Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

The National Research Council (CNR), founded in 1923, is the largest public research institution in Italy, comprising more than 8.000 employees, 70% of whom are researchers and technologists, and around 4.000 young researchers engaged in postgraduate studies and research training. The CNR counts 88 Research Institutes spread in 228 headquarters and laboratories, 30 third-party research units and 3 permanent Research Bases at the Poles.

Within this framework, the Institute for Nanostructured Materials (ISMN-CNR) focuses its research activities on four primary application areas: Advanced Materials and Devices, Energy and Environment, Circular Economy and Industry 5.0, and Health and Wellbeing. The ISMN-CNR is organized in five local Units: HQ Roma Montelibretti, Roma Sapienza, Bologna, Palermo and Messina, counting over 150 permanent staff members, alongside approximately 40 postdoctoral researchers and PhD students. The Bologna Unit (ISMN-BO) is located within the CNR Bologna Territorial Research Area, which hosts a total of six Institutes belonging both to the CNR and to the Italian National Astrophysics Institute (INAF), together with the Central Area Library, Conference Centre and Ancillary Services. Recently expanded through the integration of personnel from the former IMM-BO (the Bologna Unit of the Institute of Microelectronics and Microsystems), ISMN-BO now counts a permanent staff of over 80 peoples. This successful merger has further enhanced the interdisciplinary capabilities of both institutes, leveraging established expertise in the study of functional materials and devices for microelectronics and MEMS. Thanks to the synergy between physics, engineers and chemistry, ISMN-BO provides a global and flexible approach to the development of innovative technologies for application in specific areas.