M. Clelia Righi is Full Professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy of Bologna University. Her research activity focuses on the development and application of computational methods to understand and predict the behaviour of materials from first principles, particularly of surface and interface phenomena.

She adopted pioneering computational approaches in tribology and applied them for understanding chemical reactions activated by mechanical stresses and designing materials to reduce friction. In 2019 she received an ERC consolidator grant for the project “Advancing solid interfaces and lubricants by first principles material design” (SLIDE).

M. Clelia Righi is visiting professor at the Imperial College London, UK. She collaborates with different multinational companies and international experimental labs. She is part of the editorial boards of Coatings, Lubricants, Lubrication Science, and Scientific Reports.