Elena Vagnoni wins ERC Starting Grant at EPFL; €1.5M over five years for SHIELD project

Elena Vagnoni wins ERC Starting Grant - EPFL

Elena Vagnoni wins ERC Starting Grant

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Elena Vagnoni. EPFL CC BY SA 4.0

The European Research Council (ERC) has selected 421 early-career researchers across Europe to receive this year’s Starting Grants, including Elena Vagnoni, head of the research projects group at the EPFL Technology Platform for Hydraulic Machines.

Starting Grants amount to €1.5 million for a period of up to five years, and support excellent research across diverse fields, including physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, and social sciences and humanities. The backing will help researchers at the beginning of their careers to launch their own projects, build research teams and pursue their most promising ideas. A record of 4,807 proposals were submitted to this competition, with 8.8% of those receiving funding.

Elena Vagnoni graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Politecnico of Milan in 2013, and she obtained her PhD in Mechanics at EPFL in 2018. Since 2022 she is the head of research projects group at the EPFL Technology Platform for Hydraulic Machines. Before her current position, she was a research assistant fellow at Johns Hopkins University and a SNSF-fellow guest scientist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Her research interest focuses on the experimental investigation and predictive modelling of flow phenomena and fluid-structure interactions in hydraulic machines. This research has several applications, namely in improving hydraulic machinery design and operation, and strengthening hydropower technology competitiveness to support the power system decarbonization amid climate change challanges.

Source: School of Engineering | STI

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The ERC announced on Thursday that the 2026 Starting Grants amount to a total funding of €705 million. Four EPFL researchers were selected, including Elena Vagnoni of the Technology Platform for Hydraulic Machines . She received funding for her project, SHIELD: Multiscale Sediment-laden flow HydrodynamIcs and Erosive wear for sustainabLe hyDropower. Starting Grants amount to €1.5 million for a period of up to five years, and support excellent research across diverse fields, including physical sciences and engineering, life sciences, and social sciences and humanities. The backing will help researchers at the beginning of their careers to launch their own projects, build research teams and pursue their most promising ideas. A record of 4,807 proposals were submitted to this competition, with 8.8% of those receiving funding. Elena Vagnoni graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Politecnico of Milan in 2013, and she obtained her PhD in Mechanics at EPFL in 2018. Since 2022 she is the head of research projects group at the EPFL Technology Platform for Hydraulic Machines. Before her current position, she was a research assistant fellow at Johns Hopkins University and a SNSF-fellow guest scientist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Her research interest focuses on the experimental investigation and predictive modelling of flow phenomena and fluid-structure interactions in hydraulic machines. This research has several applications, namely in improving hydraulic machinery design and operation, and strengthening hydropower technology competitiveness to support the power system decarbonization amid climate change challanges.