SHARKS (Southern H-ATLAS Regions Ks-band Survey; IP: Helmut Dannerbauer) is a deep near-infrared survey of a 300-square-degree region of the sky being carried out with the VISTA telescope and its VIRCAM instrument at ESO (European Southern Observatory in Chile) in the Ks-band (at 2 micrometer). With SHARKS we expect to detect about 20-30 million

The project aims at establishing a pipeline for the generation of galaxy mock catalogs using machine learning techniques. Such catalogs are key for the statistical analysis of forthcoming galaxy redshift surveys, some in which the IC is participating.

Massive stars are key astronomical objects for the study of the Universe through spaceand time. Ensuring reliable knowledge about the physical properties, evolution, and feedback of massive stars is of utmost importance forseveral topics at the forefront of modern astrophysics, including, e.g., chemodynamical evolution of galaxies, the reionization

We are in the golden age for exoplanets studies, with currently several thousands of exoworlds discovered. Because of their low brightness and their large number, M dwarfs (~70% of stars) represent privileged targets to look for exoplanets. By essence, those objects are also cool objects, emitting significant fraction of their light in the infrared

Multiple communities are now interested in NEOs for very different reasons ranging from science to planetary defence and commercial objectives (e.g., mining). Given the shared scientific and technological basis, all of these communities require knowledge and modelling capabilities of asteroid properties, as well as the capability to perform close

The NRT (New Robotic Telescope) is a project to design and build a 4-meter telescope within five years, which from the ORM will operate in a totally autonomous and robotic way. This form of operation will make it the largest robotic telescope in the world and, together with the exceptional conditions for astronomical observation of the ORM, in the