Academic Biography

Silvia Giordani is Full Professor Chair of Nanomaterials at the School of Chemical Sciences at Dublin City University (DCU), where she served as Head of School from 2020 to 2023. She is also a Principal Investigator at the Life Science Institute (LSI).

She received her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Miami (USA) and subsequently carried out postdoctoral research at the School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland, and at the School of Pharmacy, University of Trieste, Italy. In 2007, she was awarded the prestigious President of Ireland Young Researcher Award (the Irish equivalent of an ERC Starting Grant) and was appointed Research Assistant Professor at the School of Chemistry, TCD. The award funded her salary as well as the establishment of her research laboratory and team from 2007 to 2013. During this period, she was also a Principal Investigator at the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices (CRANN) and at the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute (TBSI), where she established research laboratories. In September 2013, she founded and directed the “Nano Carbon Materials” Research Laboratory at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Italy. In December 2016, she was appointed Associate Professor in Organic Chemistry at the University of Turin, Italy.

Her research focuses on the design, synthesis, and characterization of a broad range of nanomaterials for applications in smart and responsive bio-related nanotechnologies. She has authored over 160 peer-reviewed publications in leading international journals since 2001, including Chemical Society Reviews, Nature Nanotechnology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Advanced Materials, ACS Nano, and Journal of the American Chemical Society, which have collectively received more than 11,000 citations. Her work has been highlighted in major scientific outlets such as Science, Nature, and New Scientist. Professor Giordani has presented her research extensively at international conferences across the United States, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, India, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and throughout Europe. She has supervised and mentored over 60 undergraduate, postgraduate, and postdoctoral researchers.

In 2012, she was awarded the L’Oréal UK & Ireland Fellowship for Women in Science, and in 2014 she was invited to deliver a “Women in Science” Masterclass at the Royal Irish Academy. In 2018, she received the William Evans Fellowship from the University of Otago (New Zealand) and served as a Visiting Scientist at the Bio-Nano Institute of Toyo University (Japan). In 2024, she was awarded the MAK’IT Fellowship from the University of Montpellier (France). In 2025, she was appointed Ufficiale dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana (OMRI), one of the highest honours of the Italian Republic, in recognition of her outstanding scientific achievements and her contributions to research, innovation, and international academic collaborati

List of PhD Thesis Supervised

1. Manuel Natali Synthesis, Characterisation and Activity Evaluation of Novel Spiropyran-Based Ion Sensors Trinity College Dublin (2011)
2. Elisa Del Canto Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Photo Switchable Spiropyrans: Novel Multifunctional Platforms for Sensing and Biological Applications Trinity College Dublin (2012)
3. Dania Movia Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes as Novel NIR Fluorescent Probes for Biomedical Optical Imaging Trinity College Dublin (2012)
4. Lyn Markey Synthesis of glycopeptides and modification of carbon nano-onions Trinity College Dublin (2013)
5. Viviana Maffeis Carbon Nano-Onions for biomedical applications University of Genoa (2018)
6. Adalberto Camisasca Carbon Nano-Onions as Promising Materials for Biomedical and Electrochemical applications University of Genoa (2019)
7. Francesca Cardano Novel nano-biotechnology platforms based on photochromic molecules University of Genoa (2020)
8. Michał Bartowski Engineering of Nanomaterials for Cancer Therapy DCU (2024)
9. Hugh Mohan Carbon Nano-Onions for Theragnostic Applications DCU (2025)

List of MSc Thesis Supervised

1. Alice Boarino Supramolecular functionalization of multi-layer fullerenes for biomedical applications University of Turin (2018)
2. Jada Abdel Monem Gamal Synthesis and functionalisation of BN-CNOs for drug delivery applications University of Rome (2022)
3. Mustafa Nabil Amin Mustafa Fluorescent carbon dots as vehicles of delivery for anti-cancer treatments DCU (2022)

List of BSc Thesis Supervised

1. David Larkin The Purification, Functionalisation and Characterisation of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Trinity College Dublin (2010)
2. Eoghan Delany Covalent Functionalization and Characterisation of Multi-Layer Fullerenes (Carbon Nano-Onions) Trinity College Dublin (2011)
3. Fergus Poynton Synthesis of a Novel Spiropyran for the Non-Covalent Functionalisation of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Trinity College Dublin (2011)
4. Gary Hudson Functionalization of Carbon Nano-Onions with spiropyran derivatives Trinity College Dublin (2013)
5. Michał Bartkowski Covalent functionalization of carbon nano-onions for biomedical applications DCU (2018-19)
6. Dylan Kenny Functionalization of Carbon Nano-Onions using Hyaluronic Acid derivatives for Biomedical Purposes DCU (2018-2019)
7. Adam Atouani Chemical Functionalisation of Carbon Nanomaterials for Biomedical Applications DCU (2018-19)
8. Emma Stowe The non-covalent functionalization of CNOs DCU (2018-2019)
9. Geldon Sherifi Non-covalent functionalisation of carbon nano-onions with porphyrin molecules DCU (2019-20)
10. Melanie Richardson In situ polymerization on carbon surface DCU (2019-2020)
11. Marissa Horan Removal of oxidation debris from carbon nano-onions DCU (2019-2020)
12. Dylan Lee Martin Eco-friendly Oxidative Synthesis of Carbon Dots using low-cost, renewable & green materials DCU (2019-2020)
13. Hugh Mohan 0D carbon nanomaterials in anti-cancer formulations DCU (2020-2021)
14. Andrew Fagan Carbon Nanomaterials for the Delivery of Anti-cancer Therapeutics: A Computational Study DCU (2020-2021)
15. Oisin Kearns Hyaluronic acid functionalised BN co-doped carbon nano-onions as drug delivery systems DCU (2021-2022)
16. Owen Fitzmaurice Spiropyrans as Molecular Switches in Drug Delivery Systems DCU (2021-2022)
17. Kellyjean Courtney Preparation of carbon nano-onion hybrids for biomedical applications DCU (2022-2023)
18. Glenn Twum Preparation of a molecular switch for bio-applications DCU (2022-2023)
19. Yingru Zhou In-vitro studies of Fluorescent carbon dots DCU (2022-2023)