Gianfranco Federici - EUROFUSION
Gianfranco Federici is the Programme Manager of the EUROfusion Consortium, where
he oversees and coordinates all activities within the consortium’s Work Plan. Previously, he
served as Head of the Fusion Technology Department and leader of the DEMO Central
Team, coordinating for over 15 years the European design and R&D efforts toward the
conceptual development of a Demonstration Fusion Power Plant (DEMO) and a Volumetric
Neutron Source (VNS).
He holds a degree in Nuclear Engineering from Politecnico di Milano and a Ph.D. in Nuclear
Engineering from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). With more than 30 years
of experience in fusion reactor design and enabling technologies, his expertise spans
tokamak design and integration, plasma-material interactions, plasma-facing components,
breeding blankets, and magnet systems.
Federici has authored around 250 scientific publications and has received several
international awards, including the Fusion Power Associates Leadership Award. Since 2008,
he has been a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society.
Eleonora Viezzer - SMART (Seville)
Eleonora Viezzer is a physicist specializing in plasma physics and nuclear fusion and a professor at the University of Seville. She co-leads the Plasma Science and Fusion Technology Group, her team is currently working on the SMART (Small Aspect Ratio Tokamak) tokamak, an experimental machine at the University of Seville.
She was awarded with three main European Research Council (ERC) grants, 1 ERC Starting Grant and 2 ERC Consolidator Grants. Her work has been recognized with several international awards, including the Princess of Girona Foundation Award for Scientific Research, and she actively promotes scientific education and greater participation of women in STEM fields. She is member of the ITPEA Pedestal and Edge Physics Topical Group and the FUSENET Board of Governors and editorial board member of Journal of Plasma Physics, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion and Scientific Reports.
Yasmin Andrew - Imperial College (London, UK)
Yasmin Andrew is a Senior Teaching Fellow in the Department of Physics, Imperial College London, and Co-Director of the MSc in Physics with Fusion and Plasma Physics, where she is also Head of Student Experience. She is a plasma physicist with research on magnetic confinement fusion, and focus on nonlinear plasma turbulence dynamics, self-organisation, and transport barrier evolution.
She plays an active role in the international plasma physics community. She is a member of the Institute of Physics’ Plasma Physics Committee, UK representative to the IUPAP Commission on Plasma Physics (C16), and an Editorial Board member of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A. She is also Director of the ICTP–IAEA Fusion School, supporting global training and capacity building in fusion.
Francesco Sciortino - CEO of Proxima Fusion
Francesco Sciortino, born in Viterbo, is the co-founder and CEO of Proxima Fusion, a fusion energy startup based in Munich and a spin-off of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics.
He obtained his PhD in plasma physics and fusion energy from MIT in 2021. Following his doctorate, he joined the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Germany, where he worked on divertor spectroscopy and numerical optimization on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak and the W7-X stellarator. During this time, he also served as one of the European scientific coordinators for experimental research on negative triangularity tokamak scenarios.
He previously worked on research projects at the MAGPIE Z-pinch facility at Imperial College London (UK), on the TCV tokamak at EPFL (Switzerland), and on the APEX-D project at IPP (Germany). He also conducted research within the framework of magnetic reconnection experiments at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (USA).
Lidia Piron - University of Padua / Consorzio RFX
Lidia Piron is an Assistant Professor of Experimental Physics at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Padova, Italy. Her research focuses on plasma physics and nuclear fusion, with expertise in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability and the control of magnetic instabilities in fusion devices. She has worked on major international experiments including RFX-mod, DIII-D, JET, and MAST-U, and actively contributes to European and international fusion research programs such as EUROfusion and ITPA. Her work has been recognized with the European Plasma Physics Society Prize for the best PhD thesis in plasma physics.
Elina Asp - UKAEA
Elina Militello Asp is a fusion plasma physicist with over 25 years of experience. She holds an MSc in Engineering Physics from Uppsala University and a PhD in Fusion Plasma Physics, driven by her commitment to advancing fusion as a sustainable, carbon-neutral energy source.
She has worked at leading European research institutions including JET, CEA, EPFL, and UKAEA, developing expertise in integrated plasma modelling and experimental programme coordination.
Currently, she leads a team at UKAEA specialising in whole-plasma integrated modelling, using advanced simulations (JINTRAC) to optimise fusion performance for ITER.
Milena Roveda - CEO of Gauss Fusion
Milena Roveda is a manager and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in developing and transforming global companies. She is the CEO of Gauss Fusion, a European startup focused on developing fusion-based power plants to produce clean and sustainable energy. Throughout her career, she has held leadership roles in major industrial groups and actively promotes innovation in the energy and technology sectors.
Rosaria Villari - ENEA / DTT
Rosaria (Sara) Villari is responsible of Fusion Neutronics Calculations group in the FUSEN TEN laboratory of ENEA Nuclear Department in Frascati (Rome, Italy). She holds a master’s degree in physics, a post-degree specialization in health physics, and a Ph.D. in microsystems engineering.
With more than 20 years of experience, her expertise focuses on fusion neutronics for the design and safety of ITER, DEMO, JET, JT-60SA, and DTT tokamaks, including benchmark experiments at the Frascati Neutron Generator. She is proficient in nuclear analyses using the MCNP Monte Carlo code, holds qualifications in radiological protection, and has extensive knowledge of neutron measurements and dosimetry. She has coordinated neutronics experiments at JET, validating nuclear codes used for ITER predictions.
Currently, she is Head of NUC-DTT Division within the ENEA Nuclear Department. and the Sub-Project Leader for "Neutronics, Nuclear Waste, and Safety" within EUROfusion WP PrIO (Preparation of ITER Operation), where she oversees the technological exploitation of JET D-T operations and the R&D activities performed within EUROfusion in support to the preparation of ITER nuclear operation.
Additionally, she serves as vice-chair of the Executive Committee and Sub-Task Leader for Neutronics in the IEA Technology Collaboration Programme on Nuclear Technology of Fusion Reactors (TCP-NTFR). Furthermore, she is the coordinator for the Fusion Technology developments in the frame of EU-China collaboration for defining the BEST tokamak Research Plan. Since 2018, she is also Editor of Fusion Engineering and Design journal.