2024 AWARD WINNERS
Beatrice Limonti
Beatrice Limonti is an Italian violinist with over 15 years of experience between Italy and the UK. She specialises in crossover performances across classical, jazz, cinematic, and contemporary music. After graduating from the Conservatorio in Cosenza, she’s completing a Master’s in Jazz Violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
She has performed at major venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, LSO St Luke’s, and BBC Northern Ireland and recorded at Abbey Road Studios. In 2024, she co-founded BriosOrchestra, an orchestral project by Italian musicians in London that aims to foster cultural dialogue and support emerging talent.
She was awarded the Circolo Award 2024 for her essay “The Power of Dialogue: Why Me?”, which explores music as a tool for connection during times of global uncertainty. Alongside her musical career, she is also an active content creator with over 35K followers on Instagram.
Shide Mazaheri
My research focuses on how autistic people with co-occurring alexithymia perceive their quality of life and provides insights into how well-being can be supported. The key-objectives of my research project are: a) looking at the impact and reverberation of alexithymia and autism on quality of life; b)exploring the meaning-making of autistic people with alexithymia in relation to their quality of life; c)putting research into a Neuro-affirmative approach and shedding light on the positive experience.
Thus, the main aim of my research is to understand how autistic young adults with high alexithymia thrive, find benefits in their experiences, cope, adjust, and develop in a positive way.
I am deeply grateful, honoured, and delighted to have won Il Circolo 2024 Award regarding the“Global uncertainty: the power of dialogue”. Thanks to this immense Award, I will pragmatise and extend my research in real terms, and it will be a tangible contribution to my academic career/path. Honestly, thank you to the members of Il Circolo for their valuable support and for believing in me and my research. I was impressed by the theme chosen by Il Circolo, as I strongly believe in dialogue as a prominent tool to wedge the macro-society marked by complexity, entropy, and pluralism to the paradigm of reciprocity. I support the social mission of Il Circolo to disseminate the scientific, literary, and cultural aspects of the Italian community in London. I am extremely happy to be part of this beautiful Community. It will also allow me to connect with other Italian researchers and clinicians.
Sebastian Willis
My name is Seb, I am a first-year doctoral candidate, reading Human Geography at the University of Hull. With an academic background in late medieval and early renaissance environmental history, specifically that of the Venetian Lagoon, my research focus is the UN defined concept of Ocean Literacy. I am currently using a methodology of material culture analysis to study commercial mariners (whalers, merchants and fishers) and the relationship these cultures maintained with the seas upon which they relied for a livelihood. Centring my research within geographic and temporal locations of cultural juxtaposition, I often rely upon analysis that is comparative in nature. As an example, my current study seeks to understand the differing Anthropocene relationships at play within 19th-century Fiji, a place of friction between western whaler and Fijian societies. The second chapter of my PhD will rely heavily on my background as a specialist in Venetian history. Building on my research theme of Ocean Literacy, I intend to explore how cultures and societies depict the sea in both artistic and scientific mediums. I am most interested in understanding how societies, western and indigenous, historic and contemporary, comprehend voyaging across and locating oneself within the ocean. The objects of study will range in context and provenance from Marshallese stick charts to Venetian and Genovese portolan charts.
I hope, by exploring the nature of human-ocean relationships, to contribute to an ongoing discussion as to humanities place within the natural world. Considering the natural environment as an essential element within the social-topography upon which cultures and societies organise themselves, will allow for more balanced and considered ecological management practices that benefit not only the environment but the cultures that are built upon them.
2023 AWARD WINNERS
Luisa Fassi
I am a third-year PhD student in Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge. In my research, I address two key questions: Is there a link between social media use and the declines in youth mental health observed in recent years? And, how can we best support young people who grow up in an increasingly digitalised world?
The Il Circolo Youth Mental Health Award caught my attention due to its potential to provide both funding support and entry into a diverse network of researchers, clinicians, entrepreneurs, and funders. Participating was a chance to bring my work into the public eye beyond the academic realm. Winning this award was an immensely rewarding experience, enabling me to showcase my research at the Italian Embassy, engage in a Q&A session in London after a theatre show, and network with a wide range of professionals. I am deeply grateful to Il Circolo for this incredible opportunity, which has enriched my journey as a researcher and advocate for youth mental health.
Eleonora Aiello
Having come to know about Il Circolo Youth Mental Health Award 2023 through The Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding, I have applied, firstly, to pursue further funding in support of my PhD studies. Secondly, to connect with the Italian community in London and the UK, particularly other Italian researchers.
I have greatly benefitted from the financial support provided by the Award funded by Il Circolo’s members, and the networking opportunities that the events organised by Il Circolo in relation and subsequently to the Award provided me with.
