Francesco Valentinelli

 Francesco is master student in chemistry from a small town in Val di Non, Italy. After his Bachelor's degree in Chemistry with full honors from the University of Padua, he decided to continue his journey in chemistry at the University of Padova doing a master and a master in the school of excellence Scuola Galileiana degli Studi Superiori of Padova.

With these masters he wanted to deepen my understanding of various aspects of chemistry, particularly organic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, and supramolecular chemistry, with a special focus on dissipative systems in which he had the opportunity to delve into thanks to specific courses.

Currently, he working as a Research Fellow in the Aizenberg Group, collaborating with Jacopo Movilli on his MSCA BrightLINK project, which aims to design bioinspired macroscopic objects that express propulsion, self-aggregation, and communication upon light irradiation.

His work is focused on the communication aspect, which he is studying using hydrogels as part of his Master's thesis project at the University of Padua, supervised by Professor Leonard Prins, with Jacopo Movilli as co-supervisor.

He is particularly inspired by your group’s philosophy of drawing inspiration from nature, which aligns strongly with his own research approach. He is committed to incorporating nature-inspired processes into my future work, with a strong focus on developing environmentally sustainable and green methodologies, which I believe are essential in today’s research landscape.

In the future, he plans to continue exploring Non-Equilibrium Chemistry, as every complex system we know requires energy consumption to maintain a non-equilibrium state. A prime example of this is the life of any living organism.