Raffaella Mancuso, University of Calabria (UNICAL), Italy
‘The VicInAqua project has allowed me to broaden my international experience and collaborations, and helped me to be more aware of the importance to apply my academic research to fundamental practical problems, such as water treatment and purification. The possibility to apply organic synthesis (which is my main expertise) to the production of innovative self-cleaning membranes for wastewater treatment and recycling has been particularly exciting and stimulating. Moreover, my experience in tutoring several African students in the lab for the preparation and scale-up of the surfactants used in VicInAqua membrane formulation was very important and satisfactory to me, not only from a scientific point of view, but also for the nice human relationships that have been established with very interested and motivated students.’
Dr. Raffaella Mancuso is an assistant professor at the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies of the University of Calabria. She holds a degree in chemistry from the same university and has been part of research groups at Iowa State University and the University of Barcelona. Her research interests include the development of novel synthetic methods for the synthesis of heterocycles of pharmacological interest, organometallic catalysis, and the development of novel catalytic carbonylation processes.
Francesco Galiano, Institute of Membrane Technology of the National Research Council (ITM-CNR), Italy
‘VicInAqua represents one of the most challenging and rewarding projects I have worked on. In the project, science and technology combine to address the needs of the human population and tackle issues affecting our natural environment. The project was a groundbreaking point for future collaborations with the consortium partners and provided unique opportunities for discussion with visiting students from different African countries within the framework of our African student exchange programme.’
Francesco Galiano (1986) received his PhD in “Science and Technique” curriculum “Organic Materials of Pharmaceutical Interest” at the University of Calabria in 2013. He has been working as a research fellow at the Institute of Membrane Technology of the National Research Council (ITM-CNR) since 2010. His main research activities are oriented towards the preparation, characterization and application of polymeric membranes for water treatment and purification processes.
