Federica PROIETTO SALANITRI

Federica Proietto Salanitri is an Assistant Professor at the University of Catania, Department of Industrial, Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering (DIEEI), and a member of the PeRCeiVe.AI Lab, where she leads the Brain and Medical Imaging Analysis research group.

She received her Ph.D. in Systems, Energy, Computer and Telecommunications Engineering in 2023 from the University of Catania, with a dissertation titled "From Centralization to Collaboration: Harnessing Generative Models in Federated Learning for Medical Image Analysis."

Her research focuses on computer vision in AI for medical imaging, with particular attention to privacy-preserving methods and collaborative frameworks. She explores federated and continual learning approaches to design adaptive models that can learn from distributed data while ensuring confidentiality and robustness. In parallel, she investigates bio- and socio-cognitive inspired perspectives to develop AI systems more closely aligned with human perception and adaptive intelligence.

She has authored over 60 peer-reviewed publications in international journals and conferences and collaborates with international research groups in medical AI and deep learning, including the Machine and Hybrid Intelligence Lab (Northwestern University, USA), the School of Electronic Engineering (Dublin City University, Ireland), the MICS Laboratory (CentraleSupélec, Paris-Saclay, France), the Parallel Computing Group (University of Turin, Italy), and the AImageLab Laboratory (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy).

She is deeply engaged in the development of regional and European research initiatives, acting as Principal Investigator for the Erasmus+ programme GEMS – Girls' Empowerment in Digital Skills (2024–2027) and for the project AquaVision AI: Automatic Detection and Behavioral Analysis of Fish in Aquaculture and Controlled Marine Environments, funded under the FAIR Technology Transfer Call (2025). In addition to these active projects, she is actively involved in the preparation and submission of several other regional and European proposals on AI for health and sustainability. She also serves as Co-Principal Investigator and promoter of the participation of the University of Catania in the AFRICAI Mentorship Program (2025–2026), part of the MICCAI community — a 12-month international initiative supporting African students and early-career researchers in developing AI research projects and promoting equitable access to AI education and capacity building in the Global South.

Her activities include teaching and mentorship in computer engineering and artificial intelligence, and outreach promoting inclusivity in STEM disciplines.