“An outstanding, multidisciplinary and effervescent scientific context!”

Umberto Castiello is Full Professor in the Department of General Psychology at the University of Padua, and last year he was awarded an ERC Advanced Grant for a rather interdisciplinary project: understanding intention in plants by analyzing their movements.
Speaking of movements, Prof. Castiello academic career has been quite dynamic: he started off in Italy, at the University of Parma, then he moved to France, in Lyon, to the US in Arizona, Bologna, Melbourne, London, and eventually to Padua, where he is carrying out his project. 

“I feel the University of Padua provides an outstanding, multidisciplinary and effervescent scientific context. To me, it certainly guarantees the quality and the feasibility of my project” he says.
“The support, in term of infrastructures and in terms of financial administration of the project, has been really stupendous”. 

As a biotechnologist, Sara Avesani, a post-doc at Prof. Castiello research lab, collects and interprets the signals that plants emit. “The topic was really interesting: a blend of analytical chemistry, cognitive neuroscience and psychology. I’m curious and adventurous, so that’s why I’m here”. 

“Approaching the study of plants from the point of view of their cognition and their behavior is extremely fascinating and it is still a quite unexplored topic. It opens to many new possibilities of investigation” says Valentina Simonetti, a bioengineer and a post-doc at the lab, who was attracted also by another aspect. “The laboratory that was developed for this ERC project puts together the most cutting-edge technology in this field. Each device was chosen to reach the most recent standards in plant studies. It is quite a unique place. This mix can bring together amazing and consistent new findings”. 

All this equipment allows the simultaneous measurements of plant physiology and behavior, tracking how plants move. “I needed people with different expertise” says Prof. Castiello. “In fact what I’m coordinating is a multidisciplinary team that integrates expertise in experimental psychology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, plant physiology and bioengineering. Indeed the project is heavily multidisciplinary and this aspect was definitely a plus”. 

Watch the full interview here. 

ERC Advanced Grants are designed to enable outstanding, top research leaders to pursue their cutting-edge, high-risk scientific projects in Europe.
PIs should be able to demonstrate their consolidated research indipendence and a very strong evidence of maturity, through significant research achievements in the last 10 years.
Advanced Grants may be awarded up to €2,5 million for a period of 5 years.