Consorzio Interuniversitario per lo sviluppo dei Sistemi a Grande Interfase
Center for Colloid and Surface Science
Center for Colloid and Surface Science
CSGI (Center for Colloid and Surface Science) is a public research institution which gathers several Italian academic groups with established research track record in the area of Soft Matter and Surface Science. We leverage the complementary expertise, skills and instrumental/technical capabilities of the network to jointly perform high-profile research in areas related to the CSGI core scientific topics, to train young scientists and to provide a top scientific and technological infrastructure to private companies.
CSGI was founded in December 1993 and since then it is under the supervision and control of the Italian Ministry for University and Scientific Research (MIUR).
Since 1994 CSGI has been promoting and coordinating scientific, training, and technology transfer activities in the chemistry of colloidal systems and more generally systems with a high interfacial area. To accomplish this goal, CSGI brings together the most prestigious Italian academic schools in the field of Soft Matter and functional surfaces, providing an infrastructure for the academic network operating in this thematic area in Italy. CSGI has top-level synthetic and experimental expertise for the physico-chemical characterization of soft and hard matter and functional surfaces.
Piero Baglioni, the CSGI founder, is internationally recognized as the most influential Italian soft matter scientist and, throughout his career, pioneered the application of nanostructured materials to conservation of cultural heritage. For this activity, he has received numerous awards, such as the Bonino Medal of the Italian Chemical Society and the "Lectureship Award" of the Chemical Society of Japan "(2017).
CSGI is an internationally recognized network of excellence; our position in the Italian scientific landscape is validated by the VQR 2011-2014, where CSGI is the consortium with the highest number of employees in chemistry (60), with over 94% of the products rated as Excellent.
With this exceptionally robust scientific background, CSGI implements actions that make basic and applied research and technology transfer available for companies, facilitating their access to the activity of national, international, or "large scale infrastructures" laboratories.
Over the years, CSGI has become an international network of reference for technology transfer, involving Italian, European, and international research bodies and private companies (ENI, Procter & Gamble, Biomeuriex, L'Oreal, pharmaceutical IDI, Dompé, Rottapharm, etc ... ).
This scientific excellence and proactive capacity result in a remarkable success rate in European competitive funding, often with CSGI as the coordinator team.
Management Offices: President, Council, Director, Audit Council, Technical-Scientific Board.
Director of CSGI: Prof. Emiliano Fratini, Department of Chemistry, University of Florence.
President of CSGI: Prof. Piero Baglioni,Department of Chemistry, University of Florence.
Website: http://www.csgi.unifi.it/
Foundation: December 21st, 1993
Official recognition by the Italian Government: November 15th, 1994 (G.U. Nr. 267)
National Agency for the evaluation of Quality of Research (2004-2010): CSGI ranking
CSGI was one of the 26 Consortia that voluntary submitted their candidature to the Italian evaluation of universities and research centers: Valutazione della Qualità della Ricerca (VQR), an exercise to evaluate the quality of the research efforts in the period 2004-2010. The report was produced by Agenzia Nazionale di Valutazione del sistema Universitario e della Ricerca (ANVUR), an Italian national agency for the Italian research qualification. VQR 2004-2010 resulted in the largest-scale evaluation of research in Italy’s history.
The VQR examined research outcomes in 14 disciplinary areas of study published between 2004 and 2010 by 95 universities, 12 research centers and 26 other institutions to identify the significance of the nation’s research output and how it compares globally. By reviewing a significant number of Italian research outcomes, ANVUR was able to gain a greater understanding of Italy’s research strengths, impact and neglected fields of study.
CSGI ranked in the first positions among the other Italian Consortia for Chemical Sciences (Area 03) and for Biological Sciences (Area 05) for the period 2004-2010.
In particular, in the disciplines related to Chemical Sciences (the core of the CSGI research), CSGI resulted as excellent (74% of the submitted products were judged as excellent and the remaining 26% as good). The final indicators for the research and the third mission are well above the average values for Consortia in the same categories.