The 33rd edition of the prestigious "Gustavo Sclocchi" Award, jointly promoted by EAGE, and the Italian sections of SPE and Assorisorse, has concluded with great success. The initiative, created to value young academic talents in fields related to geosciences and engineering, recorded an extraordinary participation this year, with as many as 47 theses submitted by Master of Science and PhD graduates.
The evaluation phase, which took place between February and April 2026, was coordinated by the Thesis Awards Evaluation Committee and was supported by a large group of esteemed energy professionals who served as volunteer evaluators.
On 22 May 2026, the Politecnico di Milano hosted the award ceremony in the presence of representatives from the three associations (SPE, EAGE, Assorisorse), which contributed equally to the funding of the prizes.
During the award ceremony, Prof Luigi Zanzi spoke on behalf of EAGE to extend a warm welcome and present the association's main activities.
Reflecting on the importance of geosciences and cutting-edge technologies for energy transition, the main awards of this edition showed a strong connection with the geophysics sector and renewable energy management. In the "Outstanding" category, the winners were:
- Sean Berti (PhD Project), with the thesis “A Bayesian approach to Full-Waveform Inversion”.
- Domenico Micocci (PhD Project), with the thesis “Integrated management of hydropower reservoirs and variable renewable energy sources: a modelling framework for hybridization with solar photovoltaics”.
The five awards in the "Excellent" category further highlighted the extremely high academic level of the participants, rewarding research ranging from seismic monitoring to hydrogen applications and well performance monitoring in Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects. Specifically, Guglielmo Vullo, Emanuele Bozzi, Noraiz Mushtaq, Andrea Alberoni, and Elena Lucchini were awarded.
Furthermore, three special mentions were conferred upon Giuseppa Anzelmo, Zahra Karamiziarani, and Michele Maria Mainoli for the quality of their work on hydrogen geo-storage, CO2 mineralization, and electricity markets.
The success of the 33rd Sclocchi Award confirms once again the importance of the synergy between the academic world and industrial and scientific associations like EAGE, which is fundamental to inspiring and supporting the next generation of energy professionals toward a sustainable future.
Winners 33rd Gustavo Sclocchi Award:
| Surname | Name | Degree | Thesis | Award Category |
| Berti | Sean | PhD Project | A Bayesian approach to Full-Waveform Inversion | Outstanding |
| Tristan | Domenico | PhD Project | Integrated management of hydropower reservoirs and variable renewable energy sources: a modelling framework for hybridization with solar photovoltaics | Outstanding |
| Vullo | Guglielmo | Master of Science | I-HADES: A seismic event locator combining deep learning with distance geometry methods | Excellent |
| Bozzi | Emanuele | PhD Project | The potential of Distributed Acoustic Sensing technology for seismological monitoring | Excellent |
| Mushtaq | Noraiz | PhD Project | Supersonic inlet turbines for rotating detonation engines | Excellent |
| Alberoni | Andrea | Master of Science | I modelli energetici come strumento per politiche Net-Zero | Excellent |
| Lucchini | Elena | Master of Science | Injection testing for CCS projects: from concept selection to well performance monitoring | Excellent |
| Anzelmo | Giuseppa | PhD Project | Quantitative assessment of hydrogen geo-storage in Italy. UHS in salt caverns. | Special Mention |
| Karamiziarani | Zahra | Master of Science | Interplay between fracture network arrangement and efficiency of CO2 mineralization in basaltic aquifers | Special Mention |
| Mainoli | Michele Maria | Master of Science | Forecasting Energy Prices in Zonal Electricity Markets | Special Mention |
