Francesca Cova has been named winner of the "Laura Bassi Early Career" award from the Italian Physical Society (Società Italiana di Fisica, SIF), reserved for early-career women researchers who have made outstanding scientific contributions in the initial stages of their academic career.
The award was granted for her contributions to the study of near-infrared emitting scintillator materials, applied to dosimetry in FLASH radiotherapy, one of the most promising frontiers in modern radiation oncology. The prize will be presented during the opening ceremony of the 112th National Congress of SIF, scheduled for September 7th, 2026.
Research background
FLASH radiotherapy is one of the most significant innovations of recent years in cancer treatment: by delivering radiation doses at an extremely high rate, this technique has shown in preclinical studies the ability to spare healthy tissue surrounding the tumor far more effectively than conventional radiotherapy, while maintaining comparable therapeutic efficacy against tumor cells. This effect, known as the "FLASH effect," opens up important prospectives for reducing the side effects of cancer treatments.
However, the clinical application of FLASH radiotherapy requires dosimetry systems capable of precisely measuring, with high temporal resolution, doses delivered over extremely short timeframes — a condition under which traditional dosimeters show significant limitations. It is within this context that the award-winning research is situated, focused on the development and characterization of innovative scintillator materials capable of emitting light in the near-infrared region. These materials, once suitably integrated into dosimetric devices, can help to fill an important technological gap in the real-time verification of doses delivered during FLASH treatments — a crucial step toward the future clinical translation of this technique.
The Laura Bassi Award
The award, named after Laura Bassi — the first woman in the world to hold a university chair in a scientific discipline, awarded in 1732 at the University of Bologna — is reserved exclusively for women researchers, with the aim of highlighting the contribution of new generations of women scientists to Italian physics and supporting women's presence in scientific research, with particular attention to excellence and the future development potential of the research paths recognized.
The award confirms the quality and international relevance of the research carried out in the field of medical physics and functional materials for biomedical applications, an area where the synergy between materials science, instrumentation, and clinical applications continues to produce significant results.