Italy's national astrophysics institute operating observatories, telescopes, and space research programs with growing expertise in science-society engagement.
INAF is Italy's national research body for astrophysics and space science, operating observatories and research facilities across the country. They conduct fundamental research in astronomy, astrophysics, planetary science, and cosmology, while also developing advanced instrumentation for ground-based and space telescopes. Beyond core science, INAF contributes significantly to high-performance computing infrastructure for data-intensive astronomy and runs large-scale public engagement programs connecting astrophysics with schools and broader audiences.
Core participant in major infrastructure projects like ASTERICS, OPTICON, RadioNet, AHEAD, and multiple ERC grants (Fornax, Cosmo Plasmas, DRANOEL) spanning high-energy, radio, and optical astronomy.
Active in EURO-CARES (astromaterials curation), EPN2020-RI (Europlanet), UPWARDS (Mars remote sensing), NEOShield-2 (asteroid deflection), and PPOSS (planetary protection).
Coordinated AHEAD for high-energy astrophysics infrastructure, participated in EOSCpilot for Open Science Cloud, INDIGO-DataCloud, EGI-Engage, and AARC2 for federated authentication.
Contributed astrophysics use cases to ExaNeSt, EuroEXA, and related exascale computing projects, bringing domain expertise in large-scale simulations and data processing.
Growing portfolio of CSA projects focused on schools, young people, edutainment, and gender balance — including SOCIETY and multiple recent dissemination-focused actions.
Third-party contributor to European Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) service through 2SST2015 and 3SST2015, plus space weather work via EPN2020-RI.
In the early H2020 period (2015–2018), INAF focused heavily on core astrophysics research — planetary science, astrobiology, cosmochemistry, and space weather — alongside building distributed computing and data infrastructure for astronomy. From 2019 onward, a clear shift emerges toward public engagement, science communication, and cultural outreach: keywords like "edutainment," "schools," "young people," "gender balance," and "cultural heritage" dominate the recent portfolio. This suggests INAF has increasingly invested in connecting its scientific work with society, likely driven by EU emphasis on Responsible Research and Innovation.
INAF is evolving from a purely research-focused institute toward one that actively bridges astrophysics with public engagement, education, and cultural heritage — making them an increasingly strong partner for projects requiring societal impact components.
INAF operates predominantly as an active partner (42 of 62 projects), joining large European consortia rather than leading them, though they have coordinated 13 projects including major infrastructure actions like AHEAD. With 477 unique partners across 51 countries, they function as a well-connected hub in European astronomy networks. Their willingness to serve as third party (7 projects) also shows flexibility in engagement level, adapting their involvement to what each project needs.
INAF maintains one of the broadest collaboration networks in European astrophysics, with 477 unique partners spanning 51 countries — well beyond the EU, reflecting the global nature of astronomical research. Their partnerships concentrate in Western Europe but extend significantly into Latin America (LACEGAL) and globally through SKA-related projects (AENEAS).
INAF is Italy's single national authority for astrophysics, giving it unmatched scope across the full spectrum of astronomical research — from planetary science to cosmology, radio to high-energy. Unlike university departments that specialize narrowly, INAF can deploy expertise across observational, computational, and instrumentation domains simultaneously. Their recent strength in science-society engagement makes them particularly valuable for projects that need both deep scientific credibility and genuine public outreach capacity.
