ERC meets MSCA: Giulio Di Toro and Rodrigo Gomila Olmos de Aguilera

Look at nature through the eyes of a child… and be enthusiastic!

We would like to introduce you to a collaboration between two geologists, experts in earthquakes, working at the Department of Geosciences at UniPD.

Giulio Di Toro is Full Professor of Structural Geology. As many of you already know, Giulio was a professional volleyball player and played for the Italian National Team (1991-1993). In 1989 he received the award for the best Italian young volleyball player. He began studying Geology when he was 28 years old and went on to build an exceptional research career. Among several awards, he received two prestigious ERC grants, one in 2017 and one in 2013 – he is one of the very few researchers in Europe to have been awarded two ERC grants!

Giulio supervises Rodrigo Gomila Olmos de Aguilera, who won a Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Fellowship under the 2019 call. Rodrigo comes from Chile, where he got to know Giulio during a research field trip in the Atacama desert. Rodrigo joined Giulio's research group in 2019 and, a few months later, he applied for the MSCA Individual Fellowship. He was awarded the fellowship with an excellent evaluation score, and this made it possible for him to continue working with Giulio.

The motto of their research sounds like this: Ask questions, be sceptical, be humble, and be enthusiastic about your research field. Otherwise, you would be boring!