UniCredit Foundation Awards 51 Italian and International Students and Researchers. €2.1 Million to Support Study and Research in the Economic and Financial Fields in 2023.
MILAN, June 4th - UniCredit Foundation has awarded a total of 51 students and researchers, as well as 9 economics departments, who won the foundation's competitions in 2024. The total amount of prizes awarded this year is €2.1 million. The winners are students and researchers in economic and financial disciplines, enrolled in universities and research institutions across the entire UniCredit network.
The competitions launched by the Foundation have a dual purpose. Firstly, to support the specialization abroad of students, enabling them to pursue PhDs at prestigious universities, as in the case of the Crivelli, Marco Fanno, Saccomanni, and Giovannini Scholarships (8 scholarships of €65,000 each, totaling €500,000, for PhDs at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Princeton, and Chicago). Additionally, to pursue a research master's degree, through the Masterscholarships initiative, which with an investment of €300,000, offers 8 scholarships for one-year master's courses abroad at some of the most prestigious European universities: Barcelona School of Economics, London School of Economics, Mannheim University, Oxford University, Sciences Po, Stockholm School of Economics, Toulouse School of Economics, and Bocconi University.
Moreover, the Foundation continues to be committed to a significant brain-gain. In 2023, over €800,000 was invested in this direction. This includes competitions directly targeting university departments engaged in attracting talent, such as the Foscolo Europe Top-up Fellowship competition (3 three-year scholarships of €150,000 each), now in its ninth edition, won in 2023 by Bocconi University, LUISS University in Rome, and the Leibniz Institute for Financial Markets - SAFE in Frankfurt. The Marco Fanno Fellowship competition, exclusively for Italian public universities (4 three-year scholarships of €60,000 each), was won in 2023 by the University of Milan, Federico II University of Naples, University of Padua, and University of Verona. This category also includes the Modigliani Research Grant (4 two-year scholarships totaling €80,000) aimed at supporting research projects developed by researchers across Europe.
For almost three years, the primary aim of UniCredit Foundation has been supporting youth and education. Scientific research and collaboration with the academic world are crucial for promoting and supporting innovative research projects with significant policy implications, which are also essential for identifying and understanding the root causes of educational inequalities and developing effective interventions to mitigate such disparities. During the ceremony, two significant educational research projects were awarded €200,000 each, won by Prof. Andrea Ichino from the European University Institute and Prof. Lea Cassar from Regensburg University.
Lastly, the Foundation has always focused on the specialization abroad of colleagues across the Group through summer schools at three of the most important European Schools of Economics. In 2023, 20 scholarships were also awarded to as many colleagues to participate in summer specialization courses at the London School of Economics, University College London, and Barcelona School of Economics in the summer of 2024.
The award ceremony, held as a Gala Dinner in Milan, was opened with greetings from the Foundation's President, Andrea Orcel, who introduced Prof. Michael Spence (President and Provost of UCL), the guest speaker of the event, with his address titled "Disagreeing Well in an Increasingly Fragmented World." Present at the ceremony to award all the winners were the General Director of UniCredit Foundation, Silvia Cappellini, along with the Vice President of the Foundation, Prof. Giorgio Barba Navaretti from the University of Milan, and the President of the Marco Fanno Association, Prof. Tito Boeri.
