Elena Cattaneo: Science & Politics in Italy: Building Opportunities for an Uneasy Alliance, King’s College, Keynes Hall

Elena Cattaneo is a world-renowned pharmacologist in the field of neurodegenerative diseases and co-founding director of the University of Milan’s Center for Stem Cell Research Studies. She was the youngest person to be nominated Senator for life in the Italian Parliament in history.
In this talk, she will discuss about her commitment to research. She has oriented the public debate towards scientific evidence (in particular against frauds in remedies for cancer, for which she earned praises from Nature). She also actively promoted campaigns to increase the public funding of
researchers and avert resources assigned without a public call. Freedom of research, the impact of research on policies, and the importance of public funding will be examined in the broader context of the European scientific community.