The Young Researcher of the Year award is presented every year to two researchers under the age of 30 who have received a research doctorate in an Italian university. It was won this year by Alberto Pizzolato (Turin Polytechnic) and Matteo Monai, now a Postdoctoral research fellow working in the ARC CBBC Consortium in Bert Weckhuysen group. Matteo defended his PhD at the University of Trieste in Prof. Fornasiero group and presented research into developing nanostructured catalysts based on non-noble – and therefore cheap – metal alloys, for use in the energy sector, particularly for converting biomass fuels and chemical products. He is now working on CO2 valorization and small molecules activation using well-defined nanostructured materials, to elucidate structure-activity relationships in heterogeneous catalysts. The Italian president Sergio Mattarella is handing over the prize in an official ceremony in Rome on October 10th.