I am now continuing to pursue the Interdisciplinary Policy Studies MPhil/PhD at King’s College London (KCL), School of Education, Communication and Society (ECS), supervised by Dr John Owens and Dr Clare Coultas. My research interest lies in social justice and the relationship between education and health/well-being, which I study from a critical, creative and participatory perspective. In my PhD, I use Photovoice and Critical Discourse Analysis of policies to explore how Italian secondary school students experience their mental health/well-being in relation to their school environments.
2021 AWARD WINNERS
Italy Made Me 2021 per Il Circolo:
Michela Picardi
Emanuela Vai
Science Awards:
Annarita Botta
Lorenzo Mangone
Royal College of Music:
Antonio Morabito
2020 AWARD WINNERS
Italy Made Me 2020
Quinta edizione di Italy Made Me. Il concorso dell’Ambasciata d’Italia a Londra che premia la ricerca accademica italiana nel Regno Unito. La cerimonia di premiazione della quinta edizione di “Italy Made me”, svoltasi presso l’Ambasciata d’Italia a Londra il 16 settembre, ha confermato ancora una volta quanto elevato sia l’apporto qualitativo dei giovani ricercatori italiani al mondo accademico britannico.
“Italy Made Me” è un concorso che premia i migliori progetti di ricerca condotti da ricercatori italiani formatisi in istituzioni italiane e adesso operanti presso le più importanti Università del Regno Unito.
L’iniziativa, avviata dall’Ambasciata e sostenuta sia da imprese private sia da entità senza scopo di lucro, è ispirata dal desiderio di valorizzare la qualità del sistema formativo italiano che si manifesta anche attraverso l’apprezzato lavoro dei giovani talenti italiani all’estero. L’edizione 2019 è stata sostenuta da Green Network Energy, Materials, David Y Mason Foundation e dall’associazione di cultura italiana Il Circolo.
Il processo di selezione e valutazione delle candidature è concotto dai membri del Consiglio Scientifico dell’Ambasciata. L’Association of Italian Scientists in the United Kingdom garantisce la sua preziosa collaborazione lungo tutta la realizzazione del concorso. Per questa quinta edizione di “Italy Made Me” sono stati presentati 34 progetti afferenti ai campi del sapere così come definiti dall’European Research Council: Life Sciences, Physical and Engineering Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities.
I campi di indagine dei 6 progetti vincitori abbracciano tematiche estremamente attuali e con un alto quoziente di impatto per le potenziali applicazioni scientifiche.
Nelle parole dell’Ambasciatore Trombetta, che ha presieduto la cerimonia di premiazione, lo spirito di “Italy Made Me” contribuisce a riaffermare il valore della preparazione accademica per una compiuta realizzazione personale e professionale e l’indispensabile apporto degli esperti per affrontare le complesse sfide poste dalla contemporaneità e dal futuro.
The National Gallery – London
Il Circolo ha effettuato una donazione alla National Gallery per contribuire alla realizzazione dell’eccezionale mostra “Titian: Love, Desire, Death” svoltasi nel corso del 2020. La serie di dipinti mitologici di grandi dimensioni di Tiziano, conosciuta come le poesie, è stata riunita per la prima volta dalla fine del XVI secolo.
Il dott. Gabriele Finaldi, direttore della National Gallery, ha affermato: “Impensabile fino ad oggi, per la prima volta in oltre quattro secoli, grazie al prestito della collezione Wallace di Tiziano Perseo e Andromeda, tutte le poesie mitologiche dell’artista ormai attempato commissionate dal re di Spagna saranno visibili insieme, come da progetto originario. Sono entusiasta che ciò accada alla National Gallery.”
Lisa Nan
Lisa Nan, studente all’Istituto Marangoni, ha ideato Forward, un accelerator per startups nel Fashion Tech. Abbiamo scelto Lisa in quanto il suo progetto intende contribuire ad un’industria della moda più sostenibile a partire dalla produzione, passando dalla logistica, alla vendita al dettaglio e arrivando fino al riciclaggio post-consumo. Troverete il suo progetto e la sua testimonianza nella sezione Testimonials e sul nostro canale YouTube.
Rossella Monopoli Un altro progetto da noi tutti sostenuto è quello di Rossella Monopoli, storica dell’arte italiana in particolare sul Rinascimento in centro Italia. Rossella, ammessa come PhD student al Warburg Institute, ha elaborato un progetto intitolato “Prices and Patrons in L’Aquila and its area: 1461-1586”. Il progetto è orientato allo studio degli aspetti socio-economici legati alla produzione delle opere d’arte a L’Aquila tra il XV e il XVI secolo, e volto al confronto con altre realtà italiane come Firenze e Perugia.
Chris Mosz
Ricordiamo infine il talento di Chris Mosz, un tenore americano con radici europee. Chris ha maturato un’esperienza significativa in America, in particolare in Oklahoma. Oggi Chris vive a Londra e frequenta il Royal College of Music.