Caterina Petrillo, President

Full Professor with a Chair in Experimental Physics at the University of Perugia, where she led the Department of Physics for five years (2009-2014) and the Department of Physics and Earth Science for three years (2014-2017). 

A physicist by training, she began her research career in condensed matter physics, largely benefitting neutron and X-ray scattering techniques available at European large-scale research infrastructures, where she also contributed to the design and construction of advanced neutron diffusion instruments and components. 

She has been a member of several scientific evaluation and advisory committees  (ESRF-SAC, ESFRI-PSE, ESFRI-NLG, H2020-RI Advisory Group, Helmholtz Association, Research Foundation Flanders FWO, EOSC-WG Training & Skills) and of governing bodies of international research centres (Institut Laue-Langevin, European Spallation Source ESS, Extreme Light Infrastructure ELI-DC), both as a scientific expert and as an Italian   representative appointed by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR). She was the Italian delegate to the Research Infrastructures Programme Committee during the EU’s Seventh Research Framework Programme, appointed by the MIUR. From 2015 to 2017 she served as elected Vice President of the Council of European Spallation Source ESS-ERIC. Until 2021, she was a member of the Italian delegation to the ESFRI Forum and Italian delegate to the General Assembly of the European Research Infrastructure ELI-ERIC. 

Caterina Petrillo is a member of the Italian delegation of Senior Officials of the G8-5 on Global Research Infrastructures. She was part of the Board of Directors of the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN) as a representative of MIUR and was a member of the Board of Directors of the University of Perugia. She has gained extensive experience in strategies for the long-term sustainability of international research infrastructures. Her candidacy as a Foreign Member of the prestigious Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (Kungliga Ingenjörsvetenskapsakademien / IVA), chaired by His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf, was accepted in 2019. 

Since July 2021, she has been President of the General Assembly (the governing body) of ELI-ERIC. In February 2022, the Minister for Ecological Transition, Roberto Cingolani, appointed her as member of the Board of Directors of ENEA, of which she is Vice President.