At the General Assembly of the European Radon Association (ERA), held in Warsaw on 5 November, Professor Claudio Valsangiacomo was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award 2025 by the President of the ERA, Per Nilson, in recognition of his contribution to research and training of specialists in the field of radon, as well as for his role in founding the Association itself.
A pioneering figure in radon research and policy since the 1990s, Claudio Valsangiacomo has spent his career working in both the public sector and academia. He made a decisive contribution to the creation of the radon register for the Canton of Ticino, one of the most extensive measurement campaigns in the world, with over 60,000 surveys conducted in collaboration between the Department of Health and Social Affairs and SUPSI between 2005 and 2010.
Until 2012, Valsangiacomo led the DACHI group of experts, which later evolved into the ROOMS network and finally into the European Radon Association (ERA), founded in 2013 in Bouillon, Belgium.
In 2007, he joined SUPSI, where he founded the first Swiss Radon Competence Centre in 2008, subsequently contributing to the creation of two other centres in Fribourg and Muttenz. From 1998 to 2007, he directed the radiation protection laboratory of the Canton of Ticino and has been a member of the Swiss Federal Commission for Radiation Protection since 2010.
Author of numerous scientific and popular publications, in 2006 Valsangiacomo launched the first radon certification course in Switzerland and contributed to the development of mitigation techniques at national and international level. Thanks to his efforts, Ticino has been a pioneer in the mapping and widespread measurement of radon, carried out in collaboration with the cantonal civil protection forces, with an average of 10,000-12,000 measurements per year in the five-year period 2005-2010.
“Receiving this award at the Warsaw University of Technology, from the European scientific community, is a profound honour and a source of great satisfaction for me. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the ERA Executive Committee. I am sincerely grateful and delighted to receive the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award. It means a lot to me to be recognised by an organisation that I have had the privilege of supporting since its foundation," said Claudio Valsangiacomo at the award ceremony.
The SUPSI Radon Competence Centre
The Radon Competence Centre (RCC), part of the Department of Environment, Construction and Design at SUPSI in Mendrisio, has been promoting research, training and services in line with public health protection objectives since 2007. In addition to measurement campaigns, the Centre is involved in federal and international research projects and offers training courses both in engineering and architecture degree programmes and through refresher courses for technicians and professionals.
The CCR also provides services for the region, acting as a measurement service recognised by the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH). Over time, it has contributed to the publication of technical reference texts that offer practical solutions for remediation and prevention measures.
Since 2021, the Centre has expanded its scope to include indoor air quality, taking on the role of Italian-speaking branch of the Romandy and Ticino Observatory on Indoor Air Quality.