Research

Scientific research represents a key lever for the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, for its development policy and for the consequences on training programmes. Research is conducted at the Institutes and Interdisciplinary research centres which programme and manage activities, enhancing the relationship between training and research, interdisciplinary teaching and interaction with the cultural, social and economic world.

The scientific community of the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies is composed of a team 850 including teaching staff, research staff, research fellows, collaborators and PhD students.

That’s definitely a young community, considering that over 50% of it consists of research fellows and PhD students.

Research institutes

Telecommunications, computer science and photonics

BioRobotics, biomedical and robotic engineering in medicine and biology

Smart systems for automation, virtual and augmented reality, optical-fibre sensors, and integrated photonic subsystems

Environmental and food security, agronomy, horticulture, soil and water sciences

Economics, macroeconomics, econometrics, dynamic-system models

Telecommunications, computer science and photonics

Smart systems for automation, virtual and augmented reality, optical-fibre sensors, and integrated photonic subsystems

Environmental and food security, agronomy, horticulture, soil and water sciences

Interdisciplinary research centers

Economics and management, engineering, computer science, social sciences and law for sustainability issues and the challenges of climate change

Departments of excellence

Robotics, AI and materials science

Publications and Citations

In recent years, the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, partly thanks to strategies concerning the distribution of university research funds, has significantly increased its exposure in major bibliometric databases. The total number of publications on Scopus has exceeded 13,800 papers. On average, the School’s faculty, researchers and researchers publish nearly six papers each, every year. During 2018-2023, the School totalled 75,678 citations, with an average of 13.0 citations per paper and a weighted citation impact (FWCI) of 1.62.
In the WoS database too, the School boasts a portfolio of more than 9,027 scientific publications with an H-index value of 156 and an average of 21.65 citations per publication.

Research Quality Evaluation (VQR)

In the 2015-2019 evaluation, the School ranked as one of the top institutions nationwide in terms of scientific production and research enhancement (Third Mission) and ranked first in the overall ranking for scientific production of faculty and research staff in the fields of biological sciences (Area 05), agricultural and veterinary studies (Area 07), law (Area 12) and economics and statistics (Area 13a).

Research Projects and Self-funding

The high number of research projects enables the School to fund its research activities without resorting to public funds and to develop innovative business ideas and technologies. In the 2023 financial statements, proceeds from the School’s research activities exceeded 27 million euros, a sum comparable to that achieved by the best Italian universities, which are much larger.