrogen via photoelectrochemical systems activated by sunlight” (PRIDE), leader of the Bologna photochemistry research unit.
European project EIC Transition (2026–2029)
“Emission Lifetimes technology for sorting, Security and Traceability” (ELISET).
National PRIN project (2023–2026)
“Copper indium sulfide quantum dots as photocatalysts for sun-driven biomass oxidation” (SUN-SPOT), coordinator of the Bologna research unit.
National PRIN PNRR project (2023–2025)
“Decoupled production of solar fuels” (LEAF), national coordinator.
Innovative Training Network (ITN) (2021–2025)
Coordinator of the Bologna research unit for the project “Photocatalysis as a tool for synthetic organic chemistry” (PhotoReact).
H2020-RIA (2020–2024)
European coordinator of the project “Combined sun-driven oxidation and CO₂ reduction for renewable energy storage” (CONDOR).
ERC Proof of Concept Grant (2018–2019)
“Luminescent silicon nanocrystals as bioimaging systems” (SiNBioSys).
ENI research project (2018–2020)
“Luminescent solar concentrators based on silicon nanocrystals”.
ERC Starting Grant (2012–2017)
“Silicon nanocrystals coated by photoactive molecules: a new class of organic-inorganic hybrid materials for solar energy conversion” (PhotoSi).
Italy–USA bilateral program of great relevance (2014–2016), PI.
FIRB “Futuro in Ricerca” (2012–2014)
SUPRACARBON, coordinator of the Bologna research unit.
Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowships (2011–2013)
Ln-DENDRI-Pols, coordinator.
Vinci Program 2009 of the Franco-Italian University with Prof. Marc Gingras (University of Marseille, France).
Italy–China bilateral program of great relevance (2010–2012), PI.
Awards and Honors
WomenTech EU Award supporting female founders of technological startups (2023)
Griess Lectureship, Royal Society of Chemistry (2015)
“G. Semerano” Prize, Italian Chemical Society (2000)
S.I.R.R. Prize (Italian Society for Radiation Research), 1999
Conferences and Seminars
She has participated in more than 90 national and international conferences and delivered 75 invited presentations/seminars, including:
- International Conference on Photochemistry, Photophysics & Photodynamics (iP3-2026), New Delhi, India, 2026
- Gordon Research Seminar on Photochemistry, Bates College, Maine, USA, 2025
- 29th IUPAC Symposium on Photochemistry (PhotoIUPAC), Valencia, Spain, 2024
- 12th Solar Technology Conference (Soltech), Würzburg, Germany, 2023
- 49th National Congress of Inorganic Chemistry, Perugia, Italy, 2023
- 25th International Symposium on the Photochemistry and Photophysics of Coordination Compounds (ISPPCC), Ulm, Germany, 2023
- KAUST Research Conference: Advances in Sustainable Catalysis, Saudi Arabia, 2023
She has served on the organizing and/or scientific committee of more than 30 conferences, including:
- International Conference on Coordination Chemistry, organizer of the session “Luminescent coordination compounds”, September 2022
- Ritorno al Futuro Sostenibile: 100 Years after Ciamician, Bologna, Italy, September 2022
- Faraday Discussion on “Luminescent Silicon Nanostructures”, York, UK, February 2020
- 27th IUPAC International Symposium on Photochemistry (PhotoIUPAC), Dublin, Ireland, July 2018
- Ciamician Photochemistry School, Bologna (2007–2022, held every three years)
- International Symposium “The Photochemistry of the Future – 100 years later”, Bologna, 2012
Academic and Scientific Roles
Member (since 2025) and President (since 2026) of the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Imola
Member (since 2022) and President (since 2024) of the European Photochemistry Association
Member of the Executive Board of the Italian Interdivisional Photochemistry Group since 2024
Coordinator of the Master’s Degree in Photochemistry and Molecular Materials (2019–2021)
President of the Teaching Committee of the Department of Chemistry “Giacomo Ciamician” (2018–2020)
Member of the Board of the PhD School in Chemical Sciences at the University of Bologna (2010–2022)
Member of the Steering Committee and Scientific Committee of the Interuniversity Research Center for the Chemical Conversion of Solar Energy (SOLARCHEM) (2009–2020)
Member of the Editorial Board of Dalton Transactions (RSC) since 2018
Advisory Board member of:
- Nanoscale Horizons (2020– )
- Journal of Physical Organic Chemistry (2021– )
- Lecture Notes in Chemistry (Physical Chemistry Section, Springer, 2012– )
- CrystEngComm (2021–2023)
- Chem (2019–2023)
Member of evaluation committees for:
- researcher or associate/full professor positions for Italian universities and CNR
- Technical International Balzan Foundation Prize (2024)
- Australian Academy of Science (2023)
- Rita Levi Montalcini fellowships (2022)
- Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden, 2021)
- final PhD examinations in Italy (10) and abroad (8) since 2010
Member of:
the Royal Society of Chemistry (Fellow since 2017)
European Photochemistry Association
American Chemical Society
Italian Chemical Society
Italian Photochemistry Group
Referee Activity
She has served as referee for numerous national and international research projects including:
European Research Council (AdG, StG, CoG, Pathfinder), FP7 and H2020 programmes (Marie-Curie Individual Fellowships, ITN doctoral networks, COST), Irish Research Council (Ireland), Research Grants Council (Hong Kong), OPUS (Polish National Science Center), International Center for Frontier Research in Chemistry (Strasbourg, France), Labex Chemistry of Complex Systems (France), Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR, France), LUMOMAT Foundation (France), Université Franco-Italienne, Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), UCLouvain (Belgium), The German Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development, PRIN, FIRB, SIR projects and VQR (Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research), Department of Energy (DOE, USA), Petroleum Research Fund – American Chemical Society (USA), Strategic Projects (University of Padua and University of Trieste, Italy).
She regularly serves as referee for leading journals in chemistry, materials science and nanoscience including Nature, Science, Chem, Nature Chemistry, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Chemical Communications, Chemistry – A European Journal, Nanoscale, and Chemical Science.